Introduction:  Summary of Sermon preached on Sunday, April 18, 2021

This sermon talks about the fact that after death, it is as if nothing has changed.  The Lord Jesus told the thief on the cross:  “Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23: 43).  The Lord was telling the thief he will be the same person He will see after death.  The body may be in the grave, but the person’s spirit, the real personality, is somewhere else, either with the Lord in the third heaven (paradise) for those that came to salvation or in hell for those that did not come to salvation.

Ecclesiastes 12: 7:  “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:  and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

“The real eternal spirit which God gives His saints had no beginning and has no end and is like unto God!”  That is why you will come to salvation (you will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus) in order to keep this eternal Spirit of the Lord and live with Him for eternity; “that is why it is called eternal life, it always was and always will be with God!”

 

Summary of Sermon preached on Sunday, April 18, 2021

We listened to a sermon titled “The Power – Invisible Light”, CD # 2104, preached by Brother Neal Frisby on 6/19/85 (PM)

In the sermon, Brother Frisby said:

Psalm 33: 8 – 9:  “Let all the earth fear the LORD:  let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.  For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

The Cherubims cover their faces to symbolize the power and awe of the Lord.

As a man, Jesus wept for Lazarus, but as God, He raised him from the dead (John 11: 35, 44).

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He could have created food, rained manna down, but as an example, He subjected Himself as a man.

As a man, He visited men, but as God, His people will be with Him for eternity.

When men saw the Lord, they trembled, they fell down; Job’s hair stood up.

As Jesus, He is our friendly Saviour.

The Lord Jesus showed the gifts of power and fruits of the Spirit.  He showed His manifold wisdom, His compassion, His willingness to forgive and His tender love for all.

As Jesus, God in human form, He forgave even those that killed Him.

In the story of the prodigal son, his father represented the Lord who fill forgive anyone that repents.

The Lord is infinite; He can see into the future; He can see that the person who is in sin now will eventually come to Him for forgiveness.

The Lord does not think like human beings.

The Lord is preparing His people; they will have sound mind; they will believe in miracles; they will believe in teachings that bring revelations; they will believe in the coming of the Lord.  The anointing on His word brings spiritual fire to those who will listen.

In an hour you think not, the Lord will come.

Expect the Lord everyday because He can call you at any time.

He is the desire of all nations.

The Lord has shown His tender love, His compassion, His goodness, His greatness, His great mercy and His kindness to all.

His name Jesus is all powerful.

His word was with power.

 

Jesus dwells in glory that is so bright that no man can approach it.  1 Timothy 6: 16:  “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:  to whom be honour and power everlasting.  Amen.”

Jude 1: 25:  “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.”

God came in the form of the Lord Jesus.

1 Chronicles 29: 11:  “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty:  for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.”

Revelation 5: 12:  “Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

When the world sees the Lord, they will be standing in awe of Him.

The believers have wonderful things ahead of them; they will be with the Lord for eternity.

In the time of eternity, your time on this earth is like a second; you had better use it properly.

Scientists cannot pierce the magnitude of the universe as it is endless.

We want to enter into the whirlwind of power of the Lord and go away in the translation.

The Lord Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The forces of God are incredible; let the whole earth stand in awe of Him.

The Lord disguises Himself, but He was revealed in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

At the transfiguration, the Lord shed His skin, His garment became glowing, His face was like lightning; He changed into His pre-existence state; the three disciples saw Him in His eternal state.

 

I started the sermon:

Luke 23: 39 – 43:  “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.  But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:  but this man hath done nothing amiss.  And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

This thief told the other thief:  “Dost not thou fear God?”  He was honest to confess his life of sin, for he said:  “And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:  but this man hath done nothing amiss.”  At this point, he called Jesus “this man”, but he then called him “Lord”:   “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”  The Lord’s reply was:  “Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

The Lord was telling the thief that He would see him today, after death, in paradise.  The same person talking to Jesus would be the same person that would be talking to Him after death.

It is like you are in one town now and someone is telling you that he or she will see you in the next town.

It was as if nothing had changed.  The body may be in the grave, but the real you will be somewhere else after death – either in paradise (third heaven) if you have salvation or in hell if you do not have salvation.

 

 

At death, your physical body is in the grave, but to a child of the Lord, the Lord is saying, you do not need to worry about that physical body, because the real you will be with Him in heaven.  The Lord will later glorify that physical body at the time of translation.

Ecclesiastes 12: 7:  “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:  and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

This Scripture refers to your physical body as “the dust”.  This is the same body that goes to work, that goes to school, that watches Television, that talks to someone on the phone, that drives a car, that eats and sleeps, but it is still dust.  No matter your position or your title in this life, the body that you have is dust.  You may see someone that is wealthy, with children, grand-children and great grand-children; that person is still dust.  He or she is no different from you.

At death, your physical body shall “return to the earth”, but your “spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

Luke 16:  19 – 31:  “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:  moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom:  the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things:  but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed:  so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.  And he said, Nay, father Abraham:  but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

After death, the real rich man, even though his body was in the grave, could still see, because “in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”  He was able to see Abraham – whom he had never met, and Lazarus whom he knew while he was on earth.  He could still talk, because “he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”  He desired salvation.  He could feel because he said:  “for I am tormented in this flame.”  He could remember what had transpired while he was alive as he stated:  “For I have five brethren”.

He now wished salvation for these five brothers.  He did not want them to come and join him in hell.  It means after death, everyone will know the benefit of salvation, to come to the Lord while you are still alive for repentance and forgiveness of sins.  If you did not have salvation before death, you will not want anyone else to come and join you in hell.  If you had salvation before death, you are with the Lord in paradise (third heaven).

Like we read in Ecclesiastes 12: 7, at death, your physical body (the dust) shall “return to the earth as it was” and your “spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

The spirit of the rich man, his real personality, returned unto God who gave it, but it was in hell.  His spirit was still alive, but in a different world, even though his physical body was in the grave.  The rich man represents anyone who do not come  to the Lord for salvation before death.

Likewise, the spirit of Lazarus, his real personality, returned unto God who gave it, but it was in paradise.  His spirit was still alive, but in a different world, even though his physical body was in the grave.  Lazarus represents anyone who comes to the Lord for salvation before death.

Psalm 33: 8:  “Let all the earth fear the LORD:  let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

I read from the Sermon Book – “RESTING IN PARADISE!”, which Brother Neal Frisby preached on June 7, 1978.

From Page 5:  Their body rests there but their personality and the very spirit of them is in Paradise!  That’s the third heaven, but it is not the final heaven.  That will come at the translation and the uniting of the resurrected bodies when they come back together and we go up!  Then the Lord transfers from that paradise part of third heaven; it’s a resting place!  Then they’re caught up in the final heaven.  And there was where John was caught up!

From Page 9:  The beggar died and went to his grave but he wasn’t there.  His body was there, but he looked up and he could remember.  See, that shows you you’ll know one another in heaven!

And he looked up and he saw the beggar, the rich man did, and he said, well there he is!  And God gave him a glimpse up to paradise and he looked and he saw him there.  So he knew him and everything.  And as Paul said, one of the secrets that he found out in heaven was that we’ll know one another and that’s on down in here.  And so, there it was.

So we find that the spirit, the real personality of the beggar went on up, see?  And we found out the real personality of the rich man went on down, but the two bodies were in the grave.  And on the day that this same beggar that went up, he will unite with His body and be caught up together with us to meet the Lord in the air!  Can you say amen?  He’ll come back!

But the rich man that went down won’t be there because he’ll have to wait another thousand years and He’ll catch him up at the White Throne Judgment and there’s where court will be held for him!  Can you say amen!

 

 

 

 

I read from Scroll # 43:

THE ELECT SPIRITS WHICH WERE PART OF GOD, BEFORE THE ELECT BODY WAS CREATED – The real you (the spiritual part) was with God before it was appointed a body upon the earth through seed.  There is a fleshly seed and a spiritual seed which was united!  The real eternal spirit which God gives His saints had no beginning and has no end and is like unto God!  That is why after death our body is changed into the inner immortal spirit, that is why it is called eternal life, it always was and always will be with God!  And He breathed it into each of us (Gen. 2: 7)  “Behold saith the Lord do ye not know this Scripture?  Ye were with Me when the Morning Stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy!” (Job 38: 6,7).  Our flesh body came upon earth by birth uniting with His spirit which was always with Him!  And when we repent (salvation) we keep this spirit in order to always live with Him!!  Read (Isa. 1:9 – Eph. 1:4)  (Satan’s seed is a group, also the Lord has created a place for them.)

 

You will notice it states:  “Our flesh body came upon earth by birth uniting with His spirit which was always with Him!”  It means at birth, it was “His spirit”, the Lord’s spirit, that united with your flesh body.  This Spirit that He gave you “had no beginning and has no end and is like unto God!”

“The real you (the spiritual part) was with God before it was appointed a body upon the earth through seed.”  It states the Lord “appointed” the body that will carry the real you.   It means the Lord did not make a mistake in choosing the physical body that you have.  He did not make a mistake in choosing who your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and whoever else came before you will be.  You could not have been born into any other family and you could not have come to the earth prior to now.  He appointed the body that will carry your spirit.

You were with the Lord ”when the Morning Stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy!”  It means you were with the Lord throughout the time He has been creating and you will be with Him throughout the time hereafter when He will still be creating.

“The real eternal spirit which God gives His saints had no beginning and has no end and is like unto God!”  That is why you will come into salvation (you will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus) in order to keep this eternal Spirit of the Lord and live with Him for eternity; “that is why it is called eternal life, it always was and always will be with God!”

Ephesians 1: 13 – 14:   “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:  in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

You trusted the Lord “after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation”.  After you believed the Lord for salvation, “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

The Lord seals you until the time of translation (or rapture) when our bodies are changed.  The eternal spirit which the Lord has given you “always was and always will be with God!”

What we have from the Lord is His gift of eternal life, His eternal Spirit which “had no beginning and has no end and is like unto God!”  A part of the eternal God is in you.  You want to thank the Lord Jesus that you will be with Him for eternity.

 

 

 

Josephus Oluwatoyin Thomas

www.gospelwordministry.com