The Special Resurrection

Lord, we do praise you for your goodness and your wonderful love, Lord. So wonderful to us. The way you help us and do things, Lord, is just marvelous.

Praise your holy name, Lord. You are wonderful. Lord, we thank you for your attention to the details of our lives.

We appreciate it. Appreciate your goodness, Lord. Help, Lord, for those that have burdens here.

We pray you will answer, answer the cry of the heart, Lord, that God may be glorified. Praise your name, Lord. Oh, hallelujah, we ask in your name, Lord.

And then as we continue, Lord, we need your guidance. There is nothing, Lord, apart from your help. Nothing, whatever.

So we pray the Holy Spirit will lend Jesus to each person as the need is there, that we will feed on his body and blood and our minds will be enlightened. In Jesus' name, amen. So we'll see what Eduardo has amazed us with.

Week 11, 21 April 98, tape 4102, Six Unscriptural Traditions, series The Resurrection. Recommended reading, The Resurrection. Short answer.

In Philippians chapter 3, Paul states, I count not myself to have apprehended. I press towards the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. As an apostle with an accomplished record of ministry, what was he referring to? I'm going to spend the rest of the evening on that.

That's a very profound part of the scripture. Okay, in context, if you have your Brian Fentaux working on a proposal, let's see if we can. Wouldn't it be wonderful to project the scripture up there? That's what we're working towards.

So pray with us to that end. Make it easier for you. But in the meanwhile, would you turn to your Bible and look at Philippians chapter 3 verse 10.

And then in 3 verses 10 and 11, he gets very specific. Philippians 3 verses 10 and 11. Philippians 3, I'm saying this for Bobby, verses 10 and 11.

Okay, now this is a really, it's an enigmatic passage. I mean, it's not one that's readily understood in terms of our framework of understanding. Although you remember in Hebrews, the sixth chapter, starting with the first verse, it says, let's leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God and baptisms, laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

And so the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment are doctrines. They're still part of the elementary. I mean, these are the kindergarten stuff.

You know, let's leave these and go on somewhere, but we haven't gotten there yet. I mean, we haven't got out of kindergarten yet. And so the doctrine of the resurrection and the doctrine of eternal judgment are not that familiar to the Christian church.

We understand pretty well about repentance, faith toward God, baptism in the Holy Spirit, baptism in water. It's baptisms, plural. I'm quoting Hebrews 6.2. But then the last two mention, as we press on toward perfection, which in terms of Hebrews is the rest of God.

Hebrews calls perfection the rest of God. In other words, the place in God where you're doing his will, where you're at rest in God's person and will. But you have to go through the resurrection and eternal judgment.

Well, these doctrines have been lost to the church. We preach a lot about eternal judgment in this church. We preach a lot about that doctrine, about getting your sins judged now, get them confessed, get rid of them.

And of course, when you do, that's an eternal judgment. God doesn't expect you to confess some sin, get it clean, and then go back into it. No.

Once we put our hand to the plow, we don't look back. We want to be worthy of the kingdom. So it is an eternal judgment.

But the church, by and large, is not aware. They're just coming past Pentecost. So these are trailblazers.

But the resurrection of the dead has been really lost to us. I had an interesting email where Bill Ott and I are corresponding with a Muslim in Turkey. And he asked a wonderful question.

He does English quite well. And he sends deep questions. And he wanted to know, for example, how come God couldn't just forgive us? Why did we need to get involved with Christ? And of course, we pointed out about the blood atonement without the shedding of blood.

God's scales are not balanced. He can't just forgive people. There has to be an atonement.

And the one he came up with today, Bill's out on business, so I've been filling in, he said, I understand your flesh and bones will be raised, but you mean raised in heaven, don't you? And I wrote back today and said, no, we go to heaven by dying, but we're raised to walk again on the earth. And then he asked another thing. He said, if Jesus Christ read to you from the Koran and communicated with you from the Koran, would you accept it? And I wrote back, yes, absolutely.

Jesus is my Lord. And if he reads from the Koran, I said, now I'll ask you a question. If Muhammad asked you to read from the Bible and said that Jesus is God's son and communicated with you this way, would you believe Muhammad? So I'm waiting for his reply.

But he's a good person. He's a very gentle, nice spirit, very sweet fella. But this idea of the resurrection has been lost to the Christian church.

And see, this influence of Gnosticism has pervaded not only Christianity, but Muhammadanism. And of course, we had the Indian happy honey ground and other Eastern religions point to the paradise. Christianity is the only one that advances a resurrection that I know of, and which are actually restored to life on the earth, which is immortality.

See, there's two things. There's eternal life, which is life in God's spirit. And then there's immortality, which is everlasting life in the body.

Immortality, we may get into that later. So Philippians 3, verses 10 and 11, someone has that, read it out in loud, clear, bell-like tones. I used to be a fifth grade teacher.

Read it out in loud, clear, bell-like tones. Notice that we would put sufferings first. But you see, you can't endure his sufferings until you have the power of his resurrection.

The Holy Spirit has guided the Bible that way. Sequence and order is very important. You have to have the power of his resurrection in order to endure the fellowship of his sufferings with joy.

So go ahead. Being conformed to his death in order that I may attain life. Alright, being conformed to his death.

Now, that's a death of humiliation, of denial, rejection, all that he was tempted with the world and with the kingdoms of the world and with personal ambition, jumping off the pinnacle, but all of this was denied him. It's not denied him now. He has everything now.

But temporarily it was denied him, and that's being conformed to his death on the cross. It's Paul's goal. See, to count everything in the world garbage.

If he conformed, that's the only way you can come to know him, gain him, win him, is to follow in the footsteps of Paul. To count everything that was gained to you that you didn't get through Christ as loss for Christ and loss for you. Everything you receive, you've got to receive twice.

You're given it once, but then it's got to die and it's got to be given to you again through Christ, and then it's yours, but before that it's temporary. Just like Abraham and Isaac, you had to receive him twice. That you get the first time, you can't hold, it's temporary, it rapidly becomes an idol.

But when you have to let it go in Christ, in Christ, as he calls for it, and then he restores it, if he restores it, and he doesn't restore anything unless it's going to work to your joy, then you have it forever. So whatever you're going to have forever, you have to receive twice. You have to have it through Christ.

Whatever you get and you don't get through Christ is temporary, but you get through Christ is eternal. It's yours. It's founded in the resurrection.

So being formed through his death is letting all things. See, if you save your life, the things you receive the first time, you're going to lose them. If you lose your life in Christ, you will save it.

And it's the only way you can save your life is by losing it. The way up is down. The way to the resurrection is through the cross.

The way to the fullness of the inheritance is through weakness and death. It has to be, because otherwise Adam is exalted instead of Christ, and God will not give his glory to another. And not seeing that, all that we perceive is suffering, death, and denial.

See, that's why instruction is important. If you don't have that, you figure, what's happening to me? It's the devil, and then you go around rebuking the devil, and everybody pray for me and get the devil out of it. It isn't the devil.

The devil does God's business against his will. God's always one jump ahead of him. All he manages to do is save the world.

But this idea, it says, Christ, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. If you don't have joy set before you, you can't endure the cross. Everything looks bleak and hopeless.

I have to give up this, I have to give up that, and then I might as well go be a hermit and live in a cave somewhere, because I can't have anything. But if you see where God is going, that the King is offering to trade the glory of the kingdom for your rags, then you have joy set before you, then you can endure the cross. If Christ, as powerful and marvelous as he is, had to have joy before him in order to endure the cross, how much more do we have to have joy set before us in order to endure the cross? We get that joy from reading the scriptures.

We find out what God is about in our life, and then we say, well Lord, it ain't easy, but we realize this is what, just like a college education or becoming a part of the seals or anything else, there's some things that you go through in life that are difficult, and you just have to deny yourself. Learning to be a real expert piano player requires many years of back-breaking discipline when everybody else having a grand time. Becoming a gold medal swimmer requires a strict diet.

You should read about those in the Santa Clara Swim Club. I mean the diet, the grueling hours of exercise. So even in a world where we work for a perishable crown, we know that you have to deny yourself.

You can't eat your cake and have it too. It doesn't work that way. And in the kingdom, it's the same way.

If you're going to have the resurrection, you have to have it to begin with, and then as you submit to death, then you get more resurrection, more death, and like that, and finally you have the supreme triumph of being totally free from worldliness, lust, and self-will. And there's no shortcuts. And that's how you save your life, is by losing it.

If you don't lose your life, you'll be barren spiritually. In order to be fruitful spiritually, you have to fall into the ground and die. And if Christ had merely come and taught his philosophy, and then returned to heaven, he wouldn't have been the world changer that he's been.

He'd be on a level with Muhammad and Buddha and a few others, Zoroaster and a few others, but because he died, it's the fruit came from his death. And the fruit of your life will come from your death. When you're a young minister, if you write, you write flowery phrases.

You'll put together the most excellent array of verses along with your philosophy, and a few big words to impress the peons, I guess. And you can't fault it. It's accurate.

And maybe a lot of people help from it. But if you've been through death with Jesus, you can tell right away, this is not coming from the cross. It's coming from the human mind.

It's accurate, but it's not coming from the cross. And ministry that produces eternal change in the kingdom comes from the cross. Not out of the mind of man in his Walnut Line study.

It comes out of prisons and out of fastings and out of denial. So he says, being conformed to his death. Okay, now the next verse is truly inscrutable.

It's truly inscrutable. I don't think I have ever heard anyone preach on it. Ever.

I've heard a few sermons in my life, and you have too. Has anyone in here ever heard anyone preach Philippians 3.11, barring this church. Philippians 3.11. Have you ever heard anyone preach on that? Well, we ought to.

It's in the Bible. John 3.16. So Paul is saying something here. He's summing up his goal.

This is his high calling. This is the mark. This is where the goal is defined.

And that goal is foreign to us, because we have not known the doctrine of the resurrection. See, we've got caught up in being caught up. And that is a red herring.

I mean, that's to take you right off the path. There's no redemption in being caught up. There's no redemption in that.

There's no feast of the Lord that symbolizes being caught up. There's no feast on the 40th day after the Feast of First Fruits is on the 50th day at Pentecost. There's nothing there.

The catching up is merely an act of kingdom convenience to gather together the saints with the Lord and to get on their horses and to get organized for the cavalry charge of Armageddon. They couldn't start from the ground, because that charge is coming down and probably will be formed on the dried up bed of the Euphrates. Because just before the coming of the Lord, the Euphrates River is dried up.

And I believe it's to be a staging area, because the coming of the Lord is a cavalry charge. And of course, he could attack from the air, but he's not going to do that. It's going to be a ground attack against Armageddon, who will be in the Valley of Megiddo.

And the river bed of the Euphrates is a perfect staging area, because it cuts off the Valley of Megiddo on the east and on the north. On the west will be the Mediterranean Sea, which will have been turned to blood. So he's blocked on the Antichrist in the Valley of Megiddo, is blocked on the west, blocked on the north, blocked on the east.

And then we notice at the same time that there's a great earthquake, and there's a great valley that's opened up from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, and a part of the land shifts to the north, and a part of the land shifts to the south. And that valley that's opened up is if Christ and a few of his generals should leave the host under officers on the river bed of the Euphrates, and ride through that valley that's been opened up while the Jews are fleeing eastward, which Zechariah says they will, he'd be cut off both his flanks, his northern flank and his southern flank would be cut off. The north by those in the bed of the Euphrates just sloops around like that, and on the south he'd be cut off by Christ himself, the Mediterranean at his back, and the full force of the army, with the banner showing the ramping lion coming at him directly from the east and moving like that.

And he's annihilated. He's annihilated. It's a perfect military strategy.

Flanks are covered, direct frontal assault, and no retreat. Anybody that knows anything about tactics will tell you that's a winner. I mean, he's dead.

He's finished. He has nowhere to go. And of course, upward he can't go because the warrior angels of God will be there, so there's no place he can go.

He's finished. So, that's the purpose of the catching up, is to organize, because we who are alive and remain will be caught up with the newly resurrected saints who will have returned with Jesus to get their bodies. They'll be caught up, we'll be chained and caught up together with them, so that we can be put in our place.

You just can't have a mob coming out of heaven with Christ. It says, when Christ shall appear, we shall appear with him. Well, he's coming as an army, as a general, the head of an army.

That's Revelation 19. And an army, the most conspicuous aspect of an army is discipline and organization. That's how it differs from a mob.

And so, here comes everybody up. They'll have to be organized, ready for the invasion of Armageddon. Here comes the vials of the wrath of God to soften up the earth, softening up procedure.

And down they come, because there'll still be a lot of people on the earth, a lot of wickedness on the earth. That's a simple battle plan. But that isn't where the action is.

The action is in the resurrection. See, that's where the action is. Once you're raised from the dead, you don't have to worry about antichrist, tribulation, or anything.

Once you're raised, like it says in 1 Thessalonians 4, the dead in Christ shall rise first. That means be raised from the dead. Before they're caught up, they're raised from the dead.

And they're on their feet on the earth. Before they're caught up, they're on their feet on the earth. Nothing can touch them.

They're invulnerable, because they've been raised from the dead. They're immoral. And they're filled with eternal life.

And so the Lord calls them up to himself, so that they'll be a unit, and so that he can descend at the head of his army. Fits all the verses. Now, what Paul said is enigmatic.

In terms of all of our doctrine, that makes no sense. Because Paul says, make sure you see it in your Bible now. Don't overlook it, because it's hard to perceive.

If by any means I may attain. Now, what he's trying to attain is called there the resurrection. Actually, it's a unique term used only once in the New Testament that means out-resurrection.

If the word is exonostasis, it means out-resurrection. So if you translate it like that, it helps, because it's not the general resurrection of the dead that comes at the end of the Kingdom Age. It's not that.

Here comes our drummer. We needed you to play the drums tonight, Bill. So what Paul is saying is, if by any means I may attain the resurrection, and properly translated it should be, which is out from among the dead.

The resurrection which is out from among the dead. And we know from other verses that that's the resurrection to life. That's the resurrection of the royal priesthood.

Now, picture it. Here's a man, as Eddie said, with the accomplishments of his ministry behind him, an elder, probably in his sixties. Paul's tradition has it that he was martyred around age 66, something like that.

And here he is. Philippians is not the last epistle. Second Timothy is.

But when Philippians was written, he was in prison in Rome. He was in prison in Rome when Philippians was written. And many of the epistles had been written.

Churches had been established. Now, when this man says, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection, which is out from among the dead, then a couple of verses later he says, and let all of you who are perfect be thus minded. And we never have heard it preached even once.

None of us. Then we have trail to blaze. We have trail to blaze because the Holy Spirit doesn't give verses that have no bearing on the body of Christ.

So God wants us today to press on to the rest of God. And the rest of God is the place where your enemies have been brought under the feet of Christ, as Diane McIntosh would call your exes, the things in you that cause an uproar, whether it's hatred, fear, violence, some trauma when you were a child, whatever. All these exes are in us and all these have got to be brought under Christ's feet.

They all war against God. They're all invading. They all are resident in our land of promise.

So we go against them city by city as the Spirit of God leads us. And God wants us to attain perfect rest in his will so that we're not constantly being driven out of it by our desire for material things or some emotional problem or some personal ambition or some lust of our flesh. All these war against our finding rest in God's will.

Isn't that so? And they don't just disappear because you say boo. They, like the Philistines, this is their home. Your personality has been their home.

And in some cases, it's been passed down in your family line. They're generational and they're like your family. They don't want to leave your family.

They're very happy with your family. They may have come into your great grandfather and they're very much accustomed to you and your ways and your family. And they don't want to leave.

And they won't leave until you get the help of the Holy Spirit and are absolutely determined, desperate already, that they're going to leave. And they won't leave until, I mean, they have to know that they are not welcome. If they see any, and it's funny, it's like a dog.

We have a very sensitive dog. I mean, that dog is so smart it's appalling. In fact, every once in a while she tries to talk and makes the weirdest sounds.

She's really a character, this dog. But she watches my face. And if I say something, she looks at me to see if I mean it.

If I say bear outside, she'll look at my face. And she knows whether to move or not. She can tell by looking at me.

She knows whether I mean business or I'm just, it's convenient, you know, and I just assume she's out of the house. But if she doesn't go, I'm not going to, you know, do any more about it. She watches my face.

Sometimes she's not even looking at me. She can feel it. She can sense it.

It's amazing. There are things that go on that we don't know about, you know, that are really supernatural. They're just not what you would think would happen.

But that dog, I swear, knows when I mean business. She knows. And I'll have to say it but once, bear out.

And I mean, she doesn't argue. She doesn't kind of yawn and look around when she's stalling. I mean, she makes for the door.

And I say, good, good girl. I'll close the door. But if I'm, you know, really mellow, I don't really care.

I don't think she's got to go to the bathroom or anything. There's no real pressure. You know, that'd be convenient.

Why don't you go out and, you know, bark at the neighbor's dogs or something. But she watches me and stretches and yawns. I mean, all right.

You want to stay in, okay. And the demons are just like that. That's why people don't get delivered from alcohol.

I've seen it. Because they're in, there's ambiguity in their desire. They say, yeah, I want to get rid of it.

I do, but I don't. Our boys, when they were young, used to say, I do, but I don't. I do, but I don't.

And have you got anything in you that you do, but you don't? Well, you can't, when you go against Satan, you have to be all steel. They have to know that you are not going to take no for an answer. That's why people can't get rid of booze or drugs or other things to the flesh.

Adultery and fornication and things is because they're not, they're not really ready to say, it's okay not to drink. It's okay not to do adultery. They're not there yet.

They're trying to do good. Their intentions are the best. They know it's wrong and hurtful, but there's something way down deep.

They're not sure it's okay not to do drugs. They're not sure it's okay not to drink. They're not sure of that.

You know, I'm not sure I want to take that jump. And as long as you're that way, you cannot get the drink. Because the demons are in there, they'll hang in by their fingernails.

We can see them, they just get their claws in you like that. They don't want to let go. You make them uncomfortable when you're praying.

You make them uncomfortable. But it's when you make up your mind before the Lord and say, God, I need help. I don't want this anymore.

I'm finished with this. It's history as far as I'm concerned. God, help me.

Then the Father hears that. The Father knows when you're saying prayers and when you're praying. He knows the difference.

When that comes up and he realizes that is an earnest prayer from someone who is really ready to do without this thing. It'll go. You don't have to scream.

It'll go. So you get deliverance when that's what you want. When you want it bad enough.

And so God, in his goodness, sends the hornets after us. You know that expression? Does that make sense to you? There's things in us that we'd like to hide. Maybe we'd like to keep them concealed.

Maybe just they want to be concealed. And God sends the hornets after them. He stings them.

And they are uncomfortable and we're uncomfortable. And we're brought to a place of decision. God smokes them out.

He smokes them out. You'll find that in Deuteronomy 7. Those that hide themselves from you. I'll send the hornet.

He says I want you to destroy them with a terrible destruction until they're destroyed. The word destroyed is in there three times in that verse. Destroy them with a complete destruction until they are destroyed.

That's in Deuteronomy chapter 7. And that's the way God wants the demons in your life. To be destroyed with a terrible destruction until they're destroyed. And he can do it through his Holy Spirit.

But you're the judge. See, you blow the whistle. And you're the one that decides.

Now, that's the process of entering the rest of God. It means entering into the land of promise. And Israel never did that.

They would not do that. And they have suffered for it to this day. They would get just so far until they had room to make their vines and their fig trees and their sheep and their nut trees.

And they'd make peace with the Jebusites and the Amorites and the rest of them. And they figured, well, they got to eat too, you know. And what happened is what God said would happen.

Israel began to worship their gods. And pretty soon they were driven right out of their land. They would have never could have been captured by Nebuchadnezzar if they'd been serving God.

They couldn't have been captured by anybody. But it came because they didn't enter the rest of God. And that's why Hebrew says there remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

They did not enter the rest the way God wanted. They compromised. And Christians do that.

They get just so far in the Lord and then they hear a more demanding message and they figure, well, I'm comfortable. I know the people in this church and I love the pastor and he's a dear man and, you know, my kids are set. And you preach something that's too demanding for them and they won't even hear you.

And they're just like the Jews. They don't have a heart for God, not realizing that God, this is for God's sake that we get rid of these devils. I mean, they're keeping Christ at the right hand of the Father, waiting till his enemies be made his footstool.

All we're concerned about is that we're comfy and we made some progress and surely God won't throw me into hell because I go to church. And that's the average church member. And they don't go any further.

Some of them don't even get as far as Pentecost. You've got to be in God's remnant. You've got to have a heart to fight.

And God is calling on a warrior remnant today. And I'm telling you, once we back off in this church, they'll even go to another. The people in this church that mean business with God will keep going as long as they're hearing on the growing edge of what's going on, they'll stay.

And once I get complacent, they'll go. And I know that. That isn't why I don't get complacent.

I don't get complacent because it's in my heart as a desire to stay on what God is doing. I mean, it's fun to go with God. I don't like this stuff of playing around with one foot in the world and half a heart.

You can't because the pressures are too great. You've either got to be ready to go all the way or you're going to get pushback because the dynamics are such that there's no resting place. So what we're preaching in this church is full bore, entering the rest of God.

No holds barred. Nothing. There's no stopping of the train.

It's going on. God willing. And that's what we're about here.

As they keep pushing this thing through and building the highway of holiness. And I can tell from the internet and the responses that we get, there's a lot of people out there that feel just that way. And they thank God there's somebody that is giving them something that they can grow on.

So, alright, I said that to say this. That's perfection. When Hebrews says, let us leave these things and go on to perfection, the perfection it's talking about is that rest of God where the enemies of God are being put under your feet as fast as you come to them.

That's why it says labor to enter into the rest of God. Cease from your own works and press into the rest of God. That's in Hebrews chapter 4. Cease from your own works and press into the rest of God.

See, and that's that place where everything, where you're doing God's will at any moment. You can look up to God and say, praise your name. Father, if you've got anything else for me, just let me know.

I'm raring to go. I've got them all packaged away so far. And you can do that.

And that's the only way to live. Don't let Satan talk you out of it. Tell you, oh, nobody can do that.

It certainly can. That's the ordinary Christian life is to live the overcoming life of victory and accept no compromise, nothing. Once God shows you a problem, go after it, go after it.

And God will keep you going. You can do it, believe me. Our Father does not give you frustrating commandments.

His do what God has asked you to do. Absolutely. God never asks you to do something that He doesn't stand ready to give you the grace to do it.

Never asks you to do anything that He doesn't stand ready to give you the grace to do it. Because He's our loving Father and He's not out here to frustrate His kids. When we back off, it's because we've got one eye on God and one eye on something else.

And that's, we get divided. Then our body is not full of light. And our hands are weak.

Is there any question about that? Alright, we got into that from Hebrews chapter 6 verse 2. Let us leave the principles, one and two, let us leave the principles or the kindergarten stuff and go on to perfection, which is the rest of God that we've been talking about. But our point tonight is this. One of those kindergarten things is called the resurrection of the dead.

And we don't know much about it. We haven't been taught the resurrection. We've been taught that Christ was raised from the dead.

But we haven't been taught that we're going to be raised from the dead. We have, and yet we haven't. It's not real to us.

And God wants it real to us. If we're going to enter the rest of God, the doctrine of the resurrection has to be firmly established in our personality. That's why I said, let's leave these things now.

We discussed that. Let's go on to the rest. Okay, you don't go on to the first grade until you finish kindergarten.

Alright, now, Philippians 3.11, where Paul says, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection, which is out from among the dead, is virtually unknown to us. We don't know what it means. No one preaches on it, amplifies, says, wishy-washy around the moral resurrection, and that's a cyclical argument.

I could turn back on that editor, but I don't want to in here to do that. Because a few verses later, we find in Philippians 3, at the end of the chapter, he's talking about the literal resurrection. He said, Christ will transform your body by the power of his body.

That's the last verse in the same chapter, Philippians 3. Now, so Paul is talking about the physical redemption of his body for which he groaned. Now, we have no problem with that except for the word attain. See, our assumption is that the resurrection is something that's just going to naturally accrue to people if they do the four steps of salvation.

The resurrection, then, is a fait accompli. If that were the case, why would Paul, at the end of his ministry, say he was trying to attain the resurrection, which is out from among the dead? See, it doesn't wash. It's certainly not talking about heaven.

Paul isn't saying, if by any means I may go to heaven, that's ridiculous. Or, if by any means I may be saved, that's ridiculous. He's talking about something that we don't understand.

So we have to go to other passages in the Bible to find out what he's talking about. Now, there's two things in Philippians 3.11 that are remarkable. The first one is the verb attain, if by any means I may attain.

The second thing that's remarkable is the word for resurrection itself, which, as I said, is only used once in the New Testament, exonostesis, which is properly translated, the resurrection which is out from among the dead. Now, stop and think. The way you use prepositions is important.

There's a resurrection of the dead and a resurrection from the dead. And of and from are two different prepositions. Because of the stress, there is a preposition out from that is prefixed to the word anastasis.

X in the Greek means out from. So the noun in Philippians 3.11 is exonostesis, which means out from. But it's stressed.

I mean, it's emphasized. Barry? Could that mean that Paul understood the difference? See, that's the thing. Because we know from John 5, verses 28 and 29, wouldn't that be beautiful if we could, as fast as I said, we could shine out there? We're working for that.

And that's entirely doable. As Brian says, that's entirely doable. So he's making a proposal.

And that would help you a great deal. Because I don't like to spend the whole class time reading verses. I like you to know them.

And John 5, 28 and 29 are key, key, key. And you should know them. Memorize them.

Type them out tomorrow and put a magnet on them on the refrigerator door. Marvel not at this. For the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves.

Now that means, that's the resurrection what? Of or from? Of. That's the resurrection of the dead. Of the dead.

The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. They that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment or condemnation.

Now, don't, it's fashionable in evangelical teaching to say, oh yes, but grace changes that. Let me tell you something. Grace, are you ready to hear something? Grace never, never changes the words of Jesus Christ.

Everything Christ said is repeated by the apostles in the epistles. The current teaching is, but that can't mean what it says because that means if you do good you're raised to life. Let me tell you that same thing is repeated in Romans chapter 2 verse 6. They that pursue life, righteousness and so on, attain eternal life.

And according to his deeds. Read the next verse. And so the teaching that that the apostles through grace changed the teachings of God.

Whoa. Never. Not one thing that Christ said is changed by grace.

We don't understand the grace of God. The grace of God has to do with the law of Moses. We're not under the law of Moses.

He was talking to people with a heavily Jewish background. And grace, what he's saying is we're not under the law anymore. We're saved by grace.

Our sins are forgiven. Now we can be married to Christ and bring forth fruit to him. Grace is not an alternative to godly living.

It's an alternative to the law of Moses, the kosher laws, circumcision, the Sabbath day. We're Gentiles. We can't understand that.

The Jews, that's a big thing. You take away the kosher laws. And Paul says no, grace has taken the place of that.

We're Gentiles. We come along and we've been taught that grace is the worst mistake you Now, grace is an alternative to the law of Moses. If it was an alternative to godly living, we're nowhere.

I mean, the new covenant is worse than the old because the old at least required righteousness. So when when Jesus said in John 5, 28 and 29, these are the words of God. They don't change.

The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. That's the resurrection of the dead. They that have done good, just like Romans 2-7, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil, have done bad things, abominable things, unto the resurrection of judgment.

And we talked about that, which boils down to immortality in the lake of fire, in your flesh and bones. I mean, it's rough stuff if you do evil. So, when Paul says if by any means I may attain, the word attain we haven't talked about yet, the exonostasis, we're not talking about John 5, 28 and 29 because that's the resurrection of the dead.

We're talking about the, and I don't know, the new international version, does anyone have the NIV? Let's see what it says there. As I remember, it doesn't say out resurrection, which it should, because that's the Greek, but I think it says the resurrection from the dead or out from the dead or something like that. What does it say? From the one that's prefixed to the word for resurrection.

So there's no attaining to the general resurrection. All that are in the grave shall come forth. There's no attaining to it.

You're going to come forth whether you like it or not. You're going to come forth. The day will come when you will come, we'll hear the voice of Christ and come forth.

Yes. Is that distinction between the resurrection of the dead and from the dead, is that what Paul's talking about when he says attain unto a better resurrection? And we don't know who the writer was, but that's talking about Jewish people who were hounded from pillar to post, living in caves, and Isaiah who was sown in half and a few other things, and they submitted to this that they might attain a better resurrection, which is a good point because it shows that even the Jews understood the importance of improving your resurrection. Otherwise, the adjective better means nothing, means nothing.

And so it falls in with what you're saying there. Now, so we see there's a resurrection of the dead and a resurrection from the dead, or to use the true force of the Greek, out from the dead. We have a picture then of a resurrection prior, prior to the general resurrection, which of course is revealed in Revelation 20 verse 4, where it talks about the royal priesthood, and it says this is the first resurrection.

And I don't think that we would really be reaching to say that there is a strong chance that the ex-anastasis, the resurrection from the dead, and the protos-anastasis, the first resurrection, are one and the same, because the tenor of Revelation 20 verses 4 through 6 is that of an elite who were resurrected prior to the general resurrection at the end of the kingdom age. Not only that, there's an even more important distinction, and that is that the general resurrection, this will be on tape, at the general resurrection at the end of the thousand year kingdom age, books are opened, in which it is determined whether you did good or whether you did evil. But at the first resurrection in Revelation 20 verse 4, there are no books opened.

And what that tells me is that when the Lord Jesus Christ appears, those who sleep in Jesus, and we talk Sunday about what that expression means. It doesn't mean you've taken the four steps of salvation to be in Jesus. It means you're living in interaction with the living Jesus every day.

You can't point to the back and say, I was doing that yesterday. It's always now. You're either in Jesus or you're not.

And it's the dead in Christ who will arise. And I believe that that resurrection is the protosynostasis or the exsynostasis, and there are no books open because you already have been sentenced to be with the Lord forever. There's no judgment of you after that, because you can't take a person, raise his flesh and bones, change him into immortality, put him forever with the Lord, and then judge him.

That isn't going to go. So no books are opened at the first resurrection. So the tenor of Philippians, the express statement of Philippians 3, and the tenor of Revelation 24 is that this is a resurrection that must be attained.

Blessed and holy. Revelation 20 verse 5 says, blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. Do you feel in there the idea of attainment? I mean, these people, if you say, oh, look at that person, they're blessed and holy, you are distinguishing them from the people around them by the ordinary way we use language.

Yes? Matthew 25 talks about sheep and goat nations. Is that also this general resurrection where everyone is evaluated? That's part of the general resurrection. Sheep and goat nations, and I think it comes after the kingdom age.

There's something to be said on both sides, but if you have that happening when the Lord first appears, you run into monumental problems. But it kind of slips in nicely in Revelation 20 at the general resurrection, kind of slips in nicely there. Yes? Going back, the idea of living in the Lord.

Well, we have to go, the Bible is a book of law, and the law states that he who overcomes, now it doesn't say how long they overcome. It's the idea if you overcome what's set before you, then by the law you are eligible for those rewards. But one problem in our thinking there is we assume all those rewards will be given to us when the Lord comes.

It may be those are increments that we are gaining now. The idea being that as you overcome, you're given to eat of the tree of life. When you come out of the prison now that the Lord put you in, you get authority of life.

Do you see the idea? Which makes a lot more sense. Now, as far as how God can make up, there will be making up of differences when the Lord comes. That's for sure.

The last vestiges of sin will be removed. But what is developed in a human being in the way of rulership can only be developed. It can't be assigned.

Strength of character in Jesus Christ can't be assigned. There's things that you gain by experience that can't be assigned. Larry? When we come to the rewards, you know, we're like comparing getting a tennis racket as compared to getting a house or something like that.

These rewards are so incredibly beyond anything we can imagine. Things get large enough, you can't compare them because they both go out of sight. It's like 10 to the 10th to the 10th power against 10 to the 12th to the 12th power.

It gets so large. There's no practical comparison that one's larger than the other. That's brought out in the parable of the talents.

First of all, all people were not given the same thing. One was given five, one was given three, one was given one something of this kind, one given ten, one given five, one given one or something like that. And the Lord only judged them according to the way they had used what they had been given.

And then one was over 10 cities and one was over five cities and so on. So there will be those who are on the right hand, the left hand of Christ. And he said, you'll drink the cup.

He said, you'll drink the cup. So we'll be outrageously happy with whatever we get. If we really do the best we have with the time we have allotted and the resources, we don't have to worry about being unhappy or comparing ourselves with anyone else.

Because it's like 10 to the 10th power. 10 to the 10 to the 10th power. Yes? Is the parable of the 10 virgins the first resurrection? The parable of the 10 virgins is accenting all.

And I just have time to go into the inscrutability. That will lead us right into the inscrutability of the meaning of the word attain. All we've talked about so far is the meaning of the word resurrection.

Why he's trying to attain something that is given to everybody. And it's because he's talking about a first resurrection after which there's no judgment. And on the general resurrection, there is a judgment.

So being resurrected and being raised up to be ever with the Lord at that time is a sentence. It's the sentence that you've been given. That you've been sentenced to eternal life with the Lord.

And so that means you will have to go through judgment before then. That's where the doctrine of eternal judgment comes in. Now let's just look a little bit at the verb attaining and then we'll be out of here.

Now what does he mean attain? Why do you have to attain this elite resurrection, this protosynostasis of Revelation 24 and 25, 20 verse 5? And how is it attained? If it was something given you by faith and grace, Paul wouldn't talk about attaining it. Let's attain it. We notice, and you can get the rules for it, by reading carefully the third chapter of Philippians.

Because he starts by saying off, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee, we know he was very advanced in the Pharisaical training, under Gamaliel, and then he renounced it all because it had not been done in Christ and said it's all garbage. He didn't say, oh now I can be a better preacher because I'm all these things. He said this is all garbage.

So the key to this is what we mentioned earlier, laying down your life. He says that I may win Christ or gain Christ, which is a foreign concept to us. We've had so much sloppy grace and four steps that the idea that you have to gain Christ, Paul at the end of his life trying to win Christ, is foreign to our thinking.

Yes Barry? Just stay within the context. He doesn't talk about fruit bearing. He talks about things like forgetting that which is behind.

That's a very important aspect of attaining this special resurrection, is having the ability to, if you stumble or whatever happens to you, someone hurts you, whatever that disrupts your program, that you get before God and get that out of your spirit and go on like it's a new day. He got that from the 45th Psalm where God said talk to the bride and says forget your father's house. And how many Christians are trying to go ahead in God with the chains of the past holding them back.

Sometimes, many women for example, have been molested as children and they really do need psychological help and it doesn't go away because it says go away. It doesn't go away. Things like that just don't go away.

And this is the past that's hindering your progress. But something the pastor's wife of the Escondido church said, it puts a kind of a practical slant on it. She says alright, so we've all been molested, let's go on.

And so there comes a time when you press through the things, get the healing that you need, and then you never mention it again. Someone has hurt you. You've been in some kind of an extremely unjust situation.

Many, many, I suppose a majority of people today that are in their 20s and 30s came from dysfunctional households in which there was great domestic violence. Domestic violence now is the crime of preference. I mean, you know, if you're not shooting your wife, what's wrong? You know, are you trying to be different? I mean, it's in the paper all the time.

The guy just today said, I never thought I'd kill anybody. The judge threw the book at him. His lawyer says he won't get out for 50 years.

He got 35 to life. And he just, from a domestic argument, lost his cool and shot somebody. But his remark, I never thought, I mean, this is not a seasoned criminal with a long history of felonies.

This is just some guy that got wrapped up in a domestic dispute over kids or something and blasted somebody, and the judge didn't like it for some. Judges differ. I've seen several judges on the bench, and I mean, some are easy and some are hard.

You know, and this guy, they come up against a hanging judge, and he threw the book at him. I mean, he took this guy out of circulation. I mean, this is the crime of preference now.

And those today who are in their 20s and 30s came out of highly dysfunctional families. You'll hardly hear of anybody that had any kind of a stable, godly home. Very few.

There are some. We ran into somebody the other day that came out of a godly home. Couldn't fault his background.

I thought, how marvelous. How marvelous. But it's the exception today.

And so, people come to church, and I mean, they got things from the past that haven't worked out. You've got women that hate their husbands because they see in their husband their father. You've got men that hate their wives because they see in their wife their mother.

And this is common. And they come with all this baggage, trying to be disciples of Jesus Christ. And it's, hey, that's why we spend so much time with our Biblical exhortation 1, 2, and 3 with Diane McIntosh and everything, because you can't get people going on to the rest of God when they're tied up, and when they've got this baggage, they're going along, they've got a train behind them of parental abuse, or their father was all the time beaten up on their mother, or some other thing, or the woman was a Jezebel that ran the house and drove her husband, nothing, all kinds of things.

And they come in, they're trying to be Christian, they're dragging this thing behind them. So you've got to get all this stuff talked out, and then go on. So part of attaining this resurrection out from among the dead is forgetting, forgetting.

Paul was treated extremely unjustly by the Jews. Extremely unjustly by the Jews. I mean, they would follow him from city to city, and he'd have success preaching in the city, until here came the Jews and persuaded the people against him.

And he'd go on, and here come the Jews after him. I mean, they wouldn't leave him alone. I mean, that could build up hatred in your heart.

But we find in Romans, he said, I could be a curse for my brethren, the Jews. So he had forgotten it. Through Christ, he'd gotten the victory.

Instead of saying, you know, they're no good, rotten Jews, I wish I wasn't one to say that, I could count myself a curse from Christ for my brethren, the Jews. So he'd forgotten what's behind. And believe me, you can't get going in God if you're carrying baggage.

And if you are, please talk to my wife, Mrs. Thompson. We've got people now that have been trained in the church. The Becks and others, several families in the church have been trained to deal with people.

They go alongside with you, they've had problems, they've worked through them, and they're ready to help you. So if you have something like that, tell my wife that she'll get somebody to mentor and help you, because we have to forget these things. I mean, if every time you look at Jesus, all you see was an abusive father, forget it.

Yes? Isn't another symbol, the very fundamental thing about that word attain, it shows that attaining is not something that happens automatically, that it's made up by the grace of Christ. It says grace will operate in the day of the Lord. Grace operates now to forgive the sins that are past.

See, that's what it says, to forgive the sins that are past. That's in Romans, third chapter, I think. Forgive the sins that are past.

It's a jumpstart for you. It's a jumpstart. And then the Lord comes in with the born-again experience, the body and blood of Christ, gifts of the ministry and the church and all the other things, so that you can... How was that verse you quoted to me in Colossians 2.5? As you have received Christ, so walk in him.

That's an excellent verse, Colossians 2.5... 2.6, I'm sorry. Okay? As you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. Okay? All right, now, I think probably the key to what it means to attain the resurrection is found in two places.

It's found in John 6, around the 50th verse, and it's found in Romans 8.11, and it has to do with the foolish virgins, and Larry raised that as associated. That fits in there. All right.

What you have to have is the oil. Now, the oil... We'll talk a minute about what the oil stands for. The virgins had two things.

They had a lamp, which represents the Bible. Remember Psalms 119, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. They had the lamp, and then they had the oil, which in the Old Testament is a type of the Holy Spirit, or the light of God.

All right. They all, even the foolish, had their lamps, but what they ran out of was oil. They didn't carry a canister of oil with them, so that when the lamp burned down, they didn't have any more, no backup, no reservoir.

They were people living for the moment. They were foolish, and they were used to going to other people and getting their oil. See, that's why they went to the wise and said, give us of your oil, because that's the way they lived all their life, was operating on other people's oil.

Okay. Now, Romans 8.11 says this, If the spirit of him that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead will make alive your body by his spirit that dwells in you. So, when Paul is talking about death, as he does two verses later, if you live after the flesh, you shall die.

He doesn't mean physical death. He means that if you live in the flesh, you lose the spirit within you. If you lose the spirit within you, there's nothing to resurrect.

See, you have reaped corruption, and when the Lord comes, his life calls to life. It doesn't call to doctrine. It calls to life, and if that life that's in the Lamb, when he appears, is not in you, there's no life to bring you up.

That's the parable of the version. Now, you see the picture, the life is in you. So, you keep sowing every day to that life to lay hold on it, like Paul said, lay hold on eternal life.

So, you practice living in the spirit by prayer, reading your Bible, and obeying God. You keep your spiritual life, your oil, alive. That's your resurrection.

It's already in you. But your body remains dead because of sin, but when the Lord comes, and his life appears in the heavens, and God speaks that life that is within you, I picture it exploding. It explodes into your body, and it makes a life.

See, like we see in Gideon, you see they had the pictures, and they had inside the picture, they had the lamp, but the lamp was not visible. But when they broke the lamp, then the light was in there, the light that was in there showed forth. So, your resurrection is already in you.

We know that because Christ is in you, and Christ himself is the resurrection. And when you have that life of Christ in you, you have the resurrection in you. I'll tell you another type of that, is in Noah, before the rain started down, the fountains of the deep were broken up.

If you read back in Genesis 6, before the rain started, the water came up from beneath. And what that is, is a picture of the day of the Lord, is telling us that the glory will not only appear in the heavens, but first it will appear in the saints. So, what Paul keeps warning us about, the wages of sin is death, and if you sow to the flesh you reap corruption, is that you lose the resurrection that's in you, according to Revelation, Romans 8.11. See, the resurrection is in you, and so you attain the resurrection by nourishing that life that is within you, and it's that life that will call you up when the Lord comes.

That's how you attain. How you lose it, is by remembering the things that are behind, boasting in your accomplishments, living in the flesh, staying angry at people, not praying, not serving God, not reading your Bible, you lose the resurrection from the dead. Now, here's one more, and we're out of here.

Someone start reading in John 6. This is very important, very important. Begin about verse 48. Right around verse, I think it's about verse 48 it starts.

You want to know this passage, it's extremely important. Go ahead. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the man in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Go ahead.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread... The tree of life is Jesus Christ. The tree of life, there's no other tree of life, it's only Jesus Christ.

That is the tree of life. Go ahead. The Jews therefore began to argue with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat of the... In order to eat of the tree of life we must... And it's as you overcome each day, each time you overcome a challenge to the rest of God, you're fed in the spirit realm with the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

That's how you attain the resurrection. Go ahead. He who eats my flesh and drinks my... Every time you overcome, go ahead.

And I will raise him up on the last day. You see it? See the connection? See where having the life relates to the resurrection? Do you see that? If you eat it, you have life. If you do that, I'll... So he's not coming looking for doctrine in this resurrection from the dead.

He's looking for his body and blood. That's why it says where the carcass is, the eagles are gathered. Where the slain lamb is, those... So everything depends on your learning to live by the presence of Christ in you.

Go ahead. Well, my question is, remember I said that in 1 Thessalonians, the fourth chapter, the ones who will be rise and then be caught up are whom? The dead in Christ. And this is telling us how we're in Christ.

What did it just say that tells us how we are in Christ? By eating his flesh and drinking his blood is how we live in Christ. Go ahead. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father.

This to me, this next verse, what number is it? 57. John 6, 57. Now here's one to learn.

Every once in a while in the Bible you run across a verse that is a blockbuster. I mean, an absolute showstopper. And John 6, 57 is one such verse.

It is so significant. I mean, it sums up the whole ranch. It is really tremendous.

So savor it. Think about it. Okay, read it slowly.

As the living Father sent Jesus Christ. He's going to tell us something that operates in the same manner. Something that operates in the same manner.

Go ahead. And I live because of the Father. I think King James is better than that.

And I think by the Father, because of the Father, it kind of gets it. But I think what the Lord is saying is I live by the Father. I live by the Father.

Not because the Father lives. That's true also. But I think it's more comprehensive than that.

The Father has sent me, and I live by Him. I think by Him. I hear by Him.

I imagine by Him. I act by Him. I speak by Him.

He is my life. What am I? The revelation of the Father. Because all that I am that you see is the Father.

Not that I am the person of the Father. But I am so entwined with Him. So much a part of Him.

Does that make sense to you? Go ahead. So it's all in the same way. Just like this.

Go ahead. He who eats me. He who eats me.

Not he who reads about me. Not he who knows about me. But eats me.

You have to eat Christ. And you eat Him in the spirit realm every time you overcome. Every time you say yes to God when the challenge comes.

And no to your Adamic nature. That's the hidden manna. And it's given to those who do God's will.

I have meat to eat that you don't know about, Jesus said. My meat is to do His will. Every time you do it, He feeds you.

You eat of the tree of life. He that eats me, eats me. Go ahead.

And now the cherry on the sundae. You see, He's putting us in relationship to Him as He is in relationship to the Father. And 1 John says, He that saith he abideth in Him, also so to walk, even as He walked.

See that? And then there's another place that says, as He is, so are we in this world. Now that's the goal. When you're there, you have attained the resurrection.

You have attained the resurrection from the dead. And that's why everything else in your life, you must be viewed as garbage. If it wasn't brought in Christ, it is garbage.

It's hindering you from gaining the relationship to Christ that He has to the Father. He wants you to be related to Him as He is to the Father. Yes, Barry? He said, this cup is my blood, is the covenant.

The covenant, you make the covenant with Jesus when you drink His blood. Every time you drink His blood and eat His flesh, you're entering a covenant with Him. Isn't that marvelous? Oh, Lord, there's nothing better than that.

It's worth everything. Well, we can get there. Paul said, I don't have made it, but it says, I'm on my way, so follow me, because I'm following Christ.

All right, shall we stand? Colleen, you need to bring a pillow. Not for your head, your back. Now, let an old man tell you, sleeping on your neck like that, or resting on it, you're going to have back problems.

I got them from doing that. And I'll tell you what you have to do. Get a nice hard pillow, bring it with you, and put it in the chair right behind your back, and it'll force you to sit up, and you'll save yourself.

Oh, Lord, once you have back problems, you lose your strength. Every time you try to do anything, your back hurts, and that is a no-brainer. I deserved it, I earned it, but I hate to see other people on the way.

All right, Lord, we give praise unto you this day. How wonderful, how wonderful, how wonderful is the Lord our God, the Lord of hosts. Oh, Jesus, praise your name.

Oh, hallelujah, that's our desire. That is our desire.