Healthy Living in a Sick World | Part 20 | Dr. Michael Youssef

[Music] hello friends welcome to the Church of the Apostles thank you for joining us today wherever you are around the world we pray that God would use this time to bless you and that the Holy Spirit will speak to you in a personal way today [Music] in the past 30 or 40 years there has been a number of people who claim that they have died and went to heaven and then came back I think you know what I'm talking about and of course with this kind of claim they wrote books they made a ton of money and got media exposure and in my personal judgement mostly that's fraud except one person actually confessed it one person came clean and he said all the stuff that he said in that book was all made up it's absolutely astounding to me and I'm sure it is to many of you if not most of you that these dear people are willing to hear and believe this these pretenders are not willing to believe in the one and only true Son of God Divine Son of God who actually rose from the dead it's astounding to me they can follow these people and read their books by the millions but they do not believe the one who rose from the dead after three days not just couple of minutes a few minutes and that is why the story that Jesus tells is of vital importance listen carefully Jesus who coexisted with the father before all worlds Jesus who is a member of the Holy Trinity from before the foundation of the earth he tells something that has actually taken place something that has app happened obviously is in the Old Testament because that was before his death and resurrection Jesus who alone knows the realm of the spirits and what goes on on the other side of the curtain tells this story about two men the real men this is not a parable two men one was Richard but lived the self-centered life and one was poor and yet was righteous they both died and their each went to one of the two locations lit make no mistake about it there are only two locations in which everyone is going to end up either heaven or hell when a man who lived for self this whole time gets into Hell for just few seconds as often used to say two minutes in Hell turned him into an evangelist and he immediately turned to Abraham and he said father Abraham get Lazarus to rise from the dead because I want him to go back and warn my family so they don't end up in this place of torment pain and suffering then came the answer son if they're not gonna believe the Bible if they're not gonna believe the Word of God even if someone rises from the dead they will not believe and that explained why these people are ready to go after these people not to believe in God but they're just out of fascination and that is why first Corinthians chapter 15 is a vitally important chapter and is written for the believers now if you're visiting with us this is the second from the last in a long series of from first corinthians healthy living healthy spiritual living in a dying and sick world here in this long chapter sect one of the longest chapters in the Bible the Apostle Paul gives us six things that every believer in Jesus needs to know one second after you die he gives us six things that everyone must know even if you're not a believer you need to know what the believers are going to experience an operate to God that this may be an incentive for you to become a believer in Jesus today the first thing Paul tells us in verses 1 to 11 that Christ resurrection from the dead is the only true resurrection verses 1 to 11 secondly he tells us that only the believers in Jesus Christ will be resurrected like Jesus verses 12 to 19 thirdly he says all true believers live between two Easter's and I'm going to explain that in a minute verses 20 to 28 fortunately this life is a dress rehearsal for the real life that is to come this is a dress rehearsal it is what you practice in this life is what you experience in the real life 5 in verses 35 to 49 there will be about the exchange we'll explain that in a minute 6 verses 50 to 58 you can live the resurrected life here now in this life Christ's resurrection is the first true resurrection what does that mean the resurrection of Jesus Christ after three days in the grave is the absolute foundation of the Christian faith without it Christianity would be just another dead religion without it Christianity just another philosophy of life without it Christianity is not worth a half a hallelujah and yet some church leaders in the mainland denominations and now in evangelical church saying only Jesus's influence has rose from the dead only Jesus rose in our hearts or that his spirit rose from the dead he me rod please no one no one no one can claim to be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and would deny the Bodley physical resurrection of Jesus you know I was thinking about how today increasingly the younger generation the children don't even know what Easter is and then I read the story about one of the great theologians of our time dr. Howard Hendricks from Dallas seminary he to son his grandson Sunday school class and then he asked the kids he kids do you know what the Easter is well one kid raised his hand and he said yes he said mom cooks and cooks and cooks and prepares a turkey and dr. Hendrix said Nana that that's Thanksgiving and another kid said well we get presents and we eat cookies and he said no no no that's Christmas and then his grandson raised his hand so he Oh Papa my goodness I I know what that feels like I mean he was puffed as am i my grandson he's gonna get it right so he asked him I said go ahead and tell me and his grand son said the following Easter is when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and dr. Hendrix of course you know pumping his chest that's my grandson and he was so proud of his grandson right until the boy continued he said every spring he comes out of the grave and if he sees his shadow it means that we have six more weeks of winter [Laughter] and beloved that is why the Apostle Paul making absolute sure that we understand of the evidence of the resurrection that these evidence are indisputable that there were 500 eye witnesses that lives even of his disciples and of others totally completely transformed that these disciples and these followers and those eye witnesses were very happy and glad to die for Jesus after that is due to the fact that they saw him risen from the dead now here's what I need you to focus with me on because the the Corinthians were really not doubting the resurrection of Jesus I'm going to explain to you why he said these things in chapter 15 they were not doubting the resurrection of Jesus they were doubting their own resurrection and I'm going to show you why their culture has influenced their thinking and that is why the Apostle Paul ties the resurrection of Jesus with our own resurrection you see this all yeah he's a divine son of God he rose from the dead but not sure about our own and Paul said the two got together why because if they get the resurrection of Jesus right they will get their own resurrection right if they comprehended our own resurrection to be inexorably linked with the resurrection of Jesus if they understood that the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrection I'll strongly and irrevocably linked if they understand that Jesus is the first one to rise from the dead and never never never to die again then they will understand their own resurrection make no mistake about it even when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead few years later Lazarus died when Jesus raised the the son of the widow of nain from the dead that young boy grew up and died but only Jesus had a true resurrection because he rose never to die again secondly only believers in Jesus would be resurrected like Jesus look at verses 12 to 19 God is saying to us that because Jesus rose from the dead everyone who placed his or her faith and hope in Jesus alone will be raised from the dead - just like Jesus Jesus's resurrection and the believers resurrection should go to stand together or fall together you cannot have one without the other something else that you need to know that the Apostle Paul is dealing with here in 1st Corinthians 15 he's dealing with the impact of culture upon the church and beloved we see it today the culture is impacting the church instead of the church impacting the culture in the 1st century Greek culture the Greeks refused to believe in the resurrection of the body why because they saw the body as evil only the soul is good and therefore they did not want that soul or spirit to be enclosed in another body and so they impacted the thinking of the church the culture of that they believed that the body is a prison cell and the soul is imprisoned by that body and the soul is longing to be set free from that evil body and from that prison cell cell now beloved listen to me this is very similar to the false argument of these merchants of confusion in our for in our children's schools and in many public lives and even in some churches when they're telling children that they are imprisoned in the wrong body that a boy is imprisoned in a girl's body and a girl is imprisoned in a boy's body that is absolutely a lie coming out of the pit of Hill this militant are impacting many circles in our society and believers in Jesus must never never never entertained that thought why because our bodies are created by God just for us individually and he will raise us to eternal life either in heaven or hell the Bible says he created the male and female and listen to me there is no sex change of ever gonna change that back to Corinthians and so Paul is teaching that the believers will have a new body resurrected body and this was unthinkable to the Greek culture that impacted the Corinthian church the Corinthian believers were willing to believe that Jesus rose from the dead they say because he is divine son of God but not the Christian believer and Paul literally in this section here he say if we do not rise from the dead Jesus was not raised from the dead and if Jesus was not raised from the dead the gospel is preached to you in vain and your faith in Christ is worthless and all of those hundreds of people who were eyewitnesses of the resurrection they're all liars not only that but it means that sin is not defeated that death is not conquered that sin is a victory over sin is impossible that all the dead believers have believed in vain thirdly verses 20 to 28 the believers in Jesus live between two Easter's two Easter's the first Easter was the day of Jesus's own resurrection physical resurrection bodily resurrection out of the grave the second Easter is the day when we going to be appearing in our resurrected bodies question what does Paul mean by Jesus is the first fruit what is the first fruit you have to understand a practice that was practiced throughout the Old Testament to understand what it means why Jesus is the first fruit of those who rose from the dead vs. 2028 the first Easter was the first fruit the second Easter is going to be the harvest now the Jews in the Old Testament they were graylien society so what do they do when they see that harvest is ready to be harvested they take a sample almost 10% of what the harvest will be and they will take that ripened fruit and they'll bring it to the priest in in the temple and they presented as the first fruit it's the first fruit until that is offered to God they cannot go back and harvest the crop and that is why I tell people we must always give and I'm going to say more about this in the chapter 16 you give of the first fruit not what leftover because nothing will be left over but when you give the first fruit God will bless the lit leftover amen the same thing happens with the resurrection the first fruit is Christ's resurrection that is the first installment and therefore our own resurrection is going to be the harvest listen to me there was time when you were not but there will never be a time when you will not be everyone is going to live eternally the question is where will you live it where would you live it can only two locations verse 22 he said Adam was the first fruit of physical creation Adam was the first fruit of sin and disobedience Adam was the first fruit of physical death and the harvest the of that crop is our pain and our sorrow our sin our grief our tears our death all humanity participated in that harvest the first fruit was Adams death and disobedience but only those who are in Christ Jesus will participate in the resurrection of the believers now need to make this very clear listen carefully all of humanity became infected with Adam's sin but only those who belong to Jesus Christ will receive the antidote to that infection all of humanity caught the bug of death when Adam blew it in the garden but only those who are in Christ Jesus will have the cure from that eternal death oh listen I understand it doesn't look like it now I know that it doesn't look like it it doesn't look like it because everybody dies but listen to me verses 24 28 God's Word says that day is coming when Jesus visibly before all world's before all those who have ever lived is going to put his enemies in subjection to him today they use Jesus as a swear word but then they were bowed to him today Jesus name is forbidden from mention in public but then those who have rejected him are gonna weep blood and they mourn and wail over what they've done today we may be in employed companies we don't talk about Jesus but then the day is coming when we all of eternity was spent they were offended in sorrow they were spin it in remorse but to not no avail forcefully this life for the believer is a mere dress rehearsal during Jesus earthly ministry there was a Jewish sect did not believe in the resurrection now most of the Pharisees and all the others believed in the resurrection of the body but this particular sect called the Sadducees and if you want to really remember the names call them they are sad you see that's because they didn't believe in the resurrection and here's what Jesus said to them you need to understand the scripture nor the power of God why because beloved listen to me right doctrine produces right living right belief produces moral behavior biblical knowledge produces power for living and when the truth is denied listen to me when the truth is denied moral disintegration follows do I need to illustrate that just look around you when the truth is denied moral disintegration follows look at verses 29 to 34 Paul is telling us that if you remove the resurrection if you deny this fundamental foundational truth of our God's Redemption if you doubt your eternal future if you fear what is beyond the grave you will not only live a powerless life but you will live a messed-up life why because if you see this life as a mere dress rehearsal to the next one the real one this one is so short in comparison to eternity then you are going to live on top of the world in this one if you see it as a dress rehearsal you're going to live on top of the world oh listen I understand I've experienced it you have two difficulties we may face pain that we go through suffering that we may experience and no matter how many people reject us or deny the faith no matter what happens we're on top of the world why because this life is a mere preparation for the next one I'm absolutely convinced that if the believers listen to me believers if the believers would openly and freely talk about their assurance of heaven we will impact our culture the problem is that so many believers express pessimism and fear and superstition about this just like the non-believers instead of rejoicing every day because we are one day closer to our eternal home we look like we have been baptized in vinegar who wants that every day that passes we are closer to going home this is not our home when we do that then we're not going to fret and worry and live with anxiety I quoted CS Lewis many times when people used to talk about all he saw heavenly minded these of no earthly good he said only those who were heavenly minded were of any earthly good listen I know of a godly woman who constantly talked about her eternal home to her non-believing children until she really made them mad she always talked about heaven she always talked about home but she never gave up even though when they're rejected help her message but at her funeral every one of her children gave the last Christ don't underestimate the assurance of heaven for the believer and don't be ashamed of talking about it openly beloved our own resurrection is one of the greatest assurance that God gives us and he gives it to all of his children who have placed their faith in Him there may be somebody here watching around the world who may believe that Jesus is their Savior but they fear their physical death listen to me sir madam this fear is directly from Satan it's not from God the only reason you would fear is because you're not walking with the Lord that's only the only reason and you need to shake off that fear today today you can start seeing this life as a mere dress rehearsal for the one to come today you can begin to look forward to your eternal home today you can begin preparation for that eternal home today you may need to rewrite your earthly will to reflect your anticipation of your heavenly inheritance verses 30 31 and 32 because of that absolute assurance of our own resurrection the Apostle Paul said he endured hardship hindered suffering he endured sacrificing he and you're fighting lions and Ephesus listen to me the one and only thing that makes you willing to suffer abuse ridicule insult hardship is the knowledge that this life is only a what fifthly versus 35 to 49 there will be what I call a great body exchange a great body exchange verse 35 but some may ask how other dead bodies ranged and with what kind of body they will come thank God I don't have to give the hints of the answer is here verses 36 all the way onto 49 Paul clearly answered this question it is like a planting of a seed you put that seed in the ground it dissolves in the ground and in its place there is a whole lot of grain comes up the same God who's involved in the process of planting and harvesting of the grain is the same God who is involved in the process of our bodily death and resurrection when he spoke of his own body in John chapter 12 verse 24 the Lord Jesus said unless the grain gets into the ground and decomposes it cannot come again into new life hear me write please when Jesus was crucified and died on that cross and then he was buried his physical body cease to exist his physical body with which he lived for 33 and 1/3 of a year cease to exist aha but a new body supernaturally provided to him by the father a resurrected body came to be to the place jesus's glorified body was so radically different from his earthly body so much so that if you remember the disciples from Emmaus who did not recognize him first and they did later his glorified body was no longer limited by time and space and sand and a natural substance his resurrected body was radically different and so will be the resurrected body of everything believer listen while the seed may radically be changed listen carefully this is important because I know there's a question on the mind of many people have been asked many many many times while the seed may radically be changed when it is when it's planted in the ground and and when our bodies with the center great but a new plant is going to come what is that it's going to be you and you and me it's not gonna be a different person it's gonna be a different body but not a different person well think about this with me okay think about this when you plant cotton what do you expect wheat know when you plant corn what do you get expect barley now ho if you plant cotton you get cotton if you plant wheat you get wheat if you plant corn you get corn in the same way our resurrected body may be radically different but our identity will be the same we're gonna recognize each other we're going to recognize our loved ones isn't that a cause for rejoicing isn't that cause for rejoicing and so after his resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ was the same Jesus but was radically different body we will only exchange buddies that's what's gonna happen we're gonna exchange bodies but we're not gonna exchange who we are who we are still say the same we will have a glorified body we will have a perfect body we will not cease to be who we are but we will have a supernatural body just like Jesus after the resurrection that is beloved what I call the great body exchange are you ready for it look at verses 42 to 44 we will say goodbye to this body this diseased body and received undefiled body we will exchange a decaying body for an eternal enduring body we will exchange a body that is capable of dishonouring the Lord for a body that will honor him all the time we will exchange a body that is weak in resisting temptation that is weak in resisting sin that is weak in resisting diseases and brokenness for a body that is immune from temptation sickness sin disease and pain we will exchange the natural bodies for supernatural bodies now amen belongs here and it happens the moment you close your eyes in death you go from the tent to the mansion hello and that is why the Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians he said when a believer dies we do not sorrow like non-believers who have no hope why because it's only temporary goodbye number six versus 5258 as a matter of fact verse 58 one of those verses that are often caught when i'm autographic books being moveable steadfast 5258 someone wrote the following so let me read it so I don't mess it up there's a preacher of the old school but he speaks as boldly as ever now he's not talking about me he is not popular the the world is his parish and he travels every part of the world he speaks every language and he visits the poor and he calls upon the rich he preaches to people of every religion and of no religion at all and the subject of his sermon is always the same it's always the same oh he's an eloquent preacher often he stirs feelings which no other preacher could he brings tears to eyes that never weep his arguments none able to refute nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeal he shatters lives with his message most people hate him everyone fear him his name is death every tombstone is his pulpit and every newspaper prints his text and someday every one of you will be his sermon now I don't know about you how you react to something like this only you know that I don't know how you respond to something like this you see it as morbid something you want to avoid talking about don't don't mention it it's not good to talk about it you see it as you never bring it up in polite company that's for sure then you have a problem you have a problem believing the resurrection of our bodies and my friend if that is the case I'm gonna plead with you take care of that today if you really believe in the resurrection of Jesus you should be able to look at death in the eye and say come on death make my day for you will give me an opportunity to receive my glorified body you will give me an opportunity to see my lord and my loved ones you will give me an opportunity to show you that you are no longer master over me you may think that you have destroyed family relationship you may think that you have a broken family love you may think that you can bring grief to my loved ones but all death you cannot to omit me anymore because Jesus broke your sting Jesus destroyed your power Jesus had rendered you toothless he declawed you he defend you and he disarmed you and destroyed you and because of this I will stand firm I will be immovable I will be steadfast it will always be because I know that my toil and my labor for the Lord is not in vain [Applause] [Music] thank you for being part of our worship today we would love to hear from you please contact us and tell us about what God is doing in your life if you are in the Atlanta area we hope that you can visit us in person I love to shake your hands may God bless you today and throughout the week [Music] you

Channel: The Church Of The Apostles

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Keywords: Sermons by great preachers, testimonies of christians, jesus christ, leading the way, Dr Michael Youssef, The Church of the Apostles

Id: jVTX4aA3eAk

Length: 36min 19sec (2179 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2019