StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") As the deer that hath borne the harvest, O my soul, long have I waited here. You alone are my heart's desire, my love, to worship Thee. are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit keep. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship Thee. You alone are my strength, my shield, to You alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire and I long To worship Thee. Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me. You're my glory. You're the lifter of life. Are a shield about Thee, You're my glory, You're the victor of my days We hear a story from God's Word, and we will read it. ♪ Where I will be of sacrifice ♪ ♪ And I will go to places bright and free ♪ God's first wondrous story, By the dawn's redemption of man, Worship the Lamb of glory. ♪ On the cross God loved the world ♪ ♪ While all the powers of hell were hurled ♪ ♪ No one then could understand ♪ ♪ The one they saw was Christ the Lamb ♪ God's most wondrous glory. By the God's redemption of man, worship the Lamb of God. God's most wondrous glory, by the God's redemption fire makes their way down number 490 number 490 take my life and let it be shall we stand together and sing number 490 and let it be. God's gift may endure through me. Faith, I have found, and have proved that the impulse of my love, that the impulse of my love Take thy peace, and let them be, Spread their beautiful glory. Take thy joys, and let them be, All is holy for my King. All is holy for my King. May my lips ever be filled with the praise and glory. When I'm still more than I know, God, how I would I before. God, how I would I be. ♪ Take my blood, my God, I implore ♪ ♪ Act like me, this treasure store ♪ ♪ Take myself and I will be ♪ ♪ Ever, only, all for thee ♪ ♪ Ever, only, all for thee ♪ you I can hear the sounds of his coming everywhere In the headlines resounding by the score It may be another earthquake or just another war But to every child of God it's something more. And when I hear the sound of marching, hear the sound of battle cry, then I know that Lord is coming even now. And I can hear the sounds of His coming everywhere. They're getting louder and louder each day. And they'll crescendo until that great and final sound when the trumpet shall call I can hear the sound of fig leaves rustling in the summer breeze as I see the Lord restore Jerusalem and I can hear a sound from heaven As a rushing mighty wind, As God pours his Spirit out upon all men. And when I hear revival sounds, Not just here, but everywhere, Then I know it's all here The sound of his coming everywhere They're getting louder and louder each day And they'll crescendo until that great and final sound When the trumpet shall call me away And they'll crescendo until that great and final sound When the trumpet shall call me. I can hear the sound of fig leaves rustling in the summer breeze as I see the Lord restore Jerusalem. And I can hear a sound from heaven As a rushing mighty wind, As God pours His Spirit out upon all men. And when I hear revival sounds Not just here, but everywhere Then I know it's almost over I can feel it in the air And I can hear the sounds of His coming everywhere They're getting louder and louder each day. And they'll crescendo until that great and final sound when the trumpet shall call me away. And they'll crescendo until that great and final sound Let's take our Bibles this morning, please. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4. I had a different message lined up until that song came along, and I just, the Lord began to work in my heart. And we're going to look at the rapture this morning. Amen? Just, man, I don't know, if that doesn't get you excited, there's something wrong thinking that the Lord could come at any moment, and we better be ready. We better be ready. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, you know, sometimes I think, We read a passage of Scripture and then we stop too soon. You need to keep reading. There's more if how many of you for example, you know that verse we always quoted. I have not seen nor have you heard the things read the next verse. The next verse says we do know the Spirit has showed us. And so we talk about, we talk about, well, when we get to heaven, there's going to be, I believe that there'll be a lot of things we never expected. But you know, the Spirit of God has given us little bits and pieces along the way to keep us encouraged and to keep us hopeful and keep us going. And we miss that verse sometimes, but the Spirit of God has told us, those that believe. And 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is much the same. And, you know, I got thinking this morning and mulling it over in my head, and I want you to pray for Alice Smith, and that's Mrs. Dorkson's sister, and she's a little blue this morning. Of course, her sister's not doing very well at all. But, you know, if we look in the Scriptures, we can be encouraged that the Lord is coming soon, and that we'll all be together again real soon. A friend of mine, I talk about my friend all the time, Brother McKenzie, And his wife passed away just over a year ago in August. And he said this on the phone to me. He says, I'll be with her for a whole lot longer than I'll be without her. And you know, those are the thoughts that we cling to as Christians. You know, the very next thing on the prophetic calendar, if you will, the next thing that we have to look forward to is the rapture of the saints. And we're so thankful that God is coming to redeem his own. We're looking forward to that day. And I'm telling you, I'm not going to be sorry to leave this old world. I'm looking forward to that day and somebody has kind of coined it this way. The upper taker is better than the undertaker I would have to agree with that. Nobody wants to face death and death is the enemy as we know in 1st Corinthians and But one day we'll be able to say Oh death. Where is thy sting? Oh grave Where is thy victory and we have the victory in Christ Jesus? And so let's look at that a little bit this morning 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 I want you to look down in verse 13 the Bible says but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel. And with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." Let's pray together this morning. You've burned my heart about this topic just in the last few minutes, and I would pray that you would help us, Lord, to find the truths of God's Word concerning this next event where you come and take your church away. Father, I pray, Lord, that you would help each one of us to make sure that we examine our hearts and lives and be sure that we are ready for that moment, for that event, for that sounding of the trumpet, Lord, that signals the end of this age. Father, we must know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. If there's one here today that says, I've got 30, 40, 50 years to worry about that, if this trumpet sounds tomorrow, they don't. And so, Lord, I pray that you'd impress upon our hearts the urgency of this event, of Christ coming to receive his own. Father, fill me with thy Spirit. I'm going to need your help in a great way today, and I pray, Lord, that you'd speak through me. And Father, we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. The Bible says, "...but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." The church at Thessalonica was concerned. They had received the promise, just like everybody else, that Jesus Christ was coming again. Paul had preached it. It's a theme of his writings. You will find that I really believe that Paul thought that he would go at any time. He talked about in the last days several times. How many times did he refer to we are living in the last days and perilous times shall come and he talked over and over again about being in that last days and we still are. And I really believe that maybe Paul at some point in his ministry thought the Lord could come now. This is just a short time. Well you know through the passing of time scoffers have come along and they've said where is the promise of his coming? The Bible says of this they are willingly ignorant. They choose to decide because Christ has taken so long, and Christ hasn't come back in 2,000 years. They feel like maybe He's never coming back, and this is just a myth what the Word of God says. But the Bible answers that question, doesn't it? It says that God is not willing that any should perish, but He is long-suffering. And He's just waiting for more to get saved, waiting for more to come to Christ. And let me ask you this, my friend. Have you taken that step of trusting Christ as your Savior? Maybe you're the one He's waiting for. Maybe he's just waiting for that last soul to be saved. Maybe it's you that he's just holding up for and God will finally say to his son, go and get your children. The Thessalonians were worried because as they were waiting for the Savior to come, it seems like some of their friends were passing away. And they begin to ask the question, well what will happen to them? If the trumpet were to sound today and Christ were to come, what would happen to my mom, my dad, my friends that have died and they're laying in a grave somewhere? What would happen to them? And Paul said to them in Thessalonica, to the church of Thessalonica, I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. He says there's something that's going to happen to them as well. And the Bible goes on, it says that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. Now I want you to understand, there's a little bit of a, maybe a confusion here, because as we read the scripture, people will say, well when Christ comes, he will bring the dead back with him. That's not what the scripture's teaching. It means he will bring them too when he catches us up. He will bring them as well. And if you read the rest of the context, you will see that. It says for, verse 15, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. Just because you've escaped death, just because you were fortunate and blessed enough to be here when the Lord sounded the trumpet, or the archangel sounded the trumpet, and the Lord returned, do not think that we're going to prevent those that are in the grave. They're going to come too. And so the Lord will bring them with Him. And verse 16 confirms that. It says, For the Lord Himself shall descend from the heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And so that's the promise of scripture. I don't know about you today, but I have some family that's laying out in a graveyard. and their soul has been forever moved to be in the presence of the Lord. We understand that. But one day, the graves are gonna burst open wide, they're gonna be resurrected, and we're gonna be caught up forever to be with the Lord in the air. That's the promise of Scripture. There's gonna be a great reunion time. There's gonna be a great time of revival, if you will, and excitement as we see those graves. Can you imagine walking through the graveyard and they start busting open? You won't have time to be scared. Because in the very next moment, you'll be caught up. Forever be with the Lord. Now, you know, we talk about a rapture, and we talk about this word often, and you'll not find the word rapture in the Bible. You don't see that anywhere. But it's an anglicized term we find here in the Bible. The term, it says, they shall be caught up. That word caught up means a violent snatching away, that God will come and take you. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the twinkling of an eye has been estimated to be one one-thousandth of a second. Can you count that fast? I mean, just in a moment, you're gone. Disappeared. And the Bible says that word, that Greek word that we get the word caught up is the word that we have anglicized and we use the word rapture. It's the same thing, it's what it means. But I want you to notice some things about this rapture today. First of all, I want you to notice the dead in Christ go first. We sorrow a lot of times at the suffering and the deaths of loved ones. But you know, what a blessing to know that they are in the presence of God. That to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We're referred back to the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And the Bible says that the rich man looked across that great gulf of Thames and there he saw Lazarus in paradise. He saw him there resting in Abraham's bosom and being ministered to and being taken care of. And what a wonderful promise to know that those that have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior are forever in the presence of the Lord. But one day we will physically and bodily see them again as they are resurrected from the grave to forever be with the Lord. The Bible says then we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air And so shall we ever be with the Lord. One of my favorite songs is the song that Ruth and Meredith sing, The Resurrection Day. You girls sang that song, right? I think you got it probably from Pensacola, because they got it on one of their CDs. What a great song, that Resurrection Day. And the song is kind of like a ballad, isn't it? It tells the story of the events of that day. If you get to hear it, girls, get ready to sing that thing, all right? Have it tonight. But I just want to hear it. And it tells the story right from that whole day. Everything that's about to happen. And it's just so exciting about finally God just sits down and talks about having one foot in the sea and one on the earth. And He calls together from the four quarters of the earth all His very elect. Man, we ought to be excited about that. But the problem is most of us are scared of it. Are we ready to meet the Lord? But it ought to be a time of rejoicing. One of our, you know, every church kind of has a song, you know. Remember in the 80s and early 90s here, we always liked singing Save Saved. Man, we'd lift the roof off this place. That was our song, you know. Well, Faith Baptist in Hamilton, our song was What a Day That Will Be. when my Jesus I will see. I'm telling you, if there was ever a lull in the service, if things ever started getting sleepy, I'd just sing, hey, let's sing number 63, what a day that will be, and everybody, man, they'd jump up, and they'd get excited, and we'd start singing that song, and, I mean, right in the middle of the message, if I had to, if they're getting sleepy, we'd wake them up, say, let's sing that song, and sit back down, and I can preach another hour, all right? But, you know, the thoughts of that song, what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, that's the rapture. That's the privilege we have, children of God, of knowing that one day, and I believe very soon, that Jesus Christ is coming again, and the trumpet will sound, and the skies will open, and we'll be caught up forever to be with Him in the air. Now, I want you to read in chapter five. There's some problems we have here that often, I think, confuse believers. The Bible says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Now there's a lot of confusion here. A lot of people say, well, the Lord has not told us about the days or the seasons because no man knoweth the hour. Only the Father in heaven knoweth the hour. Well, I want you to notice that the hour is very different than seasons. The hour is a specific moment in time. And I can't honestly stand up here today and say, well, I believe that the Lord is returning on October 27th at 10.30 a.m. I can't do that. I don't know the hour. But I believe we can know the seasons. You say, well, how can we know the seasons? This is kind of contrary to what we've always been taught. I believe we can know the seasons because the Bible tells us all kinds of signs. Precursors, if you will. Now, a season could be a long time. I'm not talking about, you understand that seasons are different all over the world? You say, well, preacher, a season, you're talking about September 21st to December 21st. That's a three-month period of time. You're saying we can narrow it down to three months? I'm not saying that. I go to Africa and they only have two seasons. And we go to other places and their seasons are all different all over the world. So we have to understand that the season in the Lord's mind is very different. But I believe we can know a general idea when the Lord may come. I'm not saying the hour, we can't narrow it down. Because the Bible says this, look what it says in chapter 5. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. Now two things could happen. You have no need that I write unto you because you can't figure it out anyway. Or you have no need for me to write unto you because you already have a pretty good idea. I believe it's the latter. Look what the scripture says as we go on. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as surveil upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. So that's an obvious reference to the great tribulation period. Now look what it says in verse four though. We always seem to stop reading right there. We don't know the times, we don't know the seasons, we don't know the day. But look what it says in verse 4. But ye, brethren, those that are children of God, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. In other words, you ought not be surprised. It's different for us. I have not seen, read the next verse. It says the Spirit has shown you. You see, there's two different people that the Bible is written for, isn't there? There's the saved, and there's the unsaved. The unsaved, they're going to be shocked. They're going to be surprised. That day is going to overtake them as a thief in the night. And no man knoweth the hour. We don't know the hour. We can't predict the day. We don't know the time. But friends, we can know the seasons. And I'm going to tell you this, it seems like we're getting close to that midnight hour. It seems like we ought to be packed and ready to go. It seems like we are entering into those final minutes of the last days. Are you ready? He says, I don't need to tell you. And brethren, you don't need to be ignorant. That day shouldn't overtake you. You should not be surprised. Several years ago, I got a call after a prayer meeting one night, and it was, I guess it was about 9, 9.30 at night, and Mrs. Patterson called me, and she was an elderly lady, and she says, Pastor, my home's been broken into. So would you come down? You know, I'm just shaking. I said, sure, I'll be right there. And so I drove down and waited until the police got there with her, and her house was just ransacked. Just things were tore up all over the place and thrown down and broken and you know they just rifled through. And it scared her so bad. And you could just see she was just shaking, and just the invasion into her home and into her privacy. And I said, are you going to be okay? And I said, I'll get one of the ladies of the church to come over tonight and sleep in the house here with you and make sure that you're comforted. And she said, I need that. Please call somebody to come. And so we had a lady come over and stay with her for the night. And the police officer came and we took the report. And she says, you know, the thing that I guess really bothered me the most is I just never expected it would ever happen to me. She says, I don't have anything. She lived in a wartime home. The home was built specifically during the war because of the steel factories in Hamilton. They also had munition factories. They built bullets and bombs and things like that there in Hamilton. And so they took the old Parkdale Airport at the edge of town and they tore it down and they built all these little homes and they were only 20 by 20, 400 square foot homes. They just have two little bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and a kitchen, and a bathroom, and that's it. Just a square little house, like a cottage you would have today. And she said, so after the war, they decided just to sell them off. And she said, they were only meant to be temporary, and they were gonna tear them down, but they decided to sell them off, and she says, my husband's father bought this house for $3,000. And so she says, we've been living in this house for all these years, she says, but, she says, who would rob a tiny little house like this? She says, I don't have jewelry. I don't have anything expensive in my home. I'm not a collector of things. She says, I can't imagine, she says, of all the homes in Hamilton and some of the big mansions, why would they come to this little home and break in and try to rob from me? She says, I have nothing. And she says, you can see that looking at the front door. You see, it caught her off guard. That's how a thief in the night works. He comes when you least expect it. You're not planning on it. We lock our doors because we think of the possibility that a thief may come, but we're never expecting it. We're always caught off guard. Friends, that's how the world's going to react when the trumpet sounds. I can imagine that all kinds of world media, the very next moment, will be trying to explain it away. The Antichrist will step onto the scene and one of his great strengths is delusion. And he will deceive the entire world. into thinking that all the bad people are gone now. The troublemakers, the religious folks, that were divisive, they're all gone. But you know, friends, we'll be safe at home with the Father. You know, we need to understand that the time is short, and those that are left behind are the ones that ought to be our concern. The ones that are going to be deceived, the ones that are going to come under the Antichrist's reign, the ones that are left without really any preaching of the gospel until those witnesses come along and those 144,000. But what are they to do unless we tell them now? Unless we get the gospel out now, unless we prepare the ground and sow the seed now, how are they ever gonna come to a saving knowledge of Christ before that trumpet sounds? What the world needs is Jesus Christ. I wonder sometimes as I read my Bible, the Bible says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. I wonder if it's not just comfort for the Christian, but it's also a challenge for the Christian. Get out and win as many as you can now. Get out and save the lost. Get out and preach the gospel. The world is dying and lost, and if Christ comes back, they're gonna be shut out just like out of the ark, to die and go to a Christless eternity. The Bible says we are not in darkness. We are children of the light, it says in verse five. And the children of the day, we are not of the night, nor of the darkness. And look what it says, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, it is our responsibility to take that gospel message and preach it to a lost and dying world. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Did you find that song, girls? You got it ready? Amen. Alright. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I hear pages turning. I'll give you a second longer. Man, it's good to hear Bibles turning in church again. Amen. Used to hear beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Okay, there it is. Get your Bibles out, amen. You can't mark on a phone. Mark in your Bibles, amen. You take notes and underline and circle. I tell you, I got a new Bible about two years ago. I got a new Bible two years ago and I'm still using my old one. Because I can't let go of it. I've got too many notes in it. I've got too many things in the margins. Mark up your Bibles, amen? Get out the pen and paper and mark up your Bibles. I don't know why I said that, but I did. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. I saw this, literally, I saw this in the church on a nursery wall, this sign. It said this, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That's a good verse for a nursery. Verse 51, 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 have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have 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 gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. I want you to notice, if we'll go back to verse 50, we see, first of all, the hope of a Christian. The hope of a Christian. The Bible says, this I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Some might say to that, well, then how do we go to heaven? We are created to be eternal beings. How can we go to heaven if flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God? I am flesh and blood. And then the Bible goes on and says, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but here's the answer to the question, we shall all be changed. This corruptible will put on incorruption. And how many of you are glad for that? You know, it just seems like all we hear about today is sickness and decay and hurting. I got a wake-up call this morning about how our children think of us. Bethany was in my office, and Mr. Judge was in the office right next to me. Rob? And he called me on the phone. And I don't know if he didn't know where I was. I guess he had to know where I was if he called directly to my extension. But he called me, and he says, did you get that thing? I said, well, give me a minute. And I called him back, and I said, yeah, it seems to be working now. And we just were going back. It was a computer issue, and we were going back and forth. And Bethany was in my office, and she could hear his voice right through the door. Because there's a door right between our offices. And she says, are you talking to him in there? I said, yeah. She says, well, why don't you just get up and walk around there? She says, why doesn't Mr. Judge, if he's got something to say to you, just come over here and say it? You know, kind of practical, isn't she? And I said, well, why don't you go ask him that? I don't know why he didn't come over here. She goes, well, I can't speak to my elderlies like that. Now, we know she meant elders, but I think that's really what she thinks of us. Elderlies. We're 40. But you begin to realize that, boy, 40 years passes so quick. And then 50, then 60, then, you know, it just slips away. And we understand what corruptible means, don't we? When we sing that song, the things I used to do, I don't do them anymore, it has a whole new meaning to me. The things I used to do, I can't do them anymore. Amen? I talk to my kids and we say, yeah, Brendan will say, let's go play some ball, dad, or let's go do this or that. And I'm thinking, yeah, I can do that. Well, that means the last time I did that 20 years ago, I could do that. But my mind still says I can. But our bodies are corruptible, they're breaking down. You know, we started coming to this church in about 1975, 76, around, I don't, I can't remember the date. 75? 1975. And I've preached funerals for people that were Sunday school teachers and young, in my age, some 38 years ago. That's amazing to me, how quickly time flies, and how our bodies begin to break down. I've got to be honest with you, I'm so thankful that this corruption cannot put on, that flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God. We need to be done with this. How many of you, every time you hear about another case of cancer, say, man, I wish we were just done with this. But one day we will be. This corruption shall put on incorruption. Years ago, there was a young lady in our college group in Springfield, Missouri, and her name was Renee Bishop. And Renee got, she had cancer real bad. She was 19 years old, and she actually passed away from the cancer she had. And it wasn't long before she passed away, We had a college and career activity, and we'd gone on this hayride and stuff, and we were having a campfire after, and it was about October, I guess, and we were sitting around the campfire, and they were singing, and they were doing different things. And they were doing some testimonies, and she said, she said, my favorite verse of scripture is Psalm chapter 27, verse 13. I had fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. She says, I don't know if I'll ever be healed here, but I know I'll be healed there. I'll see His goodness there for sure. It was just a few weeks later, she passed away, and they shared that verse at her funeral, and I believe they even inscribed it on her tombstone. I'd have fainted. I'd have given up. I would have just packed it in unless I believed I would see His goodness in the land of the living. That corruptible body couldn't get there, but she got there with an incorruptible one. This corruption must put an end to corruption. I'm so thankful that the hope of a Christian is not just the rapture, it's release, isn't it? It's letting go of this filthy world. It's letting go of these corruptible bodies. It's a change that takes place and we'll forever be with the Lord in that condition. Turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Bible says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. I want you to focus in on that first part of the scripture where it says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. You know you don't know the power of His resurrection unless you first know Him. If you know Jesus Christ, you can have this hope today that not only may we be raptured, but if we're not raptured, we'll be resurrected. And when we are resurrected, we will have this new body in Christ Jesus, be made perfect, that I may know Him. Do you know Him today? And then back in 1 Corinthians 15, we don't just see the hope of a Christian, we see the victory of a Christian. Verse 54, it says, 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. The Bible says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the power of Jesus Christ. That's the power of the resurrection. Not only does it give us hope here on earth, it gives us victory one day. One day we can look back, the Bible says that the strength of the sting of death is sin. Because of our sins, we deserve death and we are bound for death, but because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary, we can be made incorruptible. That corruption will put on incorruption and that mortality, that means that body that will one day die, we are mortal creatures, immortality so that we will never die. That's the gift of God. That's the victory that we can have. But again, it's in Christ Jesus. Are you saved today? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? That victory of a Christian belongs to God, but it's available in Christ Jesus. He's offered salvation full and free for those that will trust Him. I'm so glad I was just mulling over in my mind a message, perhaps for tonight, I'm not sure yet. I got two or three stuck in my Bible I'm working on. But I got reading about the gates of the city. In the Old Testament, we see the gates of the city. And it's interesting how cities would be built in those days. And as I've studied this out, I don't want to reveal, I might want to preach it, so I don't want to reveal too much. But the neat thing was, at the gates of that city, there was a room up above, a chamber. Right above the gate. Now most cities had a double wall. And in between that double wall was where a lot of the commerce took place. It was a place where people would come to be kind of a marketplace almost. But also there was usually some stones set up. And the judges from the city, they would sit there outside the city gates. And they would judge different things that were going on. But that room above the city, do you know what that room was for? It was reserved for one special purpose. That's where the king would go and sit. when his armies were at battle. And it's from that room that he would watch and see when his armies were coming back. If the battle was close to home, it was in that room that he would stand and he would cheer on his armies. And the armies could look up and they could see the king with his hands raised and him cheering them on and spurring them on, and they could gain some heart to fight the battle. And so that room up above that place was a place of reunion, a place where the king would cheer on his armies, but also when they came back from battle, it was a place where he would wave to them and encourage them and thank them for the battles that they had fought. Do you remember King Saul in such a room, watching David come back from battle? And the Bible says the multitude saying, Saul has slain his thousands, but David's his tens of thousands. That's the room that Saul was in. But you know, it's interesting that at that gate is where we meet the king. It's at that gate where weary travelers come home and rewarded. But outside of that gate is something that's very interesting. Do you know that if you go to an ancient city over in Israel, there are no graveyards inside the gates. Death stays outside. There's graveyards outside the city, but the ancient cities, maybe in modern cities they have them, maybe in some cities that are there today, but in ancient cities, death was not allowed to stay inside the gates. Isn't that a picture of heaven? When we get home, we meet our king, and death has to stay outside. There's no death in that heavenly city. O grave, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? That's what the scripture's referring to today. You understand that those in Corinth, these Christians in Corinth, they would read that and they would understand that. When I get home, there's no more death. When I get home, there's no more sting. There's no graves inside the city. It's all left without. And they say, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we see the motivation in verse 58 of a Christian. We have the hope, the victory, now the motivation. God is saying, because of the reward I have set before you, just keep going. Just keep fighting, keep battling. Yes, it seems like that we're losing battle. It seems like things are falling all around us all the time, but he says, be steadfast. Christ is coming. Be unmovable. Christ is coming. Be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Christ is coming. Your labor is not in vain. Christ is coming. He's coming soon. Let me ask you, are you ready for that day? Do you know Jesus Christ is your Savior? If we go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and flip it to the other side for a moment, look at the other side of the coin. Verse 50 says, now this I say, brethren. This is an address to Christians, brothers in Christ. What would it say if Paul was writing to the area of Corinth rather than the church of Corinth? What if he was writing to this outpost and he said, now this I say, to all you who do not know Christ as Savior. Wouldn't the wording be very different? He could warn them the same that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and neither the corruption inherent in corruption. He said, but behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but if you're not saved, if you don't know Christ, you'll be left behind. It'd have to be worded very differently if it was written to a different group of people, wouldn't it? This is for saved people. This promise, this hope that we have, this victory that we can receive, this motivation that we've been given, friends, it's for those that know Christ as Savior. Let me ask you, are you one of those? There's that old song. I really don't like it that much, to be honest with you. But that song, When the Saints Go Marching In, you know that old spiritual? I don't really like it, but there's a thought there that we need to be, are you gonna be in that number when the saints go marching in? When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, when morning breaks eternal, bright, and fair, when the saved of earth shall gather to their home beyond the shore, when the roll is called upon yonder, I'll be there. Will you? Ask yourself the other side of this coin. Look at the flip side. Think about what if Paul had to write this to a lost and dying world rather than to the brethren at Corinth. Maybe you're on that other side today. Maybe you don't know Him and the power of His resurrection. Maybe you've not trusted Christ as your Savior. Listen, these promises are made to the church. These promises are made to the brethren, to the saved. I would hate to stand before God one day and give account of ourselves not knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Bible says we have an advocate, Jesus Christ. An advocate is like a lawyer. You know, if you think of a courtroom scene today, and you were going to stand before a judge, I think it would be wise to have a lawyer. It'd be wise to have somebody that understands the law and can plead your case. It'd be wise to have somebody that has had some experience in that area. And friends, but somebody that stands before God without a Savior has no advocate. They have nobody pleading their case. They have nobody that'll say, I shed my blood for them, they put their faith and trust in me, and yes, they're a sinner, and yes, they have failed, but they've been forgiven by grace because of faith. You might stand before God without that advocate one day if you don't know Christ as your Savior. And you say, well, I can plead a case, I can argue. What are you gonna argue, your works? Because not only will your advocate plead your case, he actually paid the price that you could have eternal life. But if you stand before God without Jesus Christ, you're lost. The Bible says if your name's not written in the book of life, you'll be cast in the lake of fire. Are you ready today? What if Christ comes today? What if the rapture were today? What if the trumpet sounds? Are you ready? One day, I expect this is gonna happen, because we don't know the hour. But some preacher somewhere is gonna be preaching. And he's gonna be preaching, are you ready? The trumpet's gonna sound. And just as he gets those words out of his mouth, the trumpet's gonna sound. And there's gonna be a few people looking around saying, boy, I missed it. I missed it. Are you gonna be one of those? What if we walk out of here this morning and the trumpet sounds? Are you ready? Have you trusted Christ as your Savior? Let's pray together. Father, help us understand. Lord, we're so excited about the possible return of our Savior, but Lord, we're scared for those that haven't put their trust in you. Father, we pray, Lord, that today would be the day of salvation before it's eternally too late. Help them, Lord, to see their need of a Savior. They may think they have 40, 50 years left on this earth, but if Christ comes tomorrow, their window of opportunity has closed. So Father, please speak to hearts today and help us. Lord, for the Christian here today, help us to just have that renewed excitement, Lord, that coming soon to do, and we should always be abounding in the work of the Lord. Help us to be faithful, winning the lost, so they can go to be with us in eternity. Father, we'll give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand to our feet this morning as the invitation is played. If God has spoken to your heart, step out and come. Let it be a motivating factor in your life that Christ could come soon and the time is drawing near. We don't have much time left to work. Work for the night is coming, we sang earlier.