Hey, welcome to One and All.

This is week four of our series, Hope Beyond, that is leading us into Easter.

And I'm really looking forward to getting into this message with you all.

If you have the One and All app, go ahead and open that and click on the sermon notes.

That's a great way to follow along with Pastor Jeff.

Let's get into it.

Hello, everybody.

Hey, what kind of week did you have?

Yeah, some of you have good weeks.

Anybody have a bad one?

Can we meet after?

It was one of those weeks, man.

I'm telling you.

We have them from time.

See, it's continuing.

I cannot be responsible for anything that happens to this stool.

Just want to take a moment here.

The Bible says that Jesus stood up to preach and he sat down to teach.

And so when I attack a passage like I'm going to attack it, first of all, it makes me really tired.

My eyes get tired because I'm looking all week.

I'm just reading, reading, reading.

And also, I want this to be a little bit different demeanor.

I want you to settle in.

There's no better place you could be than the house of the Lord right now.

No better place.

And there's no better book you could be reading right now than the Bible.

So I want you to take a deep breath.

And the same thing out at Rancho and our brothers and sisters out at Westco and Upland.

Everybody take a big, deep breath.

You still get out at the same time no matter how many times you look at the clock.

You're still going to get out at the same time.

So this is not an extra long sermon or anything, but there are times when a pastor wears on you.

You start to think, man, I do a lot of stuff, storytelling, a lot of motivational.

You're trying to get people motivated in their faith.

But very seldom do we get to do something like I'm going to do this weekend.

And it's just because for the sake of time, and also it does take a little time, and it does take a lot more work in the week.

You have to have the time set aside to do this.

So I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15.

We're in our Easter series.

And here's the thing about, I don't know if you heard, but APU, I was speaking there in chapel, which is over, you know, do you know about APU, right?

Great school, great history, been through a lot of difficulties recently.

So we've got a great relationship with LPU and APU.

So APU asked me if I'd come and speak in chapel this Wednesday. We organized this last year.

But on Tuesday, they had a tragedy happen.

So in the midst of this busy week that I'm involved in, and board meetings and all kinds of things, the chaplain calls me on Tuesday night, and I'm supposed to speak Wednesday morning, and told me that they had suffered another tragedy at their school.

They've had five deaths of students in their school.

and this was the fifth one, and they were going to announce it at chapel on Wednesday.

And so, long day, nine o'clock, I go home, and I just close my eyes, and I think, okay, God, I don't have time to do any PowerPoint.

I just got to write it in my head right now.

So I closed my eyes, started writing the sermon in my head, hoping that it would take, and then got up the next morning, went over, and just said, okay, let me talk to you.

And we're dealing with difficult topics.

You know, they are students trying to harmonize God, a good God of mercy and power with the suffering and the pain of life.

And then inevitably, when I talk on a topic like this, a student will come up to me afterwards and engage in a lot of conversations about pain, suffering, and then it always happens.

The conversation, it's usually the intellectual that comes to me because they're struggling and they say, hey, I resonate with what you said, but here's my thought on sin and pain and free will and all that stuff.

And I've noticed over the course of my life, these conversations, they always go well.

You know, you're listening to somebody who's thought through these things.

But it's when I ask this question that the conversation changes.

And after we entertain each other's thoughts and I'm listening to what they're thinking, and they're usually proud of themselves because they thought of something new nobody ever thought of.

It's the way the human heart and psyche works.

I'll always ask the question, okay, this has been a good conversation.

Now I have one question for you.

And I'll say, what is your authority?

So what's the benchmark that you're going to measure everything you just told me that you believe against?

Because I can find 100 of you.

What's the benchmark?

Where's the standard?

What's the authority?

So when you're dealing with any topic, you can, I mean, what do they used to say?

Do they still say it?

Opinions are like navels.

Everybody has one.

Do they still say that?

But it's true, though, isn't it?

You talk about where is heaven, what is hell like, how do you harmonize the free will of God or the sovereignty of God with the free will of man.

Did they have free will before the creation?

I mean, you can have all these great conversations, and they're fun, but at the end of the day, you have to have an authority that you go to to answer the question.

This is the problem with culture right now, especially when it comes to the gender issue, same-sex marriage, all that.

Everybody wants to have an opinion about what's right and wrong, but nobody has an authority to go to.

Everybody's their own authority.

you do understand that Christ followers are different, that we do have an authority, that we have these opinions, and we like to talk about those things, but ultimately, if our opinion in any way, if any position we hold in any way contradicts what is clear in Scripture, then guess what?

You're wrong.

And you have to conform.

See, this is why Christianity is having a tough time in the West.

We don't like authority of any kind.

We don't like somebody else, even if it's Jesus.

Even if it's the guy who rose from the dead, we don't like him telling us how it is we should live.

but Christ followers are different.

And so when my mom died, one of the biggest questions I had, and I told you I came to terms with this idea of where is my mom, was they were lowering her down in the grave.

All the theology and all the discussions, philosophically speaking, about life after death just came to nil.

Because in that moment when they're lowering somebody in the ground that you love so much, suddenly those don't matter.

Now you want to know truth.

You don't want to know theory.

You want to know truth.

And because I had been raised a Christ follower, I spent the next probably three, four years investigating everything I could about different worldviews, about life after death.

So you take things like reincarnation where you come back as something else.

you talk about pain and suffering under Buddhism, and under Buddhism, pain and suffering are illusions, right?

And you know my theory on that?

I've always liked to just want to smack somebody and say, how does that illusion feel, you know?

I mean, I don't mean to belittle any religion.

It's just the fact that some things, they're just not very coherent.

and then Jesus comes along and says, let me explain pain and suffering and death to you.

Pain and suffering happen because there's sin in the world.

We are tainted creatures.

The world has been tainted.

It is not the way it was originally meant to be, but God is in the process of redeeming everything.

Now, you might say, well, what makes Jesus right and not Hinduism or Hare Krishna or the Buddha or the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures?

What makes Jesus right and those wrong?

Okay, here's the answer.

He came back from the dead.

That's the answer.

If you come back from the dead, you can speak.

So most of us, when we struggle with something, what you're really struggling with is the existence of God and the reality of the resurrection.

Because once you make your mind up that God exists, he sent his son to die for us and he rose from the dead, then you're going to listen to him, aren't you?

See, until you really make your mind up about that, you're going to fluctuate.

So here's the question.

What does the Bible say?

So I want to read to you.

We're going to go through this.

And...

As I said before, my eyes are very tired because when you prepare for something like this, you do a lot of reading, you go back to look at some of the files that you created when you were younger, and you try to bring all this together in a 35-minute sermon, which now tells me I got 32, so I've already lost like eight minutes, okay?

So the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, 35, But someone will ask, How are the dead raised?

With what kind of body will they come?

How foolish!

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.

But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.

So right from the get-go, remember, we're reading the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

to tell you what happens after you die.

So the first thing we learn is, one, that if you don't believe in the resurrection because you don't understand it completely, then Paul says, well, then you better deny the reality of the harvest, too, because you don't understand the harvest.

You don't understand exhaustively how a seed goes down into the ground, dies and decomposes and brings forth something that's totally different than what the seed looked like.

You with me?

So in Africa, we have these baobab trees.

You know the baobab tree?

I'm sure you do.

These things are crazy looking trees, aren't they, Michael?

They look like somebody planted them and they're upside down.

Do we have a photo?

We do.

We do, somewhere.

That's not it.

But we have a photo.

You see the baobab tree?

Look at that thing.

Don't you think it looks like it's upside down?

And then the seeds associated with the baobab.

I mean, how do you plant one of those and get that?

And have you ever been up to the northern regions of California for the redwoods?

Have you ever seen how big those redwoods are?

They told me how big they were.

And a few years ago, I finally went to see them.

They're big.

You can drive a car right through the middle of some of them.

It's amazing.

But the little seeds that grow the redwood trees, it's quite amazing, isn't it?

So Paul, first of all, begins, hey, if you're not going to believe in the resurrection because you don't fully understand it, well, you don't even fully understand the reality of harvest either, but yet you receive it.

The second thing he says is there's a tremendous difference between the seed and the final product.

You don't plant, he says, the body that will be.

But notice, it's still a body.

Now, this is going to be important in 1 Corinthians 15.

So in heaven, we're not flying little cupids.

You're not flying little spirits.

You have a body.

You're not a drop of water back in the ocean of the universe.

You have a body.

And that body, although it's related to the seed, it's totally different in manifestation from the seed.

Third, the latter is far more glorious than the former.

Now, some of you say, hallelujah.

How many of you want a refund on this tent that you were given?

I mean, anybody want a refund?

Okay, so for instance, in some ideas of the afterlife, you come back as an animal or an insect, but that would be a step back, not a step forward, because animal life is a lesser life form.

It doesn't feel as deeply, and it doesn't have the same sense of volition.

Most of what it does is involuntary.

So according to the gold standard, remember, if you go off the gold standard, you don't know what your money's worth.

If you go away from the Bible, you don't know what objective truth is.

They're connected.

And according to the gold standard on this topic, the Bible, the body that will be will be far more glorious than the one that is now.

Amen to that, right?

Let's read it again.

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

So it's got to go in the ground.

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just the seed, perhaps a wheat or something else.

But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed, he gives its own body.

Now, what does he mean each kind of seed?

He goes on and says in verse 39, man, we're having fun now.

We're in the Bible.

We're reading.

Verse 39, not all flesh is the same.

People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another.

So what's the point here?

I want you to look at some photos of owners who look like their pets, dogs.

I love these photos.

I mean, it's amazing.

You can find these, like, thousands of these.

That's my favorite, by the way.

Okay, I mean, it's amazing.

Amazing.

I like that one.

That's cute.

So the point I'm making here is that it's uncanny.

Those photos are uncanny.

But the biological world indicates that the flesh of men is totally different than the flesh of beast birds.

and then fish, right?

They're different.

The flesh is different.

All flesh is not the same kind of flesh.

I remember our teacher telling us in science class that amino acids are the building blocks of life.

And the biological codes are binding, which means you can eat as much lamb as you want, and you're never going to grow wool, right?

You can eat as much cow as you want, you're not going to grow horns.

You can eat as much chicken as you like.

Thank God, because I love Chick-fil-A.

You can eat as much chicken as you want and never grow wings.

And you may look a little bit like your dog, but you're not going to be a dog.

And your cat may at times appear to be nice and genuine, but they're always selfish and narcissistic.

Now, that has nothing to do with anything, but I had to throw that in there.

So the Bible says, I want you to think of all kinds of types of flesh.

So you think of an alligator here.

You got tough and rugged, and you got porcupines, very prickly.

You got turtles.

I love the turtle because if you're going to be that slow, you better have some protection.

And then they tell us that actually, I didn't know this, Michael, but do you know that they tell us that elephants are the toughest animals?

I did not know that.

They're the toughest animals on earth to defeat.

Then you got hippos.

Their skin is, they get sunburned.

I mean, it's actually, their skin is quite unique.

And then you got this thing called the honey badger that we all know about now.

But you know, the thing about the honey badger.

you know, they're actually important to the ecosystem because we're told that they feed extensively on rodents and anthropods.

They take care of pests, although I'm sure a beekeeper would think they're pests.

But did you know that the honey badger can bite through metal locks, but yet you can't bite through their skin?

That's why they'll fight a lion.

Did you know that?

Honey badger, bad dude, man.

I mean, mean, ornery.

obviously female.

And so, oh, come on, come on.

Let's have a little fun.

the point of the whole passage is that God is not restricted to one kind of flesh in creation.

So why should he be restricted to one kind of flesh in the resurrection?

That's the point.

And he says through each kind of seed, he gives its own body.

So the apple seed, apple.

Fish, eggs produce fish.

Eagle eggs produce eagles.

And then he says the body that God gives.

By the way, the body that God gives seems more often than not.

I almost want to say always, but there are some rare occasions.

The body that God gives always seems to be perfectly conducive to environment.

So this body obviously is conducive to what God wanted to achieve.

A fish just looks like it should be in water, doesn't it?

Yeah, that's a fish.

Or a turtle, like we said, the hard-shelled birds, they look like they should fly.

The point is that we will all, this is important, we will all be given a new body.

not spirit, we'll be given that too, but this is a body.

We're not floating spirits.

We'll all be given a new body that is conducive to the new creation.

And when I do the book of Revelation, every time I do that, I try to stress the importance between kynos and neos.

So in Revelation, we're told there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth.

There are two Greek words translated new.

There's kynos and neos.

Kynos means new in time.

And neos.

Neos means brand new.

So you got two words here.

And I find it interesting that every time they talk about the new heaven and new earth, they talk about something that is new in time, which means it's another way of saying something that exists but will be refurbished.

Okay?

So if I give you a brand new table, I bought it, now it's new.

But if I take your table that you have right now and I refurbish it, it's still new, but it's not Neos, it's Kainos.

You with me?

When the Bible talks about the new heavens and the earth, it's the new heaven.

evidently in the same way the seed is tied to the body that will be, this earth is the seed.

And one day, we're going to be called up to meet him in the heavens, and he's going to put a big ribbon around planet earth that says, Closed for Renovation.

And it's going to be renewed.

And so when people ask me, Where is heaven?

I always say, You're sitting on it.

It's just a different, it's been renewed, it's been redeemed.

And so what the Bible tells us is that you and I are going to give a new body that's conducive to the renewed earth, the renewed heavens and the earth.

The Bible continues in verse 40.

There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

the sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another, and star differs from star in splendor, so it will be with the resurrection from the dead.

So here's what he's saying.

He's saying all fleshly bodies, plants, animals, humans, we're all distinct from each other, right?

Look at Michael and me.

We're distinct.

I mean, we're both human, but we're different.

Look at the people on planet Earth.

We are just our skin color, our mannerisms.

There is great distinction within humanity.

There's also great distinction between humanity and animals.

okay?

Although I will admit those people did look like their dogs, they're still an incredible difference.

So Paul is saying in the same way that Michael and I are different, other humans are different.

There are distinctions within humanity.

There's also distinction with animals.

All animals don't look alike.

And then he goes on to say, not only are animals different from people, but animals are different within animals and humans are different within animals.

There are distinctions within distinctions.

And then he says, not only that, the terrestrial bodies and the celestial bodies differ from each other.

Again, in verse 39, the sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another, and stars differ from star and splendor.

So it will be with the resurrection of the dead.

So he says, heavenly bodies differ from one another.

And then he says, okay, in the same way that Michael and I differ, stars differ from moon, moon differs from the sun, and stars differ from one another.

all these distinctions.

Planets differ from planets.

So Mars is a heavenly and celestial body.

So is Venus, but they are distinct from one another in manifestation.

So here's the bottom line of the first segment.

You with me?

Number one, we're all going to have new bodies.

No, it's body.

You're going to have a body.

We'll get to that.

We will all have the same kind of body type, one suited for the...

new kingdom conducive to the renewed heaven and renewed earth.

Yet within that same body, we're all still unique so that I will know you as you and you will know me as me.

There's a connection to the seed.

So it's not like we're all the same, one size fits all.

Paul says, no, it's not like that.

There are distinctions within the bodies, the new conducive body or the body that will be conducive to the new heavens and new earth.

And we all maintain our personhood.

Did you know that?

what would you be like if you weren't tainted by sin?

You know, what would you be like?

You know, my buddy Rick would be nice.

I mean, he would be a nice person.

Some of you might say, you know, you mean my husband might still be grumpy in heaven?

No, it's just you won't give him anything to be grumpy about.

you mean my wife will still nag me no i mean you'll do what you're supposed to do so she doesn't have to all right 50 50 50 50 The point is, our human personality is forever preserved with all its distinction and uniqueness and absolute and eternal perfection.

Now, nobody knows with absolute certainty what this is going to be like.

What we do know is no eye has seen, no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love him.

We're going to have a new body in the new heaven and the new earth.

These bodies will be similar in type, but yet...

distinct in manifestation from each other.

One man has written, the graveyards of men become the seed plots of the resurrection and the cemeteries become, through the heavenly dew, the resurrection fields of the promised perfection.

Now, here's the question.

This is the one that really got me after my mom died.

What will these bodies be like?

Do we have a little bit more detail?

Oh, yeah.

Let's read.

Here we are again.

Verse 42, second part.

The body...

is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.

And so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Now...

there's a lot of work and effort gone into understanding this.

There's no way any pastor is right about everything.

That's why I pray that prayer.

Whatever I've said that's consistent with the word of God, I pray that it would go deep into our hearts.

If I miss it somewhere, then I pray you'd all forget it.

See, trampled on the road, forgotten, okay?

But I'm still not excused.

That's why the Bible talks about there's a harsher judgment for people who stand on the stage and do this.

You have to really make sure that you're being faithful and you're praying that God will guide you.

However, there's no infallibility among men, okay?

only God, only the scripture.

But in my understanding, at this point in my life, in trying to understand these things, he says the body is sown in corruption and raised in incorruption.

Corruption is the word thora, and it's a word that is not used for sin primarily, but it's used for the idea of something that is good, but it's been tainted.

Okay?

Something that is good, but it's been tainted.

So the example I love to use is when I was training for marathons, yes, I trained for a marathon, ran one, never do it again.

in New Zealand, trained for a marathon.

And I remember I just run like the 22 miles you run before you do the big one.

And I came into the house.

I was so tired and thirsty.

I opened the fridge and there was this big thing of chocolate milk in there.

And man, I love chocolate milk.

And I, man, when you're hot and thirsty and you're hallucinating a little bit, I took that thing and I didn't drop until I was finished.

And it wasn't until I took the carton down that I realized this milk is tainted.

and I want to tell you, I've never seen such a projectile in my life.

Man, I wish you could have been there.

You'd have been impressed.

the point is the milk is good in and of itself, but when it's tainted, it's not used for what its original design was meant to accomplish.

So we're told in Romans 8, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope.

Now that's another sermon.

Let's keep going.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the same idea, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

So Paul goes to great lengths to tell us that you and I were originally designed to enjoy the created order without fear.

So there's beauty in creation, but it can also kill you.

So what would it be like to have the beauty of the mountains and the oceans and the trails and the, I mean, the beautiful world in which we live without the fear of dying?

we were also made to enjoy perfect relationship and fellowship with God without barrier.

But sin tainted us, and there was a barrier.

And I don't think any theologian has ever gotten to the deepest core about what all this means.

I mean, we scratched the surface, but it's hard.

And we were meant to enjoy life without the death cloud hanging over us.

Imagine what that would be like.

Death doesn't even cross your mind.

When you get my age, it crosses your mind all the time, doesn't it, Rick?

So sin is most vehemently denied, and yet it is empirically verifiable.

The cancer has destroyed, according to Scripture, the order of things.

The created order, it no longer cooperates with us.

C.S.

Lewis says that the reason the animals growl at us is because they know we are at odds with our God.

so even the animal world, communion with God has been disrupted.

It's been broken.

Now we can still have fellowship, but there's still a barrier, you know.

It's not like it's going to be.

And death comes to us, and we all know it, so we live in this tainted, corrupted order.

However, when we are raised, the word that he uses is just the antithesis, the absolute negative of corruption.

It's hot, Darcia, which means that whatever happened with sin, whatever tainted us, is all going to be fully and completely undone.

So you remember we said the kingdom of God is here, substantially, but not in full.

So we have a foreshadowing of some of that.

Come on, haven't you been in a worship service just for like three minutes?

You felt like you were in it.

Something happened.

Oh man, I sense God.

Now, what would it be like to have that sense all the time?

Okay.

So whatever happened, and I don't think, I don't think we know the depths of it.

We can see it, but the curse will be completely removed.

We will worship and have perfect communion with God.

There will be no barriers.

We will flourish.

And you know, God made the creation to do two things.

One, to glorify his name, but two, for our enjoyment.

Did you know that?

It's for us.

So, you know, you look at something like a well, it's beautiful, isn't it?

Now, if you put a well here and Jeff Vines here, which one does God love more?

Jeff Vines.

He does.

He loves all of us far more than he does any animal.

We're unique.

The world is for us, for our enjoyment.

Sin tainted that, but something happens in the resurrection that the taintedness is removed, and I'm going to get to that in a moment, so that in heaven it is perpetual wonder.

So my little boy Delaney, when I was in seminary, my wife told me when he was crawling around on the rug, We lived in a little place called the Brandy Chase Apartments, and Robin told me, you know what, Delaney, I mean, he's a little kid, and he doesn't even tell Tom.

He's not little anymore, but he was little at one point.

And she said that he knew, even though he couldn't tell Tom because he's a toddler, he knew exactly the time Dad was going to come home.

And he would crawl over by the door and wait.

And I would open the door, almost broke his hand a few times opening that door.

So you would open the door, and immediately he would go like this.

And I could read his mind.

I really could.

He was saying, please, Dad, you've got to get me out of here.

You've got to.

I don't like the food.

I don't like the restrictions.

Please, Dad, take me.

But I think there's a real part.

I do think there's a real part to this perpetual wonder in heaven that there's so much of the creation we'll get to in a moment that you and I have never even investigated.

Everything is for us.

It really is to honor, glorify God.

But it's perpetual wonder in the life that we'll be because every morning we'll be, God, what do you got today?

Where are we going?

Which now you can understand why there's perpetual worship.

If there's perpetual wonder, you just can't believe how blessed you are and what you have, and you just want to worship God all the time.

So the first thing, just quickly, the first thing, sown in corruption, raised in incorruption, sown in dishonor, raised in glory.

Now this is a tough one, and the fourth one is the toughest of all.

But this is the Greek word, adomia, and it's a word that means dishonor.

but more often than not, it refers to what is shameful.

And then you've got the word doxa, so it's sown in dishonor, but it's raised in glory, and we've talked about that word.

That's what is honorable, what is good.

Now, here's a great test for you to know that you're on the right path.

Do you remember in Matthew 26, 41, Peter...

It's kind of reprimanded by Jesus because he needs Peter to stay awake.

And he comes back and he says to Peter, Peter, can't God stay awake?

I mean, I'm facing my death over here.

And that's where we hear that verse, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Peter would want to say, Jesus, I really want to stay awake for you, but this flesh, I'm so tired.

Okay?

And then Paul uses that same concept where he basically says, man, my spirit wants to do the good.

Man, my flesh wants something else entirely.

I don't like it that my flesh wants it, but the flesh wants what the flesh wants.

Now, is there anybody in here that has the problem where there's a struggle between your flesh and your spirit?

Everybody.

I mean, your spirit really does want to do the good thing, but the flesh fights it.

It wants something totally different.

The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.

Now.

this is the best way I can put it.

And I thought for a long, how do you illustrate this?

Because we are being renewed every day.

We have the Holy Spirit in us.

And the best way for you to understand what we're experiencing now, other than the potato heads, which I'm not going to bring back out again, the best way is that what we have, we have a willing spirit incarcerated in the flesh.

We have a willing spirit, but it's behind bars.

It's restricted, not prevented.

not prevented because we can still overcome through Christ.

but it's incarcerated.

It's not free.

There's something about it that is not free to do everything the spirit wants it to do.

Paul recognizes this and he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So there is a battle.

It is winnable, but you're going to lose a lot of battles.

But the beautiful thing about the body that will be is that not only now will the spirit be willing, but the flesh will be able.

so the new body will be able to do what the Spirit desires.

Right now, you and I, my goodness, we're in a battle, and the bars that right now restrict the flesh from cooperating will be removed.

Now, when you hear something like that, see, this is going to say a lot about you.

What happens when you hear that?

See, if you hear that, you say, oh, thank God.

Thank God, because I have fought this battle for so long.

You're on the right path.

But if you're thinking, you know what, I'm pretty good.

That's not really relief to you.

I'm a pretty good person.

Oh, my goodness.

That's a whole other sermon series.

Right?

Right?

You mean, Jeff, I should be proud that I struggle with sin?

Absolutely.

because that means you're addressing the issues in your life because everybody has them.

And if you hear a message like that, oh, I got it.

You're right.

Pastor Jeff, I really want to do the right thing, but then there's another part of me.

I don't know where it comes from, but it doesn't care.

You're telling me that one day the spirit will be willing and the flesh will be able, and the bars that restrict, not prevent, but restrict the flesh right now will be broken.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you.

1 Corinthians 13, 12 says this, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known.

Can I ask you a question?

I'm going to deal with something because we're on time.

I think to some degree this answers the question of free will.

People ask me, one of the questions young people, are we going to have free will in heaven?

Because the Bible says we're not going to sin.

So you've said that free will, Pastor Jeff, you said that free will is necessary and essential for a love relationship.

So does that mean we get to heaven, God removes our free will?

No.

Let me give you the best explanation I can, and then you've got to go do your own research.

Something happens in heaven, according to Scripture, that we see we have a knowledge that we have not yet had.

And maybe we have it, but it's tainted by sin.

And when sin is removed, maybe, I don't know exactly how it works.

but there is a knowledge given to us.

Now we see in part, and as I said before, this passage does not say see him.

So it's not talking about now we see Jesus barely, but then we'll see him fully.

Although that's true too, I think never fully, but to a greater degree.

But there is an understanding throughout Scripture where when we get to heaven, the knowledge...

things become clearer.

Remember I've told you how even in pain and suffering, you'll see in heaven how God connected all the dots and the times you thought you were losing, you were really winning.

Well, the other side of that is that in heaven, you have a knowledge and you even have a greater knowledge of the destruction that sin will cause.

But primarily what you have is a greater knowledge of the love of the Father.

Now, tell me that there are not many people going to get to heaven, and when it dawns on them that he really loves you in spite of having all the goods on you, that you're not going to break down.

And suddenly you're going to see him as he is?

Tell me you're not going to just think, oh my goodness, you won't be able to stand.

Because you'll see his holiness, but you'll also see the depth of his love.

Isaiah didn't get that privilege.

You will, because of the cross.

And I want to tell you something.

When you see what he really thinks, when it comes to mind what he thinks about you, now you hear it in sermons, but you're tainted.

When you really are freed up to hear the depth of God's love, and all of a sudden it's going to dawn on you what you have for all of eternity, let me tell you, you're going to fall.

And I think that even though free will is there, your love for God is going to be deeper and wider and more intense than it's ever been.

and you combine that with the knowledge and the destruction of sin, because now you will know of all the damage it's caused.

I believe you will have free will, but you will choose to love and to serve God.

That's totally my opinion, whatever it's worth.

Now, here's the next thing.

Before we leave, how important is holiness to you?

If holiness and purity are not important to you now, how important is holiness to you now?

if there's nothing in your life that says, man, I want to be like Christ in my attitudes.

I want to be humble.

I want to be sacrificial.

I want to be generous.

If that's not there, there's a problem.

There's a problem.

It means the Spirit of God has not...

There's something that's disconnected here.

Now notice, nowhere have I ever said, are you perfect?

Nowhere have I ever said, do you still have sin in your life?

I promise you do.

But if you're not killing sin, sin is killing you.

And so, John Owen, so you've got to be about the business of identifying and killing it.

And man, if you're able to come to church every weekend, and you've got something in your life that you know shouldn't be here, but you walk out of here and you never decide to fight it, let me just give you the thousandth warning that Pastor Jeff has given.

If you stay in darkness too long, you will get to a point where you cannot distinguish the likeness from the darkness.

And then the Bible says at that point, God hands you over to your depravity.

And you...

Are you going to tell me that's not where America is right now?

Where she thinks what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right?

That's because she can't distinguish anymore between light and darkness.

You're a Christ follower.

You've got Jesus in you.

You keep killing sin in order that it doesn't kill you.

sown in corruption, raised in incorruption, sown in dishonor, raised in glory, though.

You're raised in glory, whatever that looks like.

Three, sown in weakness, raised in power.

This is the Greek word asinia.

It's a word that typically means infirmity, illness, or sickness.

However, scholars tell us that in this form and context, there is a strong possibility that it's a reference to humility.

Let me read a passage to you, 2 Corinthians 13, 4 and 5.

For though he was crucified in weakness, this is Jesus.

Was he ill?

Was there an infirmity?

Though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God.

For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

So what's he saying?

He's saying presently, well, first of all, Jesus came in weakness.

Humility.

Philippians 2.

Took on the form of a servant.

Gave up the privileges associated with deity.

That he might accomplish the work of the Father.

And as a result of that, God has now put him where?

He's a name above all names.

And in His name, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So in the same way that Jesus comes in weakness but resurrected in power, you and I come to Christ in weakness.

What that means is there has to be a time in humility that we acknowledge it's the gospel, we are sinners, and we are doomed to an eternity without Christ.

Instead of everlasting life, there's everlasting destruction.

We, in humility, realize that we cannot work our way, we cannot merit our way to God, and so we come on bended knee in humility to the Christ.

At that point, believe it or not, we become like Him in our humility.

Now, if Christ, by His humility and weakness, was able to humble Himself and then be raised to power, then the message is that that's exactly the road you and I will take.

So that in the new heaven and new earth, God says this to us.

He says, well done, good and faithful service.

Listen now, you have been faithful over a few things.

You humbled yourself.

It wasn't all about you.

It was about others.

You humbled yourself and in your weakness.

Now, here's what I'm going to do.

You were faithful in a few things.

Man, I'm going to put you.

over many.

Now, what does that mean?

What is, remember, heaven is not based on results.

It's based on faithfulness.

You understand that, right?

It's based on your faithfulness.

It's the act of the will.

Only God knows the heart and the will.

You're going to have some people that their will is to do, their will is to serve Jesus.

They got so much baggage, man, it's a lifetime struggle.

And yet God loves them, adores them.

So if you are faithful with the little that you're given, somehow you are now in the new heavens and the new earth.

You're given a new place.

And that place is to subdue creation just like it was in the beginning.

Now when we talk about subdue, you and I think, I've got to bring it into submission.

You and I, this is so important because it helps us understand the last one.

You and I were meant to rule over creation.

Creation is made for our perpetual wonder and enjoyment.

But we are God's favorite.

That's going to bother some people.

Yes, God loves me more than he does your dog, especially your cat, but your dog.

And you and I are supposed to experience perpetual sustenance.

The creation is supposed to feed us.

Perpetual wonder, perpetual worship.

And to understand what this means.

I think we have to go to the fourth one, and I think it'll bring it together.

It has sown a natural body and raised a spiritual body.

Now remember again, it is a body.

It's some type of body.

and we're told here's the distinction, and this is where most of the work goes in, so don't close me out.

This is the punchline, so to speak.

We're told that the natural, the word is psychikos.

This word is tied to our English word physics.

There is something inherent in the word where this body that you and I will have will no longer be subject to physics as we see it now.

So right now, we are limited by time and space.

We're limited by the law of gravity.

Have you ever stopped to think about, I mean, doesn't it bother you a little bit when we act like we're so smart?

Remember when I told you that 95% of the universe is dark matter and dark energy, and we don't even know what that is?

which means we only have somewhat of an understanding of 5% of the universe.

That means there's a lot out there, folks, that we have no idea what it is.

100 billion stars in our galaxy, 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, which means there are 200 billion trillion stars in the universe.

We're just here.

There's so much.

So why does God make all that out there?

Well, what about the ocean?

Do you know at the deepest point, the ocean is 36,000 feet?

That's the level of jumbo jet flies.

They say if you took Mount Everest and you put it into the ocean, there'd still be a mile of distance left between the top of Mount Everest and the surface of the ocean.

We're talking about a deep, deep place.

And only, it's uncanny, only 5% of the ocean is explored, closely explored.

which means 95% of the ocean, we have no idea.

Now, that's unfair.

We have a vague idea because of what we know about the 5%, but there's so much of the ocean, we just don't know.

Now, let's get to the good point.

Don't you wish?

So, oh, man, 58 seconds?

I can't do that.

Can I have three minutes, Grace?

So, don't you wish?

So when I took my wife on our honeymoon, I told you, she went out.

She's a great swimmer.

I dropped like a cinder block.

And so she goes out, and she's swimming with the dolphins, and she's out there for a long time.

And I'm getting angry because I don't think are people really that good?

When we go snorkeling, Robin and Vivian McMahon, they go so far out.

And lifeguards will tell them, but they're just great swimmers.

They're just great swimmers.

I said, Rob, wouldn't it be great if you could just swim with the whale without having to come up for air?

that the new body was not subject to typical earthly physics.

Wouldn't that be great?

Hey, wouldn't it be great if...

Okay, don't want to go too far here.

Wouldn't it be great in heaven if everything God has created in every corner of the universe is explorable?

And every day, you know, I think I'll go to Mars today.

I always wonder what the big deal was.

I think I'll go to one of those galaxies.

If the created order is for the glory of God, there's something that Paul is saying to us here, that our bodies right now are subject to physics, but he says your new body, pneumatikos, is the word.

And my suggestion to you is he's trying to tell us that this new body that's conducive to the new heaven and earth is nothing like you think it is now.

It is a body, and it is distinct, and I don't know you as you and me as me.

So we still have our personalities.

You'll know me as Jeff.

We're not one size fits all.

But there's something about the new order that is not tainted by sin.

then enables us to have this perpetual wonder and perpetual worship and perpetual sustenance because the world now, the new world works in complete harmony with us, Romans 8.

It's been frustrated, but then it will come into the full liberty of the sons and daughters of God, which means it will be able now to function as it desires and was meant to function.

But what does all this mean and how does it work?

You have to finish, 1 Corinthians 15.

45, 49, Now let me finish this, please.

Please, let me finish this.

In Philippians 3, we're told our citizenship is in heaven.

We eagerly await a Savior from there who is going to transform our lowly body that it might be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

So we're going to be transformed that it might be like His body.

What body?

Transformed is the Greek word schematic.

There's an internal design of something.

which tells me, and I think I'm on good standing here, that if you want to know what your body's going to be like when it's glorified, take a look at Christ's glorified body after the resurrection.

It won't be perfect, but it'll give you a lot of hints.

So in Acts chapter 1, he's able just to zip on up into the heavens because he's not limited by time and space and gravity.

In John 21, he eats.

He eats.

Remember, he says to the disciples, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.

So you're going to have some kind of flesh and bones.

I have no idea what it's like, but you're still going to have a body.

And you're going to eat not because you have to, but for the sheer pleasure.

Pass me some of that chocolate.

Give me some of that coffee.

You know what I'm saying?

You still eat.

I've often thought, why did Jesus eat?

Why did he eat?

Well, it's got to be not because he needed it to survive, but he enjoyed fish, fish and bread.

What's that say about you vegetarians?

There's going to be meat in heaven.

I don't care what you say.

But something about Jesus'body, though, was different.

Now, come on, vegetarians, don't get mad at me.

I know it's a health thing, and I know it's good for you.

I got it.

I just like meat, and lots of it.

Do you remember when Jesus was walking with the two men on the road to Damascus?

They didn't know who he was.

Well, if he's the same, why didn't, but then they look closer and they realize.

Have you ever seen somebody that you haven't seen since graduation?

This happened to me in Indianapolis a couple years ago.

I was speaking at a church and this girl came up to me that was now my age.

So I say, lady, she came up to me and she said, hi, Jeff, I'm Julie.

Who?

Your classmate, Julie.

And I looked at her and it took me a while.

She's in there.

but we haven't seen somebody for 40 years.

She's in there somewhere.

And then I realized I'm the only one that hasn't aged.

I couldn't believe it.

The best picture for us of understanding what the body will be like is the look of the glorified body.

All right, so let me summarize because I'm out of time.

What will heaven be like?

We'll have bodies.

We will know each other.

I'll know Rick as Rick.

Rick will know me as me if he makes it.

We'll know each other.

We will be distinct from one another.

We'll be distinct.

We will be different.

We're not going to have the same form.

We'll be different.

We will be able and willing to please God and please one another.

We'll no longer be tainted by sin and death.

We'll possess an unending joy and thirst for life.

The creation will be liberated from bondage and brought into the freedom of the children of God.

We'll no longer fear.

The created order, it will work in harmony with us.

The lion will lay down with the lamb, and so will you.

The whale and I will swim together.

I mean, it'll be an incredible snorkeling adventure.

Travel without limitations.

Perhaps there's just something out there in all of God's world that we've not yet seen that He's saving for those who have called on His name.

C.S.

Lewis.

in his second letter at Oxford, he was asked, how do you explain that we're all products of the materialistic universe?

How do you explain that we're all products of the materialistic universe, and yet we yearn for something else?

So how do you explain that?

Here's what he said.

Do fish complain of the sea for being wet?

or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been or would not always be purely aquatic creatures?

Then if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moments, what does that suggest?

It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures.

It suggests that we were created for eternity.

Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it.

We're always amazed by it, how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone.

Where, we cry, has the time gone?

We aren't adapted to it, not at home in it.

If that is so, it may appear as a proof or at least a powerful suggestion that eternity exists and is our home.

And all who place their faith in Christ Jesus are told, that we're on a journey.

And the reason we're discontent is we know we're going somewhere that's much better.

And if you give your life to Christ, the one who came back from the dead, then you will go to your home, the place you know that is beyond, the place where you will be reunited with all those you've loved and lost, if they were in Christ.

I have to say that.

If they were in Christ, you'll be reunited with them, and it will be the greatest reunion.

No eye has seen or ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.

I've just done the best I could to explain 1 Corinthians 15, but it pales in comparison to the reality.

Right?

Right?

If you want to go home, you've got to come meet the builder.

And Jesus said, fear not.

There's trouble in this world, but I've overcome the world.

And he said, I'm going away to prepare a place for you.

If it were not so, I would have told you.

And if I go to prepare this place, I will come back to take you, that you might be where I also am.

Take comfort in these words.

Father, thank you for the power of 1 Corinthians 15.

As always, I pray that anything I said that is not consistent with your word, it would be like seed trampled on the ground, forgotten.

But anything I've said...

that is related to the truth of Scripture that will be never forgotten.

And perhaps this will be the weekend that someone's eyes are finally open to the truth that they've known since the day they were born.

There is a God.

There is a home from where they came.

And there is a Savior that wants to take them to the place for which their heart longs.

In Christ's name and by His power, everybody said, Amen.

Well, I hope that was impactful for you today.

If you've made the decision to follow Jesus today, or if you are curious what that decision even means, we would love to connect with you.

You can go to oneandall.church slash Jesus, and someone from our team would love to reach out to you and just talk to you about what it means to really follow Jesus.

Now, I do wanna point you to one more resource we have for you.

We have a great daily podcast called The Daily.

You can get it wherever you stream podcasts and on our website.

And it's just a great way to continue to connect with one and all and to get a little dose of encouragement throughout your week.

Now we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.