(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, we're getting close to the end of 1 Corinthians, our Bible study, and we're getting to a really important chapter here, a chapter that our church has pretty much named after, BE Steadfast, right? So, it's a great chapter, and even though it's a pretty long chapter, one thing's pretty clear that it stays on the same point throughout the entire chapter, and that is the Resurrection. It's really focusing on the Resurrection, the importance of the Resurrection, why it's something that we need to constantly be reminded of, and something that we need to think about, and the reality is that even in this church, there's an attack on the Gospel. Even in this church, and really in any church, there's going to be attacks on the Gospel. We could go through many of the epistles and see where people are corrupting the Gospel, perverting the Gospel, attacking the Gospel, twisting the Gospel, and in this church, there's obviously people that are not even saved. I mean, there's some people that are doubting the Resurrection, they're saying all kinds of weird false doctrine, and so we ought to be careful that we always are sharp on the Gospel, that we don't let things slip, and right now you would think that, how could we ever let it slip? But there's many churches of yesteryear that had a great name, they were doing great exploits, they were strong on soul winning, and now, lo and behold, they're off on the Gospel. They got people coming to their churches that are teaching false doctrine and believing different Gospels, so it can happen anywhere. It's something that we have to constantly be reminded of and to teach and to preach and to put into practice. Let's go through this lengthy chapter. It says in verse 1, More of a brethren I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand. We notice here in chapter number 15 here in verse 1, he's talking to the saved. He's addressing the saved. I mean, he couldn't give more indication that he's talking to saved people. First of all, he calls them brethren, and brethren is that which is saved, but additionally, he says which you've also received. So if you've received the Gospel, let me help you out, you're a brethren, and notice he also says, wherein ye stand. Now what does that mean? Let's go to another place. Keep your finger. Go to Romans, chapter number 5. Romans, chapter number 5. We're going to see that exact same phrase being used in your Bible, but that's another indication of you being saved. Now where I stand is on the Gospel for my salvation. I'm standing on the foundation of the Gospel. I'm not standing on a foundation built of sand. I'm standing on the rock, which is Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans, chapter 5, verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We get our standing from the Gospel. We get our standing from the fact that we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and he is what gets us into heaven. How am I certain that I'm saved? Because of what he did for us. I'm standing by what he did for us, not on my own merits, not on my own good works, not on what I'm going to do in the future, but I'm standing on the finished work of Christ. That's where I'm standing. We go back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Look at verse number 2. The Bible says, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. He's saying, by which you are also saved. By which, what does he mean there? He's saying the Gospel. The Gospel is what gets you saved. So how does someone get saved? It's nothing other than the Gospel. That's what gets us saved. And he says, if ye keep in memory which I preached unto you. Meaning what? What is he trying to say? Well, I preached the Gospel. If you believe that, you're saved. That's where you're standing. You're a brethren. But you know what? If you're thinking something else, then you might have believed in vain. There's a lot of Gospels out there, according to the Bible. There's a lot of false Gospels. And if you believe what Paul preached, you're saved. If you believe some other kind of Gospel, you're not saved. You believed in vain. There's a lot of people that have faith in a Gospel today, and that Gospel will not save them. The Gospel of John MacArthur will not save you. The Gospel of John Piper will not save you. The Gospel of the Latter-day Satans will not save you. It's the Gospel that Paul preached. It's the same Gospel that Jesus Christ preached, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but everlasting life. So it's important what Gospel you believe. And everybody wants to unify about this word Gospel. I mean, if you go to any church today, you're in any kind of movement, well, it's all about the Gospel. Well, you know what? It's all about Paul's Gospel. It's all about what Jesus Christ preached. That's what it's about. Because there's a lot of false Gospels out there. Don't just fall for the word Gospel. No, we need the Gospel that Paul preached. We need the Gospel that the whole Bible teaches. We need what he's going to teach us here in a moment. He's going to remind us of what that Gospel is. He says in verse 3, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 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. So in this chapter we have contained for us basically the brief explanation of the Gospel. The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And usually when presenting the Gospel to people, I usually tell them that. I say the Gospel is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are even great verses you could turn to. I don't necessarily turn to them, but I at least explain that point that the Gospel is those three things. Why? Well, because a lot of people have a bad definition of the word Gospel. You know, some of these Pentecostals or the assembly of God, they're like, the Gospel! They think it's something about running around, screaming in tongues. When I go to Houston, I'm constantly driving back on I-20 or whatever, and you'll see this big building, huge building, it has written on there, Full Gospel. The Full Gospel. What's the Full Gospel? Well the Full Gospel, according to these liars, is also like Acts 2-38, where it's also, oh, did you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost? Well guess what? That's not the Gospel. Paul already told us what the Gospel is. It's nothing more, it's nothing less, it's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the Gospel, that's the good news. It's not you adding your 12 steps on top of that. Well, also you've got to get baptized, and also you've got to live a good life. That's what the Church of Christ will teach. Church of Christ, you know, if you listen, they have like seven points of salvation. Their first four are pretty good. It's like, hear the Gospel, and then, you know, hear it from God's Word, and then you've got to believe it, and then you've got to put your faith in it, and it's like, yeah, I agree, agree, agree, and then all of a sudden it turns into baptism, do works, and then persevere to the end. And it's like, the last three are just damned to heresy. So you have to make sure that we have the right Gospel. Why? Well, he already told us, if you believe something different, you believed in vain. You know what that tells me? Your Gospel must be 100% accurate to be saved. You can't take one part of the Gospel out and be a little off and still be saved. You have to have the Gospel dialed in. It's 100%. Now, look, there's a lot of doctrines of the Bible. There's a lot of things to be understood. There's a lot of things where there's even, you know, differing opinions and interpretations. But when it comes to the Gospel, there's one Gospel, it's crystal clear, and you have to believe it exactly right or you're not saved. There's not another Gospel. There's not another option. That's why it's important for us to teach exactly what the Gospel is, and look, we do that daily. People are going out soul winning from our church almost every day of the week preaching the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's something we ought to continue until Jesus comes. Until I don't have breath or Jesus comes, we ought to continue to champion the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and don't let liars come around and tell you, oh, everybody's saved. It's not a big deal. We all kind of believe in Jesus. You know, let's just all get along. Let's all get a club together. We're all on the same team. Well, do you believe Paul's Gospel? Because if you don't, you're not on my team. You're an anathema maranatha. You can be accursed. That's how I feel about you. It's that sharp of a division, and it's important for us to stick to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is he even bringing up the Gospel? Because there's people that are taking a portion of the Gospel and throwing it in the trash. Now the death, burial, they're pretty good with that part, but there's a group in their church that are denying the resurrection, and now he's going to give us some explanation about that resurrection. He's reminding them, when I came and preached you the Gospel, my Gospel contained the resurrection. It's a real crucial point. He's saying here in verse number five, he says, And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain under this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. Now this is very important. What is he trying to emphasize? The apostle Paul is emphasizing the witnesses of the resurrection. He's saying, how come we believe in the resurrection? Well he was seen of Cephas, then he was seen of five hundred brethren, then he was seen of James, then he was seen of all the apostles, and then last me. I was the last one. You know what makes you an apostle? One of the most important facts about being an apostle is that you witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection. Not just before, after. You were a witness of his literal bodily resurrection. You know the apostles didn't go out preaching a blind faith. They preached a faith that they saw. In fact, they even handled him. He said, handle me. The Bible talks about him having many infallible proofs. This is a very important point that we understand. Go if you would to Acts chapter number one, Acts chapter number one. The gospel that we believe in came to us from eyewitnesses. From people that literally saw the resurrected Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ spoke to them, talked to them, gave them clear instruction, and then from them the gospel of salvation has gone from faith to faith. People have believed the gospel. Not everybody gets to see the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus even kind of, I don't know if rebukes the right word, approves Thomas in the fact that he didn't believe without seeing and he's saying, blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed. You know what? Every single Christian, every saved person has not literally seen the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. 99.9% of Christians, they never saw him. I don't have to see him. I see him through the scriptures. I see him through faith, through the hearing of God's word, but we have to understand that our faith is not a blind faith. It is coming from eyewitnesses and out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. God established his word based on his word and based on eyewitness testimony. The Bible says in Acts chapter number one, look at verse three, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So Jesus Christ, God in his wisdom, he understood that when these men go out and they start preaching the resurrection, it's going to be hard for a lot of people to want to believe that. So he wanted to make it crystal clear to these apostles, to these people that are going to dedicate their lives, put their own lives in jeopardy for him, hey, I really rose again. So that's why he's eating. That's why he's having them handle him. That's why he's with them for 40 days. He was showing himself unto them multiple times. He's standing there. He's preaching to them. The walk to Emmaus, they're like, man, didn't our heart burn within us when we walked with them? And he was preaching us the Bible and he just showed us verse after verse after verse of how you must suffer first and then be risen again. And they knew the scriptures and they're filled with the Holy Ghost. Why do they need so much power and so much might? Because, look, it's a hard journey to go out and preach the gospel to an entire world that's lost. They've never even heard the gospel. A lot of these people don't even know who God is. They're worshiping the unknown God. I mean, the apostle Paul is to come and preach in the whole Bible. So you know what? God in his wisdom, he gave them many infallible proofs, hey, I'm the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And if we see here in verse eight, the Bible says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you should be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth. So who are the apostles? The apostles are the eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected. Now here's my question. How did you become an apostle? You had to see the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and guess what? He personally ordained you as an apostle. Where did you get your authority to be apostle? Jesus Christ. That's who gave you that power. That's who ordained you to be an apostle. That's why the apostle Paul had a special miracle where the Lord revealed himself unto him on the road to Damascus. Did he just do that to everybody? I mean who got saved by Jesus Christ appearing to you on your road down on a walk? I mean that was a special privilege for the apostle Paul. Why? Because he's going to be an apostle. That's how you become an apostle. There's no other way to become an apostle. I can't just annoy, apostle Shelley. That would be false doctrine. And look, there's a lot of people alive today calling themselves apostles. You can go up and down the street and there'll be apostles so and so and this apostle. Look they're all false teachers. They're all liars. They didn't see the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. You had to be a witness of his resurrection. That's the point of being an apostle. That's why they had the signs of an apostle. When they go out and they lay hands on people and they just recover. Whenever they can just cast out demons. They can drink a deadly poison or be bitten by a serpent and it doesn't even harm them. I mean the heathen looking at these guys like, you're a god. Because of how much power that God gave them. Why? Because he wanted the gospel to go out with power. He wanted people to actually believe his word and to have a lot of power with it and to see the miracles and so they could have a powerful testimony when they're going out and preaching the gospel. It's pretty hard to deny that God is with you when you're just healing every single person. You're casting out demons. Nothing can harm you. Nothing can hurt you. You can tear the Bible upside down in another everywhere showing how Jesus Christ is going to come, that he was the resurrected son. Whenever they're going to the synagogue, they're confounding the Jews. They're going in and they're preaching with power and boldness and might. They're being whipped and imprisoned for the cause of Christ. These guys are not just your average Joe. You can't just, okay, let's line up some men and just start calling them apostles now. It's ridiculous. But some people, they have these weird false doctrines. Go to Luke chapter two, 24, Luke chapter 24 and I kind of grew up in the circles. I grew up in a charismatic, non-denominational church, so they're pretty weak on their false doctrine because they want as many people to come in as possible. But when you go to like the real thing, like on assemblies of God, church or these other, I mean, they're calling each other apostle and they're trying to do all the signs of apostle too. They're trying to speak in tongues and they're trying to cast out devils. I mean, some of these guys are snake handlers. I mean, they're literally dancing with the snakes and then the snake bites them and they die. It's like, I wonder how that happens. Why? Because the devil doesn't care about you. You're a pawn of the devil and whenever he sees fit, he'll just kill you in the mountains up there with your inbred brother. Luke 24, look at verse 33. So we have here who the context is talking about. It's talking about the apostles because we see the 11. Who's the 11? The 11 are the remaining disciples after Judas went and hung himself because he was a devil from the beginning, is what the Bible says. So that's who the context is that we're seeing. Look at verse 48. It says, So in Luke 24, it actually covers the same information as Acts chapter 1. They overlap just a little bit and Acts chapter 1, like all the Bible, gives us more detail. You know when the Bible overlaps on timeline, the second time you go through, it's giving you more detail, more explanation. In fact, the same occurs with pretty much all the gospels. You read about the passion of Christ, which is his death, pretty much going to the cross in Matthew, you get more information in Mark. Then you get even more information in Luke. Then in John, it's just like chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter at the end that's all talking about the moments leading up to his death. That's how the Bible works. And in Luke chapter 1, we clearly see that the apostles are the witnesses. That's what Jesus told them. Then he ascended up into heaven. Then they appoint another one, Matthias. He's also going to be a witness with them. And we had seen throughout Christ's ministry, he had ordained a few other people. He had ordained 70 others, other brethren. So there's other apostles. It's not just the 11 of Matthias and just Paul. There is other people that were ordained and we're reading through the Bible. It'll sometimes mention someone else that was an apostle. But we know how did they become an apostle? From Jesus Christ. That's how they became an apostle. Now go to Acts chapter number 13, Acts chapter number 13. But then there's people that get up and they just teach weird lies, weird false doctrine. You say, why? Well, whenever you have a doctrine that's false and you're clinging to it, you know what it's going to inevitably do to you? It's going to cause you to have to learn more false doctrine to try and excuse your false doctrine. I mean, and then you learn more false doctrine and more and more and it just grows and grows until you're just in weird heresy land. I mean, it's just like you're a cult and nobody can understand any things that you're teaching. Well, who's like that? Well, here's a guy named Adam Fanon who left our church and this guy, he's clinging to all kinds of weird false doctrines. Well, he made some video and he literally teaches that the apostle Paul and Barnabas were appointed as apostles by the church in Acts 13. It says in Acts 13 verse 1, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manion, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where into I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. So in Acts chapter number 13, we have a story where there's a bunch of Christians at the church of Antioch and it identifies for us who we're talking about at the beginning, doesn't it? Prophets and teachers. Now who's the prophet and the teacher? Probably your ordained leadership in the church. Now in these churches, we see a lot of these churches have multiple leaders. The church at Jerusalem has multiple elders. Some of these churches are running thousands. So of course it would make sense that you'd have multiple elders, multiple bishops, multiple deacons, multiple abandons, multiple ordained people. So what's happening? Well, just imagine if we had five elders at our church. We're running a lot more people. We have five elders. And we say, you know what? We want these two other elders to be sent somewhere else to start a church or to plan a church or do some kind of work. So you know what? We look at the scriptures. We see what the Bible says. And by faith of the Holy Ghost, bring in remembrance, Christ's words, we decide to send two people out according to the scriptures to fulfill that commission. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Now here, where does it talk about the congregation? It doesn't. It talks about these men. It says there's Barnabas, Simeon, Lucis, Manion, and then also Saul. So we have five guys and it says that they had fasted and they prayed and they laid their hands on them and they sent them away. It's not even talking about the congregation. Now this is what this liar said. He said, see, the whole congregation ordained these guys to try and prop up his weird congregation ordination doctrine, which I'm not going to sit here and preach against because if you believe that, you're an idiot, but basically if you believe that, you think that you and two buddies can go out and just start a church and call each other pastor. I mean with congregation ordination, but here we have an example of men that are already prophets and teachers and this is what this liar said. He said, well, they're called prophets here, but then later they're called apostles, ergo, this is when they got ordained as an apostle. Let me prove to you why that's a wicked false doctrine. First of all, I can't appoint anybody an apostle. You know who appoints them? Jesus Christ. You have to be a witness of Jesus Christ. That's the whole point of what we're learning in 1 Corinthians 15, you moron. Go to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1, let me help debunk this garbage thought because he's saying, well, they're called a prophet here. Here's the reality. You can be more than just a prophet. You know you could be a prophet and a teacher? You know you could be a prophet and a teacher and an apostle? Just ask the apostle Paul. He tells us twice in 1 and 2 Timothy that he's ordained an apostle and a prophet and a teacher and a preacher and he's just like, hey, I'm ordained as everything. Let me prove to you that the apostle Paul was not ordained as an apostle by men. Galatians 1 verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Notice the apostle Paul, he wanted to put it in twice, hey, it's not of men, it's not by men. It was by Jesus Christ. That's why I'm an apostle, this lying devil, but he has to get up and just preach all kinds of weird heresy and lies to try and prop up his other false doctrines, his other damnable heresies. He's a wicked teacher, wicked false prophet. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I'd love to just preach on that, but we got a lot of verses in 1 Corinthians 15. We ought to understand who the apostles are and it helps us because the apostle Paul tells us he was the last one. So if he is the last one, then how come Barnabas becomes an apostle later in Acts chapter 13? That would also contradict that too, wouldn't it? Speaking of this guy's teaching, I mean, this guy doesn't read the Bible. This guy is just a wicked devil. Look at verse number 9. The Bible says, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so you believe. So the apostle Paul is giving us some good doctrine here. First of all, he's saying the past isn't that important. Some people, they have more grace given unto them than others. If you were raised in a Christian home, you were raised an independent fundamental Baptist, you were raised with good values and morals, you might be a lot more godly than some other person that was raised in a home that was not godly, that didn't have the gospel, that learned a lot of bad things, that did a lot of bad things, and God had to give more grace unto you. But the apostle Paul says, I am what I am. You know what? We ought to embrace who we are. We ought to just embrace who you are, embrace the grace that God has given unto you, and just say, you know what? I might have been something in the past, but by God's grace I stand. But by God's grace I'm saved. But by God's grace I'm here, and I have this ministry. The apostle Paul went out with great boldness. The apostle Paul did more than all the other apostles, even though he was last to the party. You know, nothing's stopping anybody from this room from being the greatest man to ever live at this time. The only thing that's stopping you is you. You are what you are, but you know what? You ought to let God work mightily through you by his grace. And we all need grace. Nobody's standing here. I'm not standing here because I earned it and deserved it. I'm standing here by grace, just as much as anybody else. We all have God's grace bestowed upon us, and he gives us great gifts. You know, the apostle Paul says that he was put into the ministry, and he was very thankful that he was put into the ministry. And he noticed, he makes mention, well, it wasn't in vain, though. Even though it's by grace that I'm here, I took full advantage of the grace that God gave to me. And you know what? If God gives you mighty grace, you do well to utilize that grace to his benefit. I mean, if you have, you say, man, I should be like dead in a ditch. Well, don't just waste your life still. Go ahead and do something mighty for God then. You say, God spared me from a lot of things and helped me with a lot of things and graciously given me a lot of these things. So you might as well use those things to your advantage. And the apostle Paul is saying, though, even though he might have worked more abundantly than they all, even though he's one of the greatest apostles in our mind, or even if he was the least in his own mind, it doesn't matter. The gospel is still the gospel. That's what he's trying to say in verse number 11. He's saying, whether it's I that preached you the gospel, or Peter, or John, or James, or Barnabas, or any of the apostles, it doesn't matter. The gospel is the gospel. And we believe the gospel. You know what doesn't make anybody special in this room? Who got you saved? If it was a soul winner, if it was a video online, if it was a great pastor, if it was just a layman, if it was a little child, you know, it doesn't matter. The gospel saves. And we ought to just put our power and faith in the gospel. Some people look at me and they say, man, I just feel like my gospel had a lot of power when I went out this time. What does that mean? The gospel has power, period. Whether you're delivering it the best way you possibly can or not, the gospel has power. It's not less powerful with a five-year-old boy and more powerful with a pastor, or vice versa. The gospel has power. So if you want to preach with power, preach a clear gospel. That's how you have power. It doesn't matter who the messenger is. Don't care about the message, name in. Just jump in the Jordan, okay? Just dip seven times and be clean. That's what the Bible teaches. Look at verse 12. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? So notice this important verse. He's identifying there's some people in our church that are unsaved. He already told us before, hey, if you don't believe what I told you, you're not saved. You believed in vain. And if there's somebody in your church that denies the resurrection, they're not saved. You must believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, Romans 10, 9 clearly articulates it, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Notice that's an important factor, the resurrection. And he's saying some of you guys are going around teaching there's no resurrection. What a shame. What a shame to have that kind of false doctrine in your church. You know what, if it can happen in the first Corinthian church, it can happen in our church too. I say first Corinthian in the fact that it's the first church there in Corinth, right? The first church after Christ. He says later, he says in verse number 13, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? He's saying when you attack the resurrection, you're attacking the gospel. He says in verse 14, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also in vain. So you could believe 90 some percent of the gospel 100 percent accurate, but as soon as you drop the gospel, it's all in vain. There's no point to it. And that applies with every single point. If your God is not the God of the Bible, if you believe that Jesus Christ is not the son of God, he's just God the Father masquerading himself as a son, not saved. You can't deny some part of it. Well Jesus, he wasn't really God-man in the flesh, not saved. Well I don't know, did he really die? Yeah, he really died. He really went to hell. If you deny the death, you're not saved. If you deny who Jesus is, if you deny the death, if you deny the burial, if you deny the resurrection, I don't care what part, you believed in vain. The Mormons believe in vain today. So many Christians so-called today believe in vain today. The Catholics believe in vain today. Why? Because they don't have the faith part. They don't believe in eternal security. Look, you need all of the gospel. We can't just hand people a part of it that sounds good. We can't boil it down to the part that everybody believes in. And look, that's what most people have done today. They pretty much boiled it down to, well Jesus died, he was buried and rose again, so everybody that thinks that's a true statement is saved. It doesn't matter what your Jesus is. It doesn't matter if there's variation there. It doesn't matter if you think it's by works. I mean, whatever, just some variation of that, you're saved. Well guess what? This chapter is teaching us very clearly, you have to have all the facts dialed in. And the resurrection is not a point where we can vary. It says in verse number 15, Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not of. Just so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins. Then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. He's saying, if there's no resurrection, we're just liars. He's saying, everything that I've built my entire life on is a lie. Go to Romans chapter 4. He says, and if that's true, you're in sin still, because the only way that you are going to overcome sin is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some people go to a weird extreme and say when Christ said it is finished, that that was all needed, that was all that was needed to pay for our sins, but that's not true. Jesus Christ had to rise from the dead. He had to conquer death and hell for us so that we could be resurrected with Him. We're resurrected through Him and with Him, not on our own. If Christ had just died and gone to hell like every other man that was unsaved before Him did, that wasn't special. What was special is that He rose again from the dead. What was special is the fact that He was sinless and He took our sins upon Himself. That's what was special. What was special is that God the Father raised up the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what makes it different. If you deny the resurrection, you're denying what makes it different. In Romans chapter 4, let's look at verse number 25. The Bible says, Who is delivered for our offenses? So Christ died and He took all of our sins, but notice this, and was raised again for our justification. Notice what that's teaching. What that is teaching is that He rose again for us so that we could be justified. We are justified through His resurrection. Keep your finger here because we're going to come back, but go back to 1 Corinthians 15 and look at verse number 19. Verse number 19, the Bible says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. He's saying nobody has a worse life than the apostles if the resurrection is not true. This is a horrible story. You're telling me I'm getting shipwrecked and beaten and tortured and happen to travel and go through all these pains and sufferings and famines and all this just for nothing? Because if there's no resurrection, why don't we just eat, drink until we die? Let's just have as much fun as humanly possible. You know what the apostles are not doing? Having as much fun as possible. Let me tell you, if you decide to serve Christ like the apostle Paul, it's not a party in the flesh. Contrary to most popular prosperity gospel creatures. Where living for Christ is just a party on earth and in heaven. It's just like, sweet! We get all the money and all the blessings and every wonderful thing and every toy and every present and come fly on our jet with us and then we get to go to heaven. Whoo! That's not the gospel. That's not what the apostle Paul was like. He was saying, I'm miserable. I'm the most miserable person on the planet. If what I'm doing is in vain. If me going out and preaching the gospel and saying that we're going to be resurrected with Christ is not really going to happen, then my whole life has been in vain. He says in verse number 20, he says, but now is Christ risen from the dead. So he makes a bold statement. He just says, let me just tell you clearly, Christ is risen from the dead. He says, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So according to the Bible, we are dead in our old man and we're alive through Jesus Christ's resurrection. That's how we have the new man is through his resurrection. Go back to Romans chapter six, Romans chapter number six. Look at verse number three. The Bible reads, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with them by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For we've been planted together in the likeness of his death. We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with them, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now, the picture of baptism in and of itself destroys the false doctrine of denying the resurrection because guess what? Nobody would survive my water baptism if there wasn't a resurrection. All right, we're done. Next, is he coming out of there? How does that work? Look, the whole point of you coming out of the water is to picture the resurrection. If there's no resurrection, we all die by baptism. You know what? It was symbolic. It's symbolic of the fact that our old man died with Christ and what? That were risen up with him so that we can walk in newness of life. We can walk in that new man. The picture doesn't even make sense if you don't have the resurrection. And notice it's important to have the resurrection because we're going to be in his likeness. We're going to be in the likeness of his resurrection. Now go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I love Romans 6 as a good example of teaching people baptism. If I get someone saved and I kind of want to show them some verses, I show them those few verses, you know, talking about how we're buried with them. And the point of being risen again is so that we can walk in newness of life and trying to serve God and doing things differently. The Bible says in verse 23, it says, So we get a lot of deep doctrine here when we get to some of these verses, but we're basically being explained what's going to happen at the very end of time, at the very end of all things, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he has to physically reign on this earth. Jesus Christ will literally reign on this earth, but he did not come the first time to reign. He came the first time to serve. He came the first time to seek and to save that which is lost, to give his life a ransom for many. The Bible teaches that he must needs first suffered, but Jesus Christ will literally reign on this earth. Now you think things are going to go pretty well when Jesus Christ is literally ruling and reigning. Wouldn't that be a great day? It's not Donald Trump. It's Jesus Christ who's in charge. Hey, I think things are going to be a little bit different. He's going to rule with a rod of iron, not a rod of limp wrist or bronze wrist, whatever Donald Trump has. I don't know. But we see that the time is going to be great for that thousand year. And at the very end, after his reign, there's going to be the final battle, the battle of Gog and Magog. And then eventually death itself will be destroyed. Death itself is the last enemy. And the Bible teaches this. Go to Revelation chapter 20, go to Revelation chapter number 20. And we have a lot of good doctrine here. It's teaching how the son himself is also subject unto the father. It gives us the caveat saying, hey, when all things are under him, it's manifest that he which did put all things under him is accepted. Saying what? God the father is not technically under the Lord Jesus Christ. God the father is still there at the authority above the son and is saying after Jesus Christ has done everything, he's going to turn the kingdom up unto God the father. This is what the Bible very clearly teaches. We see the distinction from God the father and God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see in Revelation chapter 20 verse 12, and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were open and another book was open, 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. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in them and death and hell were delivered up the dead, which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. So what happens? Well, there's a great white throne judgment after the battle of Gog and Magog, which was in verse number eight. And then we see there's a great white throne judgment where everyone that's dead is judged. Now that's not you and me that's saved. If you're saved, you shall never die. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this is what the Bible says. So whenever you're dead, that means you're in hell. That's the location. Death is the state, the status. You're dead. And the Bible talks about, you know, their bodies or whatever and see or whatever, but they're going to be delivered up for one last resurrection. And no matter who you are, you get resurrected. You can either be resurrected in a life or you can be resurrected under damnation. This is the resurrection nobody wants to be a part of where all of your works are judged. That sounds rough. I mean, praise God. My memory is not that, you know, good, but I can't remember everything I've done, but the things I can remember, I wouldn't want to be mentioned before everyone, all of my works. That's horrible. You know, there's so many bad things about hell. This is one of them for me. The shame, the embarrassment, the ridicule of all. I mean, think about the politicians. That's going to take forever. Their works. Hillary Clinton. I mean, good night. Everything's going to be made manifest. That's horrible. Adolf Hitler, you know, Mother Teresa, all her horrible works. Everybody thought she was so great. All these false prophets, you know, all the wicked people, they're going to be judged according to their works. But we notice it says in verse 14, and death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death and whosoever is not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. So even death itself will be cast into the lake of fire. That is the second death. Now, the Bible is crystal clear about the first death and the second death. I've heard some people mistakenly say, like, the first death is your physical body and the second death is your soul going to hell. That's technically wrong. Technically speaking, the first death is going to hell. The second death is being cast into the lake of fire with hell, with death and hell, and with everybody else that's dead. That's what the second death is. So whenever I'm explaining Romans chapter 6, 23 to people, I just say, hey, for the wages of this death, we're all going to die one day. And if I were to die, there's one or two places I could go, heaven or hell. That's an accurate statement. You know, it wouldn't be accurate to say the first death is, you know, physical and the second death because whosoever liveth and believeth me shall never die. So you know what? Someone who's saved will never taste of death. Now, obviously, we're going to shed our physical body, but that's not considered death in that way. You know, we're going to physically die in a sense that my physical body is going to perish, but I, as a person, will not perish. My physical body is not who I am. My old man was crucified when I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when I died. I died the moment I believed on Jesus Christ. Now, we have here in verse 21, or chapter 21, verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband, and I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. So we see the exact same order of events that we had in 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15. Christ is going to reign, then Christ is going to defeat death, then Christ is going to subject himself and deliver up the kingdom unto God the Father, and he's going to dwell with us, and he's going to be our God, is what the Bible teaches. And you know what? They'll look at other verses, they'll say, oh, only the saved are going to go into the nations. And it's like, yeah, well, guess who's left to save? Everyone that's not saved has been cast in a lake of fire. So somebody would teach this weird doctrine of, like, only the really good Christians get in all the good stuff in Revelation 21 and 22. No, guess what? Everybody's saved. Now, obviously, there's going to probably still be some kind of status and authority or whatever, but guess what? We all get to enter in, we all get to have God the Father, you know, be our God. There's not, like, this distinction. So go back to 1 Corinthians. Well, look at a few more verses there. Look at verse number 4. He says, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. That's incredible. No death, no crying. Obviously, we know that women are going to be in heaven. I don't know how that's going to work out. It says, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. I mean, it's going to be glorious. It's going to be truly paradise. We have in verse number 5, and he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. So we see the glorious end. The ending is we're reconciled unto God the Father, that there's no more death, there's no more sorrow. That's the glory of the resurrection. It's new. It's not going to be like this. The former things are going to be passed away. We're not even going to remember the former things. There's not going to even be pain and sorrow. You can't remember this life and not have sorrow. That's incompatible. We're not even going to remember what it's like. It's going to be so glorious. That's why, when you think about the fact that you're going to be in eternity forever and forget all of this, why are you laboring for the temple? Why are you laboring for the present? Why are you laboring for the things that are here? You won't even remember. You're going to go into a greater resurrection. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15. This is the driving point of this chapter. This is where the Apostle Paul is leading us to is the emphasis of the resurrection. Now that should motivate us to do spiritual things. It says in verse 29, He's saying, Look, if there's no resurrection, my life is pointless because I'm lying. He's going around lying about a resurrection. He's saying, you know what I should be doing? I should be at the bar and drinking and just having fun and going out and satisfying every single one of the lusts of my flesh because I'm never being resurrected. YOLO, you only live once. I mean, that's that mentality. That's that type of lifestyle. But he's like, you know what? No resurrection. It should be YOLO, you only resurrect once. Sorry, that was kind of, you know, on the fly. Look at verse 33. So notice some people have false doctrine here. Some people are not even saved in their own church because they're teaching the false doctrine. And he's trying to warn them. He's saying, look, don't be deceived. People that are corrupting the gospel, they're going to hurt you. They're going to harm your church. Evil communications corrupt good manners. If you go around teaching that there's no resurrection, then what's the point of serving God? And obviously, this is a pretty extreme example. You know what? There's a lot of people that teach a lot of false doctrine and it gets people away from serving God. They'll attack the local church. They'll attack, hey, you shouldn't even be going to a church that has a pastor from afar. Trying to discourage people from going to a good church, serving God, and winning souls of Christ, won't they? Liars, devils, going out, teaching all kinds of wicked false doctrine, discouraging people. That wicked Adam Fanon saying that in Revelation chapter number two that the first works aren't even soul winning. It says, like, the least application applied to that verse. It's more about brotherly love. We've got to love each other. We've got to love all the heretics and devils and whatever that's in our church. Look, there's people, they'll buy in to all kinds of weird false doctrine. What can't trust Pastor Sholee, so I'm just going to go do nothing. Don't trust me. When did I ever say trust me above the Bible? You've got to not trust any man above the Bible. You've got to put all your faith and trust in God's word. You know what? You better go to a church where they're going out and preaching the gospel because you don't want to be a castaway. You don't want to be the withered fig tree that God's looking at producing no fruit and saying, well, there's no point. I guess bring it home. Look, there's going to be so many attacks. There's going to be so many things that try to get you off preaching the gospel, even false doctrines. And he's saying, don't let these evil communications come into your heart and ruin you from serving God. There's so many good people that get corrupted on false doctrine, on bad ideas, on some kind of misunderstanding. Look, always try to reconcile, always get back with the Lord, go to church, read your Bible, serve God. There's plenty of people. There's so many people I've talked to in just this week where there's been so much turmoil and problems and struggles. And things that are trying to get them away from serving God. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. I don't think of myself myself. There's so many pain and troubles and things that are going to happen in our life. You know what? Who cares? I'm going to forget it all. Matthew chapter number six says, don't lay up treasure for yourself on earth where moth and rust are corrupt and thieves break through and steal. Look, it sucks when people steal stuff from you and things get ruined and things are broken. There's all these problems and stuff goes bad, but you know what? In heaven, I won't have any of that because there's no sorrow. There's no pain. So cares now. I'm going to forget it all. You know what? I got to keep going out and preaching the gospel and staying steadfast to the word of God. Let's keep reading. You just get, you get fired up already. All right. He says, verse 35, but some men will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come? People always asking stupid questions. Well, how does it work? Oh, by faith, verse 36, thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die and that which thou sowest thou sowest, not that body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds. What are they saying? You know, the same material that a piece of grain is, is not the same as wheat. They're different looking. They're different texture. They're different molecule structure, you know, molecule structure. There's a lot of different things about them. You know, the grain has to go into the ground and die so that it can what become wheat, you know, the caterpillar and the locust. I mean, these things, things, I'm sorry, the caterpillar turns into butterfly, right? The caterpillar has to kind of go in this weird state and then all of a sudden it comes out and becomes a butterfly and they're completely different. The caterpillar, nobody wants to touch. They're gross. They're slimy. They're weird. They're fuzzy. But children love butterflies and you know what, we all look like a bunch of caterpillars today, but one day we'll be butterflies. One day we'll actually be, you know, glorious looking, you know, who cares what caterpillar you look like now, you'll be a butterfly one day. You know, you might be weak now, but you'll be great later. And look, there's all kinds of different flesh. The Bible is going to tell us this. It says in verse 40, look at verse 40. There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory is of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. Celestial just means heavenly. Okay, terrestrial just means earthly. If you think of the Spanish word, la tierra, la tierra represents the earth, terrestrial is of the earth, celestials of the heaven. So when he's saying, look, there's some things that are the heavenly bodies, there's some things that are the earthly bodies, then he's going to give a list of the heavenly bodies. Look at verse 41, there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star differth from another star in glory. So notice the heavenly bodies, the celestial bodies, the sun looks different than the moon, and the stars look different than all of them, and they all shine with different brightness. And in glory, in our resurrected state, we are going to shine different than one another. So there's going to be a variance between us. It says in verse 42, so also is the resurrection of the dead, it is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonored is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. You know, whatever physical weakness you have today, you're going to have power in the resurrection. If you're short, if you're tall, if you're big, if you're small, if you're weak, whatever, you're going to have power in the resurrected state. You know, some people go their whole life weak. Guess what? You can be raised with power in the resurrection. Even the apostle Paul was accused of being contemptible in the flesh, but I bet he's shining bright in his resurrected state, and he has a lot of power. That's a great verse. I mean, some people are afraid, like, is my, you know, knee pain going to go into heaven with me? No, healed. Whatever ailments and problems, and there's no more sorrow, there's no more pain, you're going to have power. It says in verse 42, or I'm sorry, it says in verse 44, it is sown in natural bodies raised in 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. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven, as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So, he's telling us that we have a natural body today, but sometime in the future, we're going to shed our natural body, and we're going to put on a spiritual body. Now, some people, they get so obsessed today about the natural body. Let me throw out a word that's going to offend you, organic. Everything's got to be natural. Look, I'm not against organic, I'm not against natural, but you know what's more important than either of those? Spiritual. I'd rather destroy my physical body and be concerned about the spiritual, than be all hyped up on the organic. And you know who often loves to shop at Whole Foods? Fags. It's weird. I hate it. You go to one of these natural, healthy places, they're usually loaded with fags. You know why? Because they don't have any hope in the resurrection. So they're just trying to preserve that natural diseased, filthy, vile, disgusting body they have, as much as they can. They're pumping it with AIDS, and thinking that an organic orange is going to help. Obviously, it's ludicrous. But look, I'd rather pump it full of McDonald's and God's word, than the best food on this planet and the NIV. Look, we ought to be concerned with the spiritual things in our life. Godly exercise profiteth little, but godliness, you know, I'm losing the verse off the top of my head. But godliness is profitable in all things, in this life and also in the next, is what the Bible says. So it's more important that we focus on our spiritual body. What are you focused on tomorrow? Your natural body or your spiritual body? Because the natural guy, oh, let's make sure we have all the natural stuff and the organic stuff and no GMOs and none of this stuff. Look, everything will kill you. I could find an article online that says water will kill you. Everything's killing you. Everything's bad. We're all going to die. I'm not so worried about my natural body. I'm much more concerned about my spiritual body. That's why when I wake up, I ought to care about this KJV, not GMO. GMOs, the NIV, you know, throw that one in the trash. Go to First John Chapter three. I want to look at another place. It says, as we've borne the image of the earth, you were also going to bear the image of the heavenly. Now, other weird false teachers like Peter Ruckman, he was from Florida. He was from Pensacola. Can any clean thing come out of Pensacola? He knows from Pensacola, Adam Fanon. Sam Gipp. Let's just keep naming the names. I mean, it's ridiculous. No, not one. I feel like I'm one of those guys. This is all creations of their lives. I'm sure there's a godly person in Pensacola. God bless you. OK, whoever you are. Come visit our church. We'll shake your hand. All right. You get an ice cream. First John Chapter three. Look at verse one. Now, Peter Ruckman taught that from this verse that every single person in heaven is a 33 year old picture of Jesus Christ. Like, there's no women because women become a 33 year old version of Jesus Christ. We're all 33 year old perfect images of Jesus Christ, like robots, like iRobot or something. False doctrine. OK, First Corinthians 15 tells us very clearly how that's false, because he tells us that in the same way that we bear the image of Adam, we're going to bear the image of Christ. Now, let me help you out. We don't look like perfect images of Adam. I don't see a bunch of Adams. I see a bunch of different people today. What does he mean by the same way that we bear the image of Adam? We're all man. You know what? I don't see a bunch of panda bears and lions and tigers and caterpillars. I see people. That's what it meant by we were going to be in Adam's image, just like we're in God's image. When it says that man's in God's image, it doesn't mean that he looks like a culmination of all of us. It means that he's a man. It means that a man looks like God in the same way. So we're going to bear the image of Christ in a way that we're going to have the same type of flesh, whatever that is, the spiritual body, whatever that looks like, how it's glorious, how it's perfect, how it's incorruptible. That's the way that we're going to look like Christ. If we go back to First Corinthians 15, let's finish this chapter. We can get a little idea. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but we see Jesus Christ transfigured on the mount. A couple things that it talks about him is the fact that his face shone as the sun. That's intense. You can't even look at the sun. You can barely look at the sun. It's really hard. It even said that their clothing shone as white. It was white raiment that was so white you can't even get it as white on this earth. There was no fuller that could white it. It's just shining so bright. That's the type of glory that Jesus Christ had. So that in some way is going to be like us. It says in verse 50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain, end the Lord. Now it's great to end on this verse because we finally get the context. What is the context of that great verse that we name our church on? You're not going to live in this natural body forever. You're going to be resurrected. So therefore, what kind of person ought you to be? Therefore, what type of life should you live? Should you only sow to the flesh? Should you only sow to that natural body? Or should you only be concerned with that resurrected body? The new one. The one that's going to come in the future and be for eternity. You're not even going to remember. That's why you need to be steadfast. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. That's why our church needs to emphasize soul winning. Soul winning as much as possible, and preaching the gospel, and reaching the lost, and doing the works of the Lord, and emphasizing the work of the Lord, and preaching the word, and following all of his commandments, because that's the only thing that matters. The only thing that matters. Go to Hebrews chapter 6, the last place I'll have you turn. Hebrews chapter number 6. If you have all of your faith in your eyes to the resurrection, it'll motivate you to keep working hard. It'll motivate you to be focused on the work of the Lord and not the things of the flesh. You know, sufficient in the days the evil thereof. Every day has evil. Every day has problems. Every day has issues. We ought to be concerned about our spiritual body. We ought to be concerned about the resurrection. We ought to be concerned about being steadfast. Not in name, but in reality. What is reality? When things go bad. When your pastor is caught with hookers. That's a tough time. Whenever someone in your family is sick. Whenever someone in the church is found out to be a pedophile. Oh, don't worry, that happens a lot, unfortunately. Whenever you find out that your best friend is lying about you and gossiping about you as a false prophet. When people are splitting your church. Whenever your best friend is a flat earther. You say, why are you bringing these things up? Because they've all happened this year. I've heard people, they've got money stolen from them and they're losing their jobs. People are being thrown in prison. All these things are happening to people today. Guess what? Bad things are going to happen. When someone is lying about you and railing about you and saying all manner of evil against you, falsely. Whenever you have all kinds of problems and issues. Look, we're coming up on our 5 year anniversary and I hope to see everybody on our 10 year anniversary. Why? Because you're steadfast. You don't have to come to this church to serve God. God bless you if you go to another Bible-leaving church. God bless you if you serve Christ for your life. You don't have to come here. You ought to be in a church that loves the Lord. You ought to be in a church that's doing the works. Look at Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Thee be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Notice what the Bible's telling us. In Hebrews chapter 6, he's emphasizing the fact that after you're saved, you know what, your whole life's ahead of you still. And God is not going to forget your work and labor and love. God is going to reward you according to all of your works. And when we look at Abraham as an example, the Bible says he patiently endured. Does that sound like a life of joy? Patiently enduring. If you say, hey, how was church tonight? Well, I patiently endured. Doesn't sound like it's that great. Sounds like it was not the best thing ever, right? Don't tell your wife, you know, how was dinner? I patiently endured. How was your honeymoon? I patiently endured. I mean, look, this is not a mention of it being positive, is it? And we see, what did the Apostle Paul say? Hey, of all the men on the earth, I'm the most miserable if what I'm teaching is a lie. So notice the gospel is not a life of just constant joy and constant fun and constant satisfying the lust of the flesh. Look, there's going to be joy in the Christian life. There's going to be happiness. There's going to be good times. But let me warn you, there's going to be a lot of bad times here. A lot of tough times. Things you have to endure. Even Abraham. And Abraham was wealthy. But he still had to patiently endure. Abraham was blessed by God. He still had to patiently endure. Abraham had battles. Abraham had to go out and save his nephew and fight with people and battle and go to foreign lands. Abraham had a lot of struggle and strife in his life. And we're going to all have it. So we have to patiently endure. Look at verse 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus, made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So again, we have the same commandment. We need to be steadfast. Steadfast is not doing the right thing when it's easy. Being steadfast is doing the right thing when it's hard. When things are down. And you know what? I feel like things are going great for our church. So I think this is an out of season sermon for me. But that's why we go through the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I want to be steadfast no matter if it's good, no matter if it's bad, no matter what status we're in. And I hope that you're all going through a great season in your life. But the reality is some people might not. Some people might be going through struggles and problems. And how you really show that you're someone who's steadfast is you stick with it in a tough time. You patiently endure. Why? Because guess what? One day we're going to all be resurrected. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you for this great chapter. Thank you for the resurrection through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that we never let the gospel slip from our memory. That we go out and present the clear gospel. That we put our emphasis not on our natural body but on our spiritual body. And we just thank you that we don't have to suffer the pain and torment of death or of sin, but rather we get the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.