Everlasting Life

If you'll turn with me to Daniel 12, 2, and we're going to talk about our last piece of the creed. Daniel 12, 2 says, Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. So we're talking about the load-bearing walls of our faith, the creed. Many of you grew up in a tradition where you recited a creed every week at church. So we've been going through the creed, which is a super important part of our faith, the foundation of our faith, so that we can learn more.

And it's been a seven-week series, so we went through seven weeks and go back and listen to other parts of the creed where we talked about the different substances that are the foundation of what we believe. And what you need to know also, there are different faiths, there are different denominations. We can vigorously, vigorously debate certain secondary issues we do all the time. I can't tell you how many times in seminary people wanted to throw books across the room because we disagreed on things like predestination or the Holy Spirit's interaction in certain things. You know, there's different, but we don't divide on those things.

It's not unbiblical to think one way or another, especially in those gray areas, that we don't have all the mysteries figured out. But the creed was the one that established exactly what we believe, why we believe it, and the whole universal church, the church, whether it's Catholic, whether it's Baptist, from one view to the other, we can all stand on this. If we break away from this, we've got a problem. And that's what we've been dealing with is the creed. So the last part of the creed says this, I believe the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

And everybody says, Amen. Amen. So Easter is coming, as we said, and we often talk about Jesus rising from the dead. I mean, that's the centerpiece, right? That's everything in Christianity.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then what hope do we have? But the reason we have hope because Jesus rose from the dead is because we, too, will rise from the dead. Believe it or not, we, too, will rise from the dead. The reason Jesus came is to destroy death, the devil, and Hades. Death is the complete reason he came, the whole reason he came.

He destroyed death, and Jesus, through dying, interestingly, by dying, he destroyed death. That's kind of a contradiction of terms, right? That you would have to die in order to receive death. And Jesus shed his blood so that we would, too, rise from the grave. Because Jesus rose from the grave, we, too, will rise from the dead.

Because Jesus died and went into a grave, we will be risen from a grave. Amen. So we see dust here. Dust is a symbol of death. Dust is a symbol of death.

Dust is a symbol of death. In Genesis 3, 19, it says, "...from dust you are, and to dust you shall return." So, you hear in sermons at funerals, from ashes to ashes, dust to dust, things like that, people returning to the ground were made from the dust, and what God did is He shaped us out of the dust, He breathed the breath of life into us, and then one day we will return, our bodies will return to that dust state, dashes to ashes, dust to dust. But there's also blood.

Blood represents sacrifice. And I heard it said, His blood is the fertilizer that springs life back out of the ground. He's the source in which brings life out of the ashes, out of the dust. We are brought back to life through Jesus' blood. And Jesus is bringing you out of the ground.

He's bringing you now out of the ground. This is the living hope of the church, that not only Jesus has risen from the dead, but we, too, are being risen daily. We rose from the dead. In the point of salvation, we rose from the dead. So, I want to give you some four perspectives based on this confident hope that we will come out of the grave because Jesus came out of the grave.

I want to give you four perspectives on this. First of all, acorns and oak trees. Acorns and oak trees. That something small can go into the ground. Something small and dormant can go into the ground, but can become something greater.

So, an acorn can go into, or acorn, if you're from certain parts of the country, acorn, my Midwest family would say that acorns go into the ground that somehow this magnificent tree would bloom up and establish roots and be strong and be just this spectacular specimen of a tree. It's not the end when something goes into the ground. It's the beginning of something even greater. And there's trouble, you know, when people talk about burying people. You know, you hear people say, well, they struggle with, should I bury them here, burying there, or we're only living in this area temporarily.

So, do I, you know, if somebody passes away, do I take them home to bury them? My grandfather talked about, in fact, if you don't know, my name, my middle name's Leon, and y'all call me Pastor Leon. I actually have a first name, Dwight, which comes from Dwight L. Moody. Praise God.

You know, Dwight L. Moody, what anointing on that man. And my grandfather was saved under the Moody ministry. So, he named my father after that because I'm a junior. But Leon is actually my grandfather's brother's name who died when he was just a little boy.

And he talked about when his brother Leon passed away, how hard it was because they were temporarily living in the Northwest, in Washington. State area, working during that period, but weren't planning to be there that long, and how, you know, do I bury my child here, or do I carry my child somewhere else? Do I tear him home to our home place and bury them? And it was just a really tough thing. But when we bury someone, as believers, when we bury someone, we are only burying their temporary bodies.

That's what we have to understand. Yes, it's sentimental to have them near home and stuff, but we don't see it as that's where they need to be. We don't see them as bodies and souls in the ground because their souls are with Jesus. When someone dies, their souls are with Jesus, and their bodies, their physical bodies, are just temporary stations for us in life. We are eternal souls that live in temporary bodies.

And that's how we see, as Christians, our lives and how we live out life. And that's why it says, I am. It doesn't say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still very alive. They're alive at this point in time.

And you are still alive when you die. Whether you're in the body or out of the body, you still exist. A soul exists forever. And God promises us the salvation not only for our souls, but for our bodies. And we mistakenly say that, you know, our loved ones, their final resting place, I'm so glad they finally are resting, their final resting place.

But here's the thing. When you go to be with Jesus, when you go to be with Jesus, your body sleeps. In fact, death and sleep are kind of synonymous in Scripture. They use them interchangeably. When you hear sleep, you're referring to death.

But there's purpose behind sleep. Jesus says, Lazarus is only sleeping. Lazarus is only sleeping. What do you mean, Jesus, he's only sleeping? And then he shows him what he does.

And when the believer dies, their body simply goes to sleep. It goes into a dormant state. It returns to dust and all of that. It decays, but it still is in this dormant state. Their soul is with Jesus.

But God promises us salvation not only for our souls. He promises our body salvation as well. Did you know that? A restoration of our bodies. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15 says it like this.

Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Going on, our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. Isn't that good? I'm glad I'm, you know, this broken state I'm in right now when I go to the gym and I come back all sore because I'm getting older and I don't recover like I used to. I know that this is just temporary.

When I'm an old man, I'm going to keep that in my thoughts. You know, one day, I'm I'm going to be brought back, brokenness but raised in glory. They were buried in weakness and they will be raised in strength. That I will not be weak for very long, I will be raised in strength. Death came through one man and resurrection came through another.

Adam brought death into the world, Jesus brought life and resurrection back to the world. This is the hope of the living church, the church today. And there's a day when Jesus will return, as scripture tells us, and with a loud command, voice of an archangel, the dead in Christ will rise. When Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first and those who are still with us will be caught up. It says we'll be caught up in the air.

That's where we get the word rapture. We'll be caught up in the air to be with him and we'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye, meaning that everybody will be raised to life. So we don't lose hope. We don't lose heart when our loved ones pass away, when the grave is there. We don't see graves.

We see graves as gardens, as Jesus sees graves as gardens. When he looks at a garden, he looks at a grave, he sees a garden. So we don't weep. Of course, we weep because we miss them, obviously. We miss our loved ones, yes.

But we don't weep because they, they aren't alive. They are very well alive. And what seed springs up must be from something that first dies. That's what Jesus talks. When wheat dies and seeds fall into the ground, it springs up other things.

Something must die first. That's why when we see graveyards, we see gardens. And God sees gardens. Instead of R.I.

P., rest in peace, we say raised in power. Amen. Raised in power. Put that on my gravestone, Miranda, because I know I'll probably die before you.

Odds are against me. Not it's not a resuscitation. It's a resurrection. It's not a resuscitation. You just don't just, oh, where am I?

You know, it is a resurrection. It is. And this is what distinguishes Jesus from any other, because we have other people who were raised from the dead. Some people would say, well, others were raised from the dead. What makes Jesus different?

Well, when Lazarus was raised from the dead, what happened? He came out of the grave still in his, in his wrappings. He still had his garments on. He still probably even had the sores and the decay that was happening when his body was dead. But when Jesus raised from the dead, he didn't need any help.

He came out of the grave. The garments were gone, right? There was an angel on the grave. He was, he was there, fully resurrected, fully there. He appeared to the apostles.

They touched him, yet he disappeared instantly in environments. He could, he could manipulate matter. I mean, he could, he could eat with them and they didn't have to. He didn't have to eat. It was for pure enjoyment just to be in fellowship.

He, they could touch him, yet he could fly. He could fly. He flew. They said he, he ascended into heaven. Someone once speculated that we, in our resurrected state, when we see Jesus, obviously we see the resurrection of Jesus, we might even see up to 500 senses.

500 senses. Heaven is more real and more vivid than we are alive now. Did you realize that? Heaven is a powerful thing. It makes us more real.

We breathe. We live in heaven. When we're in heaven, we are more alive. And the devil, what the devil wants you to think is that heaven is boring. That heaven is just this place where you're just going to sit for eternity and you're going to sit on a cloud and pluck carps and you're going to be in white robes all the time and this and that.

And Stephen King even said it himself. I don't want to go to heaven. It sounds terrible. He said that himself. Because human beings have made it sound that way.

And the devil has manipulated people to sound that way. But there's nothing in the Bible that says heaven is little angels, little baby angels with harps in their hands all around. No, that's an invention of mankind. So what is heaven? It's not just a new you.

It's a new world. It's a new earth. And everything thereof. Heaven coming down. God's presence coming down to the earth.

Everything in this life, it will be the same but different. Like the body is the same. When the resurrected state of the body is the same but different. There's something about the body that will be different when we see Jesus. People knew it was Jesus but didn't know it was Jesus, right?

There was something different about him. Like your body, the world will be the same way. The world will be resurrected to what it was originally intended to be in the Garden of Eden. That it would be a place where we would still laugh, that we would still dance, that we would still party in the right way, you know? And it's better.

Everything in this world that we enjoy and it is better with no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears. Amen? That the pain will be gone. N.T.

Wright said it like this, theologian N.T. Wright, he says, Heaven is more important or is important but it is not the end of the world. Heaven is important but that heaven, talking about the heaven we go to immediately when we die, to be in the presence of God, our soul separating from our bodies and being with the Lord. But it's not the end.

That's not it. There's so much more. It's a brand new world. Acorn today, but an oak tree tomorrow. And we can look forward and we can have hope in that.

The second thing is the already but not yet. That we live in the already but not yet. We live today in the space between the promise and the fulfillment. That we have a promise that our Lord will return and restore everything to what it was originally intended to be. And we are living much like the day between Good Friday and Easter.

We are living on that Saturday. Today, with the expectation we've experienced resurrection power, but we're anticipating the fullness of resurrection power. And the Old Testament, since the Garden of Eden, lived on God's promise that He would bring a Savior, and they lived with that promise. You can read Hebrews 11 and 12, and all those who worked in faith saw things that weren't there, and they moved in that, and they operated in faith. And we live in the fulfillment of that, is the beautiful thing, that we've actually experienced Christ.

We've experienced resurrection in our life. Resurrection is already ours because of everlasting life. Everlasting life. So, the minute you give your life to Jesus Christ, you're resurrected. Did you know that?

The minute you make a decision that, I am walking with Jesus, you have been raised in the Spirit, in the Spirit, in the soul. Your soul has been raised. You are living in what is available through Jesus Christ, the promise that was given in the Garden of Eden, but we're also living in the fulfillment, a promise of the fulfillment of all things. And it's not just a quantity of life, it's a quality of life. John 17, 3 says, Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The moment you become the Christian, you become transformed, transformed. God living in you, the temple of the living God. That's why I say at the beginning of this church service, because you're here, the presence of God is here. Amen? Because you're here, you are living the resurrected life in Jesus Christ.

But also, there is an awaiting that for our bodies to be resurrected, that there is a waiting for full resurrection of the bodies. A world even is waiting and groaning for the resurrection of all things. Nature itself is waiting and groaning and desiring. In fact, Paul even says, you know, when our souls are with the Lord, it is far better to be with the Lord, but we definitely want to be back with our bodies at some point, because the soul and the body was originally intended to be the physical and the spiritual were intended to be together from the very beginning of time, when Christ, when God made us. But the world is waiting and groaning.

Romans 8, 22 says, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to this present time. So, the rocks are crying out. Trees are crying. Everything is groaning for this restoration where there'll be no more earthquakes and famines and droughts and natural disasters and violence and disease and pestilence. The world itself, creation itself, cries out and groans.

And we live in the promise that one day the lion will actually lay with the lamb and that there will be no more tyranny. There will be no more crime. There will be no more injustice. There will be no more heartache. There will be no more sadness.

You know that we, the discrepancies of this world, because of sin, it will be gone away. And if you, and you know what, he said it, he said he's coming back, he said he's going to restore all things, and I believe it, I believe it. I love that Maverick City song, I was listening to it this morning, that's why I'm quoting, if he said it, he believe, we believe it, if he said it, he believe it, because you're a man of your word, he's a man of his word, and he's going to restore all things. So what do you do when things are changing internally for you, but externally, and this is always to limit the tension, right, externally the world is just nuts, you know, it's not changing. Well, we fight, we pray, we sing, we reach people, we keep going.

In the tension of the here but not yet, we continue to feed, we continue to clothe, we continue to expand the kingdom of God, we continue to grow church, we continue to grow ministry, we continue to do what we're called to do, Jesus can save you, Jesus can heal you, we share that good news, the message of that, and we fight for people to know what it really means to know Jesus. We want people to know what it's like to have the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in their life that you can be healed fully spiritually and one day healed fully physically, if not now in heaven. And then number three, longings of legends. A few weeks ago, I talked about legends and that Jesus, you know, legends about Jesus and the longing of legends. You know, Jesus' story is not what legends are made of, because legends, you can go back and listen to that message, because legends don't really have any evidence, they're not really grounded.

Jesus is more than just a legend. But it is the stuff legends are inspired by. Jesus has the stuff that legends are inspired by, because something resonates in the heart of man to want a hero. And something resonates in man, willing to die so many can live. Why is that?

It's suggested that God has put in the hearts, and this is what I'm saying, is that God has put in the hearts of every man, something echoes something bigger than themselves, that there's a bigger story. That's why we long for heroes. That's why we like stories. That's why we love the fairy tales. We like the Prince Charming coming and things like that.

C.S. Lewis, this is a very, very interesting story. If you don't know much about C.S.

Lewis, wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. Christian philosopher, but this was way before he was famous. He was an atheist. He believed in materialism. He believed that just we're here by random chance.

There's no real purpose for us. But he could not get out of his heart. He struggled with it. And he had Christian brothers around him, and they were professors at Oxford, and they were just really, you know, struggling. He was struggling because...

Because he couldn't get outside of the fact that there is something, this idea that there's a longing for a hero, this idea of God actually coming to this world to save people, to give his life for humanity, and this longing that he had in his heart. He couldn't deny the pull of the thought that God dying for citizens of a kingdom was a virtue that he desired. He couldn't get past that, and he was walking with a couple of his friends, one of them, J.R.R.

Tolkien, if you're all familiar with him, Lord of the Rings, this was way before Lord of the Rings was published, and any of them were famous. They're walking one day, and he asked him, why does this trouble you? He says, because I should not care about life, I should not care about hope, I should not care about these things. I don't know why this is bothering me, but it is, because I don't believe in God. I don't believe I'm here for any reason at all.

I'm just random chance, I'm just sales, I'm just walking around. And Tolkien said this to him, he asked him this question, what if these things are true, but echoes of larger truth? What if, when you read Sleeping Beauty, the echoes that perhaps the world is under a spell that needs a Prince Charming, is a part of a greater story, or like Peter Pan, what if the echoes of the hearts of us who really weren't meant to die, who were meant to live together, to grow up old, you know, never grow old, never die, and even meant to fly? What if Beauty and the Beast is an echo of sacrificial love actually changing someone's life? The stories that are in science, finding fulfillment in the birth, death, and resurrection is that story.

That it echoes a greater Prince, that really is a Prince that is coming to this world, that we all long for in our sin and in the desperation of this life, of this world that is bound by sin, that there is actually a Prince Charming coming for us, that there is a hero that's coming in the end. And two weeks later, Lewis wrote to a friend as he was leaving a zoo, he became a Christian, largely because of that conversation he had with J.R.R. Tolkien that day.

We all have eternity in our hearts, a pull that there is more, meaning of life, forgiveness of sin, life after death. All of that tugs at everybody, it tugs at everyone's heart. It's something that's deeply rooted in us. And if your identity and worth is in anything else, which leads me to my fourth point, eggs and baskets. Nice little Easter term there, right?

Eggs and baskets. It says eggs in a basket, but I meant eggs and baskets. Eggs and baskets. So what baskets are you storing your eggs in, is the question. The problem with storing all of our eggs in this life is that we're all going to die at some point.

We're all going to leave this life at some point. And, you know, the ratio is one and one in death right now, I think, in the last century or so. Yeah, I don't think anybody's lived, just went straight to heaven. And you're going to die unless Jesus returns in this lifetime. And if you identify with anything in this world, if you tie your worth in this life, what are you going to do when it all goes away?

What are you going to do yourself when you lose everything that you may tie yourself in this life? Where are you placing your eggs? When all those eggs are gone, when they've all fallen out of the basket, when they've all cracked on the floor, no way to put them back together, what are you tying your life to? In 1920, there was the Great Depression that took the nation by storm. And the suicide rate went up so high because people had lost everything.

People were literally jumping off buildings because they felt like they had nothing left in this life. They had lost everything. Everything they had built, they had lost. In the early 2000s, 2008, when the economy fell, same thing. People lost millions, maybe even billions of dollars in such a short period of time.

Suicide rate went up. People were putting their identity in other things. People were putting their eggs in the wrong basket. If your identity is caught up in anything else, listen to me, if your identity is caught up and is placed in anything else outside of eternity, you're going to be left disappointed. If it's caught up in your career, if it's caught up in your modeling, if it's caught up in your YouTube followings, if it's caught up in some kind of sport that you're a part of, you've put your identity in the wrong place because it can be taken away.

You're going to leave this world. And the question is, where are you placing your things right now? Where are you putting your eggs? I mean, you can build the biggest company, you can make millions of dollars, but is that how you want life to be, rich and famous? Is that where you want it to be?

What if all that's taken away? What if that's gone tomorrow? Where are you placing your eggs? Y'all know the story of Job, many of you, the richest man in the Far East in the Old Testament at the time in ancient Far East. He had stocks.

He had livestock. He had cows. He had camels. He had sheep. He had a diverse portfolio, actually.

You know? He really invested in a lot of different things. Very wealthy. But within days, within days, his entire net worth was gone. He's going to be the most open.

Every year with that, he's going to be the most open. Every. Everything was gone. In fact, while he was receiving news from his servants, the livestock is this, you know, the sheep are gone now, the donkeys are gone now, the camels are gone now, he learns, not in just another breath, that his children, his 10 children had passed away. A wind came through and took out all of his children.

He had lost everything. He was destitute. Everything. And his wife even said, curse God and die. You might as well just give up on life.

That was a good spouse right there, right? Encouraging, right? I think that would be a good marriage message one day. Encouraging our wives and our husbands. Friends couldn't contribute anything.

Everything that they said didn't mean anything. The eggs, they were all taken away. But what does he do? And destitute. His heart rises.

His heart, what does he say? For I know my redeemer lives. Can you say that? I know my redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. And he goes on to say in 26, and after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh, I shall see God.

I will see God. Death is either leaving home or going home based on where you are. Your eggs are. Are you leaving home when you leave this earth or are you going home? Depending on where you place your treasure, that will determine where you are.

Later we learned that Job's portion was doubled. All of his diverse portfolio was doubled. But this is very interesting. Not only did he double his proportion, he gave him 10 more children. But you may ask, why just 10 kids?

Why didn't he get 20? Why didn't he double it? Because the children, that he already had, that he already had are still alive. So he doubled his portion even. Because we live.

We live forever. We are alive. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is still the God of them today as he was yesterday and even before their existence. We live forever. So I ask you, are your eggs in this world or in God's basket?

Are your eggs, is your citizenship in heaven or on this earth? Would you like to give your life to Jesus today? Now let me say this. If you choose not to give your life to Jesus, you're still going to live forever. Did you know that?

Because there is everlasting life that leads to life, but there's also everlasting life, as we learned in our scripture at the beginning, that leads to shame and contempt. Or some versions say destitute. And Jesus confirmed it in John 5 28. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice. And then it goes on to say, and come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

Now, what Jesus is saying here is there is a heaven, but there is also a hell. Everybody's going somewhere. And not that He wanted to steal our joy, not that He took joy from that, but He cared that none should perish and all should have eternal life. He wanted us to know that we need Him, that through Him we can have life because we're all going to live. The soul never dies and it will live somewhere after this life.

But the choice is yours. Do you want to go to heaven or do... Well, how do I do that? Well, is it about like weighing out bad and good? Is it about more right than wrong or clean up your life?

I've had people say, well, I'll come to church, but I got to clean up my life first. Okay. That's not how you get to heaven. Here's what it says. Here's what Jesus said.

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. It's believing in Jesus, putting your trust in Jesus today. And the moment you come to Jesus, you are in the already. You've been saved, secured. You've come to the understanding of Jesus and He comes and lives in your heart and He's made you His temple.

Is that you today? Let's make that choice. You want to live with Jesus forever? It's available for you. He's made a way.

He's paid it all. You don't have to be good enough. Trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and as your friend. Pray this with me. Father, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin.

And I believe that you've paid it all and I don't have to be good enough. I just need to believe in you, God. I want to believe in you today. That this story in my heart is a real story, a bigger story. So today I give my life to you.

Come into my heart. Come into my life. Make me a new creation. And I walk with you from this day forward. In Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. Can you all give God a hand clap of praise? Praise God. Thank you everybody for being here.

I did not mention earlier, so I get to mention it now. Just in case you were not aware. Next week is spring forward. And because I have a captive audience and you can't leave yet. I do.

You get this opportunity to use my editorial background to say it is daylight saving time and not daylight savings. We are saving daylight. That is the point of it. So just in case anybody asks, it is daylight saving time. And according to Congress, we're going to enter into daylight saving and never come out, at least until they change their minds.

So for now, at least it is what it is. We're going to spring forward and then not fall back. But that does mean that next week you get to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed a whole hour sooner. Yay. Set your clocks.

Don't miss out, especially if you have kids. It's pillow fight Sunday. Tell them to wear their comfiest PJs to Salt. Miss Emma is going to have a fun pillow fight day for everybody. Maybe you can wear jammies, too.

I mean, that's fine. You know, whatever floats your boat. Maybe like a nice, like some footie pajamas. If that's you, you can do that. Thank you guys for being here.

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We love you, and we cannot wait to see you next week. Have a wonderful, wonderful Sunday. And don't forget, Lunch with Leon today if you want to go. Join me now. I'll see you next week.