Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. And those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Jessica has a number of recipes. Recipes that she goes through. She is always trying new things, but there are certain meals she knows we love. She was making, I think it was just chicken fried rice a while back, and it required three tablespoons of sesame seed oil. And she only had enough sesame seed oil to come up with two tablespoons, not three. So she supplemented the third tablespoon with vegetable oil. And she was watching me intently as I took the first bite of this, of this chicken fried rice. And as soon as I did, I noticed something was different. And she was both shocked and amazed that I noticed it lacked one tablespoon of sesame seed oil. It wasn’t the exact same thing she had made so many times before. So now I don’t know if I just have a sensitive, you know, fancy palate or something. But it wasn’t, it wasn’t the thing that I knew that it was supposed to be. It was missing one of its elements. It was missing one of its elements. And when we come to the gospel, when we come to Christianity, we have to be able to say there are certain elements that we cannot, you know, set aside. There are truths about the gospel. There are truths about what it means to be a Christian. And we can in no way have any sort of substitute. We can in no way. We can in no way have a different version of it. And so Paul is writing to the Corinthians at the end of this letter here. And he’s spending time talking about the doctrine of the resurrection.

What is Christianity if there’s not a physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus? That didn’t happen. Is there still something left? I don’t think so. And that’s Paul’s very obvious, blatant point. We must have the resurrection of Jesus.

In verse 12, it says, If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

It wouldn’t have been an uncommon objection in Paul’s time to say there’s no such thing as a resurrection. There were a religious cult you probably have read in the gospel accounts before, the Sadducees. And the Sadducees did not believe in life after the grave. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Historian Josephus tells us that. They don’t believe in the immortal duration of the soul and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Souls die with bodies. So they were very much so against the idea of a bodily resurrection. And we see Paul have to address those issues with them in the book of Acts. At the same time, at this point in history,

Gnosticism or Hellenistic Greek thought, Greek philosophers, that was widely dispersed in the Roman Empire. And Gnosticism, Hellenism, very much so believed the physical realm to be evil. So if I can touch it, if I can experience it with my senses, it’s a bad thing. I want to be released from that.

So, Pythagoreans held to the notion that the soul being released from the body at death with good souls flying to the upper realm. Similarly, the Greek philosopher Plutarch saw the soul attaining the realms of the gods by the soul being released from the body at death. By freeing itself from the attachment of the senses and becoming pure, fleshless, and undefiled. So I want you to see,

believing that Jesus physically got up out of the grave is nothing less than a faith issue. It’s a faith issue. You say, well, no, it’s a doctrinal issue. It’s a truth issue. Yes, but it’s a faith issue. It’s a faith issue. Because I want you to understand, if we can, oh fine, I’ll go along with that, that Jesus was bodily resurrected from the grave. It’s not going to be the resurrection, the doctrine of it, what God wants it to be in your Christian life.

Today, it wouldn’t be odd to hear someone have a very spiritualized account of Christianity. In fact, I had a conversation with an open spiritualist. He assured me that, you know, the stories of the Scripture is nothing more than, you know, principles, metaphors to help us learn, but it’s all fiction. It didn’t actually happen. We read about Hymenaeus and Philetus in 2 Timothy chapter 2, and they are, it says, upsetting the faith of some by saying the resurrection has already happened. So understand, believing that Jesus was raised from the dead, raised from the dead is no small thing.

If we don’t have a resurrected Christ, our Christianity falls apart. The doctrine of the resurrection, it’s indiscardable to maintain Christianity. And I think what Paul says clearly here is, you and I lose everything if we don’t have it.

There are a number of things I think the world can kind of have their version of, you know, like the notion of love, fairness, kindness, forgiveness, even like an afterlife. There are these kind of tamed down worldly versions of that, all borrowed from Christianity, of course. But the resurrection is far too wild. It’s far too unbelievable to be something that the world can have a version of. Friends, you and I believe explicitly that Jesus, when He died by the power of God, He raised Himself up from the dead. I think about John chapter 11, it says, Martha said to Him, I know that He will rise again in the resurrection on the last day, talking about her brother Lazarus. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die yet, shall he live. Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

And it’s an amazing thought, because if you and I believe in the resurrection of the body, it tells us, it tells us something about what it means to be a physical, fleshly creature.

We think about Jesus saving us because our souls are broken and we’re morally corrupt. And that’s very true, but what was Jesus, think about it, when Jesus walked out of the grave? Jesus wasn’t a floating spirit and His body was in the grave. Jesus came out of the tomb, what? Not just a man, but a perfect, glorified man. Jesus was resurrected, resurrected as a human being without corruption, not subject to the corruption of the flesh. So it’s an amazing thing that the resurrection is something that affects my soul, but also God wants me to see it affects my body. I’m a fleshly creature, and God intends for you and God intends for me a perfect future in eternity where we are not these floating orbs of light, you know, bounce around off clouds if you have some weird… You have some weird idea that that’s what the afterlife is, but you and I are going to be people, bodies, and they’re going to be perfect. They’re not going to be subject to decay. And that’s an amazing thought. I think sometimes we get the intermediate state, kind of, we set it too high in our theology. So, for example, if I died right now, my soul goes to the intermediate state. I’m with Christ and I’m with the saints of God, and that’s amazing, but that’s not as good as it’s going to get. It’s going to get better when Jesus comes back and He makes a new heaven and a new earth and the dead in Christ rise up first and then those also, you know, who are alive are gathered with the Lord and we’re brand new people. So that’s a wonderful truth. It’s a wonderful truth. So I want us to see here then everything we lose if there is no resurrection. If there is no resurrection, we lose first the very gospel itself and all of Christian doctrine. They’re a sham. They’re a sham. Verse 14, he says, And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. So the whole of biblical canon really rides on this person Jesus being the Messiah He said He was. If Jesus didn’t get up out of the grave, the Bible is good for starting a fire. That’s it. Because the Old Testament authors, they talked about this good King to come and when this King came, His reign would last and He would rule over all and they talked about the blessings that would come through Abraham and they talked about God’s Savior coming and the New Testament writers, they repeated these things and it all had to do with this man Jesus and then modern preachers like myself were parroting everything they said and we’ve wasted, we’ve wasted our vocations and we’ve wasted your time if Jesus didn’t actually get up out of the grave because none of it’s true. It was all pointing to this person Jesus undoing what happened in the garden by being resurrected over sin, over death, forevermore.

I want you to think about what good is the Gospel if it’s nothing more than a supreme example and it’s described that way sometimes. The Gospel is a supreme example of love. If you want to know what love is, what love looks like, look at Jesus and He’ll really give you an example of what love looks like. There’s a problem with Jesus just being a supreme example. As supreme of an example as Jesus is, I am supremely selfish and I don’t care how much of a good example you set in front of me at the end of the day as much as I strive to be like a perfect example, I am not perfect. And so all the truths that the Scriptures have to teach me, and everything in the Christian life, it’s like in a glass case in a museum and I can kind of observe it from afar and say, well, isn’t that wonderful? But that’s not good news for me because I can only observe this Jesus person who’s got it all together and it has nothing to do with me.

We can’t have anything about, you know, let’s say ecclesiology, the study of the church. None of that matters if Jesus is just a good example because we talk about this all the time. It takes a supernatural love that you and I can have. You and I don’t have to love one another and to keep fighting together and to keep loving one another and forgiving one another and growing together. If Jesus is just a supreme example for us and He didn’t really live and He didn’t really die, or perhaps He really did live and He really did die, but He didn’t get up out of the grave, it no more helps you and I and our weaknesses to love one another.

It no more helps my bibliology. Everything that the Scriptures had to tell me about the promises of God and all the truths and all the commandments and everything I’m supposed to do, I can’t obey that. I’ve tried in my own strength before and I failed miserably. That doesn’t help me. And when I think about anthropology, the study of people, well, here’s your anthropology. People are bad there.

That’s like all there is on that one. None of it is tangible if this is just some huge example of how supremely loving this person Jesus is. If I’m apart from this Jesus. But blessed be Christ because there’s this little two-letter word in the New Testament, I-N, I-N, and many times over, here’s what the Scriptures tell us about what it means to be a Christian in the resurrected Christ. You see, in the resurrected Christ, we have wisdom. In the resurrected Christ, we can know, love, and obey truth. In the resurrected Christ, I can know and experience and share with others. I can show the supernatural love of God. In Christ, I can believe all the promises of God are yes and amen. In Christ, I have strength to fight sin. In Christ, my past is washed clean. In Christ, I’m alive today because He’s alive. I’m in Christ who’s been resurrected. So the whole story isn’t some fable to inspire me to try my best. It’s a good news message about who Jesus is and what He’s done and I can believe and love this Gospel because it doesn’t ride on me. It rides on Jesus. It makes the Gospel and it makes Christian doctrine wonderful.

If Jesus is just a made-up story or He’s a false Messiah, that’s not good news. If that’s what it was, I think Karl Marx was right when he said religion’s just the opiate of the masses. Just a bunch of made-up stuff about somebody who cares about you to help you get through your very meaningless, pointless life.

I think if Jesus wasn’t resurrected, Paul’s pretty clear that I think pastors should be a byword. Apostles, missionaries should be cuss words who deceive and mislead and even Paul says misrepresent God. Y’all keep coming on Sundays. We’re going to keep sitting in hot rooms and learning about some magical man that never was raised from the dead. Hey, keep teaching your children in the home. I know you’re tired and don’t want to, but keep teaching them about the magical man in your home. Hey, you keep giving your money. It would all be pointless. But if Jesus was resurrected, friends, and He’s the only person to ever pull that off, we can take Him at His word that everything He said is true and everything He said the Old Testament said about Him is true and everything the apostles recorded about Him is true and we can believe that life in Jesus is good and it’s true and that’s good news. Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. Jesus is the truth.

You know, when you meet an immigrant

who wins that lottery and they get to come here and they get to assimilate into American life, it’s amazing how much more they appreciate American life than Americans. Americans tend to be terribly entitled and, you know, whatever. Everything’s broken and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it’s amazing when you meet an immigrant kind of refreshing, like, let me tell you about the third world country I just came from. While you’re complaining, complaining about living in America. And I think that we do the same thing with the gospel. You know, it’s like you lose that I’m a brand new Christian and I have new life in Jesus. Man, can I tell you about the gospel? We live like Jesus wasn’t resurrected, don’t we? All the time. And I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want to live like an unbeliever. I want to live up here. I want it to affect me to say, oh my gosh, like these are the words, I want to live eternal life. I want to know these truths. I want to love these truths. I want to come to church and learn these truths. I want to teach these truths to my children. And that’s why, again, we talk about family worship. I want to get in the word so my kids grow up knowing the gospel that sets them free because there is a resurrected Christ. I want to dig into this thing on my own. I want to dig into it with other people. I want to grow in love with the church that Jesus established. Established what? In his soul. The church can exist because we are what? The body. Bodies are living things. We are the living body of the resurrected Christ. It’s all only possible. Why? Because Jesus was resurrected. Do you live with that excitement? Or is it old news to you? Is it old news to you?

Paul says in Colossians 3, if then you have been raised with Christ, if you’ve been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Seek the things that are above. Do you seek this resurrected Christ?

Isn’t Christianity, friends, more than just a religion to get you through? Isn’t it more than a bunch of really interesting stories? Isn’t it very interesting? Isn’t it knowing this person, Jesus, who overcame the grave for you and I and loves us deeply? I want to live like that. I want to live like that.

Second thing, if there’s no resurrection, Paul makes very clear to us, we’re still dead in our sins and under condemnation. If there’s no resurrection, we’re still dead in our sins and under condemnation. Look at verse 17.

It says, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you’re still in your sins. Verse 18, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. In Acts chapter 13, it says, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised, raised up, did not see corruption. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. It’s a question of application. Okay? It’s a question of application. This is what I mean. It’s really bad advantage. It’s evangelism. Even if you mean well, to go on and on to someone about the death of Jesus. I want to tell you, brother, Jesus died for your sins. Man, Jesus died for you. He loves you so much. He left heaven. And can you believe he got up on a cross and Jesus bled and died and carried your sins, man. He loves you and he wants you. He wants to be the Lord of your life. Well, hold on. The object of the Christian faith, this is going to sound like heresy, but hold on. The object of the Christian faith, is not a crucified Jesus. The object of the Christian faith, is not a dead Jesus. The object of the Christian faith, is a living Christ, who had been crucified and buried and came back to life. That is the object of our faith. A living Christ.

You understand then, there’s no such thing as universal application of salvation. Well, isn’t it true that Jesus died for everyone? Sure. It’s true. But how is it possible that you not access it? It’s not true that it’s applied to everyone. The answer simply is this. By believing in a resurrected Christ and in your believing in him, the scriptures tell us, you are identified with, joined to, the very life of that resurrected Christ. Romans chapter 6 verse 5. I think Paul says it best in these verses.

Which I wonder if I don’t have it printed out here, but let me just go there and I’ll read it for us.

Paul says in Romans 6 verse 5, If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be crucified with him. We know that our old self will no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Dead to God in Christ Jesus. So imagine this, okay? Imagine there’s this giant room. It would have to be giant, okay? And in that room was every human being that was ever born. So every human that’s ever been born is alive or ever will be born before God says no more people on earth and whatever. I don’t know what that number is. I’ve always been curious. What is that number of all the humans who ever lived? So the entire human race, past, present, future, were in this room and you say to everyone in this room, to all humans who’ve ever lived, all right, raise your hand. If you have defeated sin and death,

everyone in the room, raise your hand. If you have defeated sin and death by dying on a cross for all sin and death, raise your hand.

There’s only one person that could raise their hand and it would be Jesus.

And like everybody would start clapping for him like,

you did it, man. Like that’s good news for you. You lived a perfect life. You carried all the sins of the world on your back and then you were resurrected. That still doesn’t help me. It doesn’t help you. You understand? It’s only the living Jesus who did that. And all we can do at that point is say, wow, Jesus, that’s amazing you did that. But here’s the amazing thing about the gospel and you got to catch this.

The gospel tells me if I say the life of Chad,

I’m sinful, I’m dirty, I’m bad, I’m turning from me. It’s called repentance. And Jesus, your word says, if I say I’m giving me up, Jesus, and I just want you to be Lord and Savior, the Bible says, that the Spirit of God will unite me, spiritually join me to Christ. So much so that when God the Father looks down, He doesn’t see Chad and my sins and my failures. All He can see are the perfections of His Son, Jesus. You see, you must be joined and united to the life of Christ. That’s salvation. So Jesus didn’t give you a gift. Here’s your salvation. Go have fun with it. Jesus gave you Himself. You must believe you are one with the risen Christ. If it is to be true, you are identified with the only life by which sin and death have been defeated. Otherwise, you’re still subject to sin and death. Are you inside Christ?

Jesus is the sole victor. But He’s willing to share His victory with you if you will, by faith, unite to His life. There’s no other way for His work to be effective and meaningful for us. Imagine if you came upon a homeless person and you said to this homeless person, hey, just if you go half a mile down the road, take a right, I built you a mansion, 10,000 square feet, it’s beautiful, it’s wonderful, it’s yours.

Now, is it theirs?

Potentially. But I told him, if you want it, you’ve got to go to it. You’ve got to get up and go. In the same way, friends, if you want to experience the blessings of salvation, you must believe. You must say, Jesus, I’m one with You. I’m one with You. I’m doing the thing You said for me to do. I’m getting up. I’m getting up out of this grave, out of my sin, out of death, and I am believing that You are powerful to save. It reminds me of the hymn, you know, Before the Throne. The writer says in that song, one with himself, I cannot die. I love that line. One with himself, I cannot die. My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is hid with Christ on high. My Christ, my Savior, and my God. It’s only being united with the life of Christ that you and I can have access to the Father. Who’s the only clean, holy one who can be in the presence of the Father? Jesus. So I have to be covered in Jesus. Who’s the only one who’s satisfied the law of Moses? Jesus. So I’ve got to be in Jesus. Who’s the only one who has dealt with guilt and shame? Jesus.

And we could go on long and long there, friends, when we believe that we’re forgiven of our sins, but we don’t really allow ourselves to experience the grace, you know, of God and like living. It’s like, you’re welcome, I died for you, but I want you to, you know, remember you were awful. Or you keep sinning. And it’s like, that’s not what Jesus wants. Because that’s not you. You’re in Him now. You’re identified with Him. There’s no shame on Jesus. Because Jesus is pure and perfect. So guess what? If I’m in Christ, that’s my identity. And I don’t care if you’ve sinned 10,000 times, 10,000 times. That’s what makes the gospel so great. And I think we have these like, we’re probably all different just because of the way we’re raised up and we just have different minds. Like we all have these different like limits. Like, well, if I did that, or if I did that, if I stay under that line, I mean, I’ll do a lot of sinning. But if I ever did that, it would be over. And the whole thing. No, Jesus is saying that’s why I’m so wonderful. If you trust Him. If you turn to me, then you turn to me. There’s no limit. I love you that much. And you say, that’s too good to be true. It is too good to be true. But it is.

Love the gospel. Love the gospel. It’s in Jesus that you can overcome sin and death. Guilt and shame. And Paul says, lastly here,

you know, those fellow brothers and sisters who had perished in Christ.

He said, oh, poor them.

They’re just, they’re perished and they’re gone. They’re not anywhere better.

But if resurrection happened, church, it’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? That, no, my loved ones and those who have fought the good faith, no, they’re with Christ and they’re waiting to get their resurrected bodies.

And they’re seeing Jesus. So we must see Him by faith until we see Him face to face. We must see Jesus by faith until we see Him face to face. Paul says in Romans chapter 4, verse 24, talking about the righteousness of God, it will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord. So I can’t generically identify with Christ. I can’t assume, oh, God’s benevolent, like everybody will get saved. No. You must believe in a resurrected Christ. You must believe in a resurrected Christ. Do you believe in that?

If we really believe that, I wonder if we wouldn’t share it more.

You know? If you really believe that this Jesus

got up out of the grave. And could you imagine going to a funeral?

And everybody’s crying. Everybody’s standing around. And then Joe got up out of the casket. He’s like, nah. I just didn’t feel like doing it this time. I’ll do it later. You can’t. You can’t do that. You can’t do that. But Jesus could do that. Jesus could do that. And He’s willing to do that for you and for everyone. Anyone who hears and believes the Gospel message. Let’s be proclaimers of Christ.

Crucified, yes, but risen. Tell people about your risen Savior. Won’t you do that? And again, I want to invite you. Live a victorious life in Jesus by faith. I’m not talking about, I’m not talking about, you know, you just keep believing a little more and you’ll get that car you’ve always wanted. And you’ll get that job and that pay raise you wanted. And you’ll get that job and that pay raise you wanted. That’s what I’m talking about. Living a victorious life in Jesus means, God, I want you to give me a greater faith so I’m more useful to your kingdom. I want to believe the Gospel so I love it, so I’m more like Christ, so I can go and tell others more and I’m just growing in the truth of it. And you say, well, what if I have sin struggles and I feel like I’m being defeated all the time? Just keep believing. Just keep turning to Christ. As much as you’re willing to turn to Christ, He’s willing to say, I forgive you. Don’t stop turning to Christ. I know we all have difficulties, different sin struggles, and I think we get to a point where we’re like, I’m beyond help at this point. Just, I’m beyond help. No! Just keep turning to Christ and you’ll have a victory. Just keep turning.

The last thing Paul says is, if there’s no resurrection, then there’s no hope. There’s no hope for tomorrow. There’s no hope for eternity. He says in verse 19,

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. And that word means like miserable. If there’s no resurrection, there’s no more miserable people on the face of the earth than you all and me. No. Nobody. You know why? Because the Christian life’s hard. That’s why. Did you know just last year, some stats for you, over 360 million Christians are living in places where they experience high levels of persecution? Did you know just last year, 5,898 Christians were killed for their faith? Last year, 5,110 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked? Did you know last year, 4,765 believers, were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned? It is not a pleasant thing to be a Christian in this life for persecution. It’s not pleasant because there’s temptation. There’s a constant pulling in our flesh that tells us to do that which makes us happy, and that which is pleasurable, and that which is satisfying, and that which makes everybody else happy. And then there’s just general foregoing of pleasure, and things we want to do because the Spirit of God, so we believe, tells us to give up our time, and our money, and our energy for other things that are more kingly. So we’re always holding on to even the good things we have in this life loosely because it’s not my everything. The wicked has what he has in this life and enjoys it. But I got it, but God might tell me to let go of it.

But just a few brief years, and poof, you’re gone, and I’m gone, and you didn’t have a good time, and I didn’t have a good time, and we’re all blasted into nothingness. Or we’re all blasted into bliss. We all would have got no matter how we lived. Or we’re all blasted into hell because there was no Savior. However you want to cut up the next life, this Christian life you and I live is to be pitied because it’s hard. It’s very hard. It’s very specific. And I say again, what a ruse we’ve fallen for if we have a Christ without a resurrection, a physical bodily resurrection. If this is as good as it gets, it’s not that good. And maybe for a few people who have like billions of dollars and perfect health and everything goes well, it’s kind of happy. That’s not most people. That’s not most people.

But Jesus says this in Revelation 1. Verse 17. And He says this to John in a vision. It says, When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead, but He laid His right hand on me. Imagine this. Saying, Fear not. I am the first and I am the last and the living One. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades.

Will you? Will you? Will you? Will you? Will you believe that word? Because if you believe it, all your persecutions, Paul says, they’re going to well up to a weight of glory and that weight of glory far outweighs your persecutions in these few brief years. You can press through and fight the temptation because you’re going to get an imperishable crown and you can forego all the riches that the world enjoys because the treasures of Christ and the heavenly places are eternal and are far better. I want to say to you, to you, church, you have a living hope and His name is Jesus.

This is a faith issue. This is a faith issue.

If you don’t believe it, you have no gospel, you have no doctrine, you have no salvation from sin and you have no hope. But if you believe it, what a wonderful gospel, what wonderful doctrines, what wonderful salvation over all sin and shame and condemnation and what a wonderful living hope His name is Jesus. And because Jesus was resurrected, He says if you turn in faith, when He comes back, He’s going to resurrect you too.

I don’t know what that’s going to be like. And you could read volumes on people argue like, is my body in the grave going to be like re-assimilated or am I going to get a whole brand new one? I don’t even care. The Bible just says when Jesus comes back all glorified, flying down, down out of the heavens on a horse, I’m getting up out of the grave and I’m going to be brand new. And I want to live for that day. You know, I want to live for that day. So let’s live by faith until we can see Him face to face. Amen.

Father, the only thing we can say is that we are weak and our faith is small. And without the working of Your Spirit and without Your patience and kindness and love in Jesus, Lord, we would be lost to You. So Lord, all we can do is throw ourselves on Your promises that You will not lose Your own. All we can do is believe, God, that when You say You will never leave and forsake, You mean it. Jesus, You say You will not lose one sheep out of Your fold. Jesus, You promise us we will be with You in eternity.

So Lord, we’re not trusting and believing in something vain, something that’s on shaky ground, but we’re believing the words that came out of Your mouth, Jesus. We’re believing

You got up out of the grave and You showed You’re greater than sin and death and the power of hell.

So it’s in You and it’s in You alone

that we have life. So we turn to You, Jesus. We say we believe in You and we say we need You and we need You and we need You and just You.

So increase our faith. Increase our faith. Thank You, Father, for what You gave. Thank You, Jesus, for coming and giving up Yourself. Thank You, Spirit of God, for working the truth of the Gospel within us. Let us be fully surrendered. To do all Your will. We pray that in Christ’s name. Amen.