Grace, mercy and peace to you church. Thank you Brandon Robin for allowing me to preach the gospel to you again this morning. We're at a time where we pray together for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to help us in the word. So let's pray one more time. Lord, without your spirit, where would we be? What kind of minds would we have? What kind of desires would we have, Lord? What kind of eyes would we have to see truth? We would have none. We would be blind and deaf and dumb, imbeciles according to the truth. But you have given us your spirit, and you have given us grace to understand the things of the gospel. So we ask now, Lord, that you would once again be gracious to us. Open our ears to hear afresh the glories of your truth. Open our eyes to see King Jesus. Seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Resurrected from the dead, which is all our hope. Grant the preacher now strength. You know his weaknesses. Help, O Lord. In Christ's name, amen. Well, if you would turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We'll be looking at verses 50 through 57. I apologize, I don't have an outline for you this morning. I had one last time we were together, but I was a little pressed on time. So we'll be looking at verses 50 through 57. And in our last time together, we considered the subject of glorification and our hope of glory. God being who he is and we being who we are, a glorification we saw as most needful for us to be brought back to God. But it's bringing us back to God, both body and soul. So when explaining the resurrection body and our future glorification, we saw that Paul answered kind of two fundamental questions in the minds of the Corinthians. How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body will they come? He put away any foolish notion that God could not do such a thing. He can indeed give life to the dead. And he showed us this analogy by giving the example of a seed. The seed must die to come back to life. And the exact nature of our glorified bodies was explained by these contrasts, as it were. We are perishable, contrasted with what we will be in the future, which is imperishable. We are in a body of dishonor, in a way, here, and we will have a body of glory there. were perishable, contrasted with their being imperishable, and a natural body, I'm sorry, a weak body here, and a body of power there, and a natural body contrasted with a spiritual body. So Paul presented this goal of glorification, which was conformity to the image of the man of heaven. He says it in verses 48 and 49, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so shall we also bear the image of the man of heaven. So this goal of glorification and the hope that we cherish in our hearts is the fact that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Basically, Paul is saying this, in the glorification of the son of God, we are glorified with him. Well, in our text this morning, Paul moves to a close in this lengthy chapter. This chapter's consumed with the fact of the resurrection, improving that from various arguments. He doesn't really introduce a new subject, but moves from what sort of body we would have in the resurrection to how we will receive that body, verses 50 through 57. And he presents this climactic triumph and thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus Christ, the great victor over sin and death. So we're gonna handle this text verses 50 through 57 in four points. We'll consider firstly the conditions of glorification. So first, the conditions of glorification. Secondly, we will consider the mystery of glorification. Paul says that explicitly, I tell you a mystery. Third, we will consider the victory of glorification. And fourth, and lastly, the grace of glorification. So the conditions, the mystery, the victory and the grace. So let's read first Corinthians 15 versus 53 57. I tell you this brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's see first and foremost the conditions of glorification, verse 50. Paul summarizes in this phrase what he had previously stated in a detailed fashion in verses 35 through 49. The difference is the contrast between the body that is sown in the ground and the body that is raised. He does so by pointing to two great conditions, or we could say incompatibilities of our life now with the life that is to come. What do I mean by incompatibility? Incompatibility is the condition of two things being so different in nature as to be incapable of coexisting. Two things that are so different in nature, they're incapable of coexisting. There are two great incompatibilities between our present condition on this earth and the condition of future glory. So he says, number one, flesh and blood are incompatible with the kingdom of God. Number two, the perishable is incompatible with the imperishable. So in explaining this truth to the Corinthians, he addresses them in a friendly manner, as brothers in the Lord, but he speaks to them of a sure fact, and he says this, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Flesh and blood here, spoken of by Paul, is not what you may think. It's not, maybe you read it this way, it's not talking of the sinful nature. He's not saying the sinful nature cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That's apparent to us all, right? He's saying something else. Paul is not stating the sinful nature is incompatible with the kingdom of God. He's saying that there's something about our bodies here and now that cannot inherit an immortal, imperishable reality. He's summarizing in a broader way this sweeping idea. He's pushing this antithesis or incompatibility or contrast between what is and must be supported in this life by things like medicine, sleep, marriage, meals, all the things that this earth provides for your daily life and those things of the future. which are spiritual, tangible yet spiritual. None of these things, medicine, sleep, marriage, meals, are necessary for the life to come. What would you eat there? Food is for the body and the body is for food. God will destroy them both. How would you sleep there? The glory of the Lord is its light. It is one eternal, day. How would you deal with aging there? There's no medicine. It is this current state of man Paul is talking about that cannot or is not able to exist in the kingdom of God. Like lungs that can't breathe underwater, like eyes that cannot gaze upon the sun, the ability of this present body to exist at all in the magnificence and vibrancy of that spiritual kingdom of God is an utter incompatibility, Paul says. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This body here and now is fit for citizenship on the earth and on the earth alone. The fact is further clarified by the consideration of Adam in the garden. Man and all that had been put under his dominion was good. Adam was flesh and blood. But that flesh and blood was meant to take he, his wife, and his children to a state of eternal, immutable, spiritual glory. The garden was meant to be a transformation of what was good We all know that. He created all these things and then they were good to take them from what was good to that which is imperishable. Had Adam gained eternal life by his obedience, he would have taken the creation and his posterity to their intended goal, imperishable glory. His body would be transformed into a state of immutable glory and then fit for immutable glory. Well, when Paul says it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, flesh and blood, he's defining this place as the post-resurrection realm in which all of God's people will live. Paul repeats these facts in a little more abstract way when he says the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. So we see the first point here, the conditions of glorification. Flesh and blood are incompatible with the kingdom of God. The perishable is incompatible with the imperishable. That brings us to our second point in our text, verses 51 through 53, the mystery, the mystery of glorification. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. This perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. A change cannot take place without our present condition being removed. This poses a difficulty for us. Previously, Paul explained that a seed must die in order to be raised to life. If this argument is to carry weight, well then what about those who are alive at the second coming of Christ? What about those who do not die? If we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, does this fact somehow disprove the resurrection of the dead? There were some in Corinth who thought that it did. The question of how the impossible will happen, Paul clears up on the authority of direct revelation. God Almighty, who declares the end from the beginning, knows all things. It's nothing for him to explain the end of the world. He wrote it. He's written a story. Think about this, however. There are some things that God has not told anyone. Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord. It's pretty plain, right? There are some things God tells everyone. Romans 1, 19 and 20. For what can be known about God is plain in them because God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world. All in the things that have been made so that they are without excuse for worshiping the Lord. There are some things God tells everyone. There are some things that God only reveals to his people. Think about Psalm 25, 14 here. The friendship, or as some older translations say, the secret of the Lord is for those who fear him. And he makes known to them his covenant. There are some things which God has hidden from everyone in the past and has only chosen to reveal them at a certain time. The mystery of the church being Jew and Gentile, Ephesians 3.3, hidden from ages past, now revealed in the gospel. The mystery of lawlessness with regard to the end times, 2 Thessalonians 2.27. There is the mystery of the gospel kept secret for long ages, Paul says in Romans 16. So on and so on. And here in our text, there is the mystery of the transformation of those alive at the second coming of Christ. So the apostle says, behold, I tell you a mystery. Now this is the task of the apostles, to reveal the mysteries of God. This was part and parcel for what it meant to be an apostle of God. It was direct revelation to the apostle inscripturated for us. Paul said as much of himself and the other apostles in 1 Corinthians 4.1, think of this, this is how one should regard us, the apostles, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. This mystery was not discoverable by reason alone, by the light of nature. No one could read the leaves or the stars to discover this truth. It was pure revelation from God. What he describes as a mystery here, he expresses to the church in Thessalonica in plain terms as a word from the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4.15. He calls special attention to this mystery. He says, behold, we know what that means. Listen up, pay attention, tilt your ears forward. What are we to behold? Well, he says it very plainly. We shall not all sleep. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Well, what is the nature of this mystery? Well, first and foremost, I think we need to see that the nature of this mystery speaks of the resurrection of the dead. Paul says, we shall not all sleep. That assumes the fact that some are indeed asleep in Christ. And from death, the dead will be raised. And being raised, they will undergo a great change. This is the resurrection of the dead, and it is for the just and the unjust. But further, Paul says, we shall not all sleep. He's speaking of also the transformation of the living. We shall not all sleep supposes that some are not asleep at the return of Christ. This is where the mystery is most pointed. Earlier, Paul, by his seed analogy, describes the fact that men die and abide under the power of death for a time. However, this mystery is not of that sort. There will be a change of a living body, not a dead one. And it will be a change of all. Both the living and the dead will be changed. The word change is a powerful word here. What does it mean? Elsewhere in scripture, it's used to describe the destruction of the physical temple and the changing of the worship of that temple and the customs of Moses to that of Christ, Acts 6, 4. It's an alteration, like when a parent addresses a child, you better change your tone, mister. Said no parent ever. For the living, at the return of Christ, it is the change of perishable to imperishable, dishonor to glory, weakness to power, and what is natural to what is a spiritual body fit for heaven. Now, this great change of the living is in conjunction with the finale of all time and space in history. Speaking of the current heavens and earth, the psalmist says, will perish, but you, O Lord, remain. They will all wear out like a garment, you will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. Psalm 102, 26. All who have ever lived, all who are living, and all who should ever live in the future, on that great day, will be changed. That's the nature of the mystery. But he also addresses the timing of the mystery. What's the timing of this change? Paul said it has three things here. It's in a moment, it's in the twinkling of an eye, and for the dispensational bone in us, we like to hear this word, it's at the last trumpet. Well, this word moment is the word atomos in Greek. Do you hear the root there? Atom, A-T-O-M. It literally means an indivisible or uncut thing, something you can't reduce it down any further. It was the Greek way of describing something that cannot be divided because of its smallness. We've adapted this term in biology to refer to the smallest unit of ordinary matter that form chemical elements, the atom. that thing which is physically irreducible, and that was the revelation and revolution of the atom bomb. Split it, and you destroy the world. Paul uses this word here to refer to a portion of time that cannot be divided. It will be, the change of the living will be in a moment. But it also says it will be in the twinkling of an eye. Figuratively speaking, the change of the living into a body of glory will be in the twinkling or the blinking of an eye. I nerded out a little bit looking at how fast an eye can blink, and it is pretty amazing. On average, the blink of a human eye is a tenth of a second. I think Paul's trying to say this. The change will be so instantaneous that the closing and reopening of the eye will not be able to discern the process of that change. It's as if I was looking at you, and when I blink and open my eyes again, you are changed. It's that instantaneous. The point in these two analogies is to communicate to us that, unlike the dead in Christ, There is no sort of transformation that takes any amount of time. Before a man can shut his eyes and open them again, the living will be changed. But this timing of the change is also said to be at the last trumpet. Think of it. When I read this, I sat back and thought, This is the very last sound this present earth will ever hear. A trumpet blast. A trumpet blast that summons all of God's elect to himself. It is a staggering thought. The creation began with a sound. the sound of the voice of the Son of God. And it is summed up and it's wrapped up with a sound, the sound of a trumpet. It is the last trumpet signaling the end of all time and space and history. Think of 1 Thessalonians 4.16 here. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. This trumpet will summon the whole world to the tribunal of God. It will signal a new beginning for us forever. This trumpet signals the last day of this present age, And on that day, the dead will be called out of their graves and come forth as living men. The present order of reality will be changed forevermore. Do not marvel at this, the Lord says. Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear my voice and come out. But also notice here the certainty of this change. Look at verses 52 and 53 again. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, and we shall be changed. That's certainty. That's certainty. He calls this change in verse 53 a must. This perishable body must put on the imperishable. and this mortal body must put on immortality. We must be clothed with imperishable immortality to inherit a place of an imperishable existence. If flesh and blood are incompatible with the kingdom of God, if the perishable is incompatible with the imperishable, then it follows we must be changed, beloved. All that's left for us is like Job to confess Lord, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Job 42, 2. These things, beloved, are by the wonderful and good and powerful working of our sovereign God. Well, this is the mystery of glorification. What about the victory? Paul moves on to an exultation of the victory of our glorification. And it's a great victory. It's the victory of all victories. When, as Paul says, verses 54 and 55, the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Now, Paul is alluding here to a prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 25, verse 8. And he's telling us that there's coming a time on this day, hallelujah, when death shall be conquered forever. This is foretold by the prophets, and it must come to pass. This is, thus saith the Lord. But a question has to be asked here. What's the death spoken of in our passage? Death is swallowed up in victory. What does he mean? In the context of our passage, it's not speaking of spiritual death, which has already been dealt with in us at conversion. The death that is spoken of here is the bodily death, the unnatural separation of the body and the soul. And it reminds us of some facts that we maybe forget about death. So I'm gonna do a little excursus here, a sermon within a sermon on death. As Christians, we think about death a lot, don't we? We contemplate the Lord's death and our own. So Paul speaks of this death in a few ways. He affirms that death is an enemy. In this very same chapter, verse 26, he plainly says, death is the last enemy to be destroyed. We can also see that fact from the way he speaks of the triumph over death. It's in warlike terms. Enemies fight. And death is not only an enemy to our soul, it's the place It is an enemy of your mortal body as well. In this place it's seen as an enemy of your mortal body. So he shows that death is an enemy and death must be fought. We can see this again from the use of the word victory. Death is swallowed up in victory and victory is not won unless a conflict ensues. But he also affirms death is an enemy that is utterly and completely defeated. We have to remember death reigns in this world in terror over the wicked, both body and soul, because of the curse of sin. It's not outside the sovereign control of God, however. Think of what Paul says in another place, and I'm giving away some theology here about who wrote the book of Hebrews, Paul says in Hebrews chapter two, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that is you and I sharing in human nature, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, that is Christ, likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. That is the plight of the wicked man, lifelong slavery to death. They fear it. What does Paul say there? Who has the power of death? The text is plain, it's the devil. But what is his power, beloved? Is it a sovereign, absolute power? It is not. Only God possesses that. This is a delegated power. It's not the devil's birthright. He doesn't own it as a prince on the throne. Just as a judge through the law appoints an executioner, so God through the law appoints the evil one to have the power of death for a time. The evil one has no judging power over death. He cannot make up his own sentence, nor create his own punishments. He is an accuser of the brethren, not a judge of them. Whatever power of death he possesses, it is delegated to him. Jesus alone, don't forget this, Jesus alone in Revelation 118 has the keys to death in Hades. He alone kills and makes alive. Now being able to introduce sin to Adam, and Adam then bringing death into the world through sin, the evil one now is able to use the power of death. By God's ordinance, he reigns terror over men's bodies, minds, and souls. Because of the curse, everything tends toward that end. And the wicked, as Paul says in Hebrews 2, are said to be in bondage to it. But according to the word of God, death is said to be swallowed up in victory. The one who has power of death is destroyed. The ones who are in lifelong slavery are delivered. And if God has appointed him, that is the devil, over death, then God can also destroy him. What sort of victory is this, however? Think of this. The text says death is swallowed up in victory. It's not simply speaking of death being wounded. or a portion of death's influence being robbed of its power. This word swallowed up is the idea of utter and complete destruction. It's that same total and definitive and holistic destruction that we see the Egyptians experience as they chase the people of God through the Red Sea. As they were attempting to cross the Red Sea, Hebrews 11, 29 relates to us that the Egyptians were swallowed up. Not a man was left. It's total, all-encompassing destruction. Death is swallowed up by life. The victory over death is a total and definitive victory. Death is done away wholly and all at once. The living are no longer threatened by it. The dead are no longer chained by it. Hallelujah, death is swallowed up in victory. Well, from this total and definitive victory, from this final putting away of death at the return of Christ, something strange happens. It's amazing what happens. Maybe you missed it as we read it. Death is swallowed up in victory. But look at verse 55. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? There is in the people of God, a holy boldness in the face of death. Look at the language. It's a hearty, sure, everlasting antagonism of this former reigning enemy. Everlasting life becomes the antagonist of death. How the tables have turned. How the tables have turned. How the great reversal will be visibly seen on that great day. What has haunted us and loomed over everything in our life. You have insurance policies because of this. You drive carefully on the road because of this. You try to eat healthy because of this. It looms over your life. It lurks in the shadows of your conversations. It goads all your happy moments. It threatens all your careful dealings in the world. What is now an antagonist to our life now becomes jubilantly antagonized. What is this antagonism? What does the Christian now have in his mouth to say back to death? Death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Where is it? Where is it to be found? The defeat of death is pervasive. It is pervasive. What does that mean? Everywhere that it is found in our life, both body and soul, it can be found no more. Think of this, we have something like moral insanity. It's pervasive in our culture. It's everywhere. As we come to know the truths of God, we say something like, the sovereignty of God is pervasive in the scripture. You just see it everywhere. There seems to be no place where it's found, where it's not found. So here, the defeat of death is seen to be pervasive. There's not just a place here and there where it's defeated. There's no outlying camps that are defeated while this citadel remains intact. We are no longer a project of sanctification where this leavening influence of eternal life is still doing its work, a little here, a little there. At the return of Christ, death's defeat is said to be so complete, so pervasive, that the question is not what is death and how can we deal with it, look at it. Where is death? It's nowhere to be found. It's nowhere to be found. We'll look at our lives and one another in glory and we will see something in one another that we have never seen before. lives that no longer speak imperishable, dishonorable, weak and naturally sustained ways. Our lives will be the life will be life in the fullest sense, a victory of life that swallows up every trace of death. And I wonder what that will be like. I sit and wonder about that. It's a pleasurable thing to think about, isn't it? It stirs your imagination to wonder. Well, finally, regarding this point, there's something very powerful to be found in this question, where is your victory? The victory over death by the redeemed, think of it, beloved, renders death speechless for the first time in all creation. For the first time in history, This deadly preacher has no words. He no longer stirs the feelings of his congregants. He no longer brings tears to their eyes. He no longer presents them with arguments they cannot refuse. He no longer moves their hearts with his appeals. He no longer visits the poor and the sick and the needy with his counsel. He no longer calls on the rich. What does he have to say on that great day? What sermon will he preach then? When all the resurrected saints of God are standing in weighty glory and immortality of life, what is he going to say? What's he going to say? When King Jesus is standing at the head of all the redeemed in brilliant glory, death is silent. and it will be silent for all eternity. On that day, death will be found to be a toothless lion, a poisonless snake, a sermonless preacher, a silent and foolish foe. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Beloved, if we can't rejoice here, I don't know where we can. Let us rejoice here now. Let us carry about in our lives a holy boldness because of a truth like this. Death has no victory. It has no stink. Well, finally, the fourth point, the grace of all of this. How in the world is this accomplished? Paul closes his argument by stating plain facts about the sting of death, the power of sin, and the thanksgiving we ought to give to God for the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. He reminds us the sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. This is nothing more than a summary of all of his arguments in his letter to the Romans. The sting of death is sin. Death has no power over us apart from sin. Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. If there were no sin, there would be no death. If our sins are pardoned, death is robbed of all its pronouncements of doom, all of them. Calvin says this, death has no weapon. with which to wound us except sin, since death proceeds from the anger of God. Now, it's only with our sin that God is angry. Take away sin, therefore, and death will no more be able to harm us. But Paul also reminds us the power of sin is the law. The scripture confesses that without the law, there is no sin. For the law brings wrath, Romans 4.15. But where there is no law, there is no transgression. Sin is not counted where there is no law, Romans 5.13. Paul then says, I was alive once apart from the law. But you know the rest of the verse. But when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The law brings condemnation. And it is the law of God that gives the sting of death its power. The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. This is a fact. And it's a fact presented once again to us so that in understanding these facts, we may see more clearly what is about to be stated. There is a fact greater than these things. The fact of sin and death, neither sin nor death, nor even the law have the final word. Sin, death, not even the law has the final word. Grace. Grace has the final word. Christ has the final word. Paul began this great chapter by confessing the gospel. I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. That he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. He now ends this chapter in grateful and thankful praise at the fact that death's ultimate defeat is in Christ. Christ gets the final word. Thanks be to God, he says, who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever grim pronouncements death may have, whatever fear it may produce, whatever seeming triumph it may now have, that is not the last line of the story. That is not the last line of the story. It's slavish change will rattle one final time. But Christ will have the final word. It is God alone who gives us by grace this victory. Well, I want to I want to share with you just a few observations as we close. I know we're just about out of time together. If we have such a victory, over death in Christ. If this fact of our glorification is as sure as the risen Christ is, since our bodies will be raised one day to a glorified state, I think a few things can be said. Some words of encouragement. Number one, we should not use our bodies, the members of our bodies, for unrighteousness. Romans 6.13, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. We do not need to use the members of our bodies for unrighteousness. If this is our future hope, since your hands will be redeemed, Let them move and act and do now in correspondence to what they will be one day when you are glorified. Since your eyes and your mouth and your mind will bear the weight of immortal glory one day, let them now look upon and speak and think in a way that corresponds to what they will be one day when that great change occurs. Set your mind on things above. present your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Well, since our bodies will be raised to a glorified state, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We do not grieve as those who have no hope at the loss of those we love, who were asleep in Christ. Think about this, 1 Thessalonians 4.13. Paul Paul tells us there we don't need to grieve as those who have no hope, and we must comfort one another with these words. But also, since our bodies will be raised to a glorified state, we do not need to lose heart in the midst of suffering. We do not need to lose heart in the midst of suffering. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies for this light, momentary affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Since our bodies will be raised, we should not lose heart in the midst of suffering. Well, last application. Since our bodies will be raised, we should not fear death. We should not fear death. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God. A house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, don't we? Being burdened, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. Not that we would be unclothed, but that this mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. We should always be of good courage. Well, I could go on, and maybe I've gone on too long. I wanna close with these words from Octavius Winslow, and then we'll pray. The one fact, the resurrection of Christ, would appear to be the fountain of life to the church of God in all ages in the world. It brings a quickening influence felt by the prophets and by the patriarchs. It is the life of the church now and it will be to the remotest period of time. It will transmit an influence which shall be felt by the very last vessel of mercy. Let us be confident in these facts, beloved. We are on victory's side. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. For this we wait, and I say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen? Right, let me pray. Lord, your word is so good to us. It's so good for our souls to be revived by your word, to have clear pictures of these things that we may have hope and comfort and a holy boldness to live. Would you grant, oh Lord, these things not to fly out of our minds too quickly, not to move out of our hearts as we go about the rest of this day. Please give us grace. to understand these things and to hope in the return of Christ. In his name we pray, amen.