Beloved friends, we welcome you to the ministry of God's Word today, and our special series on the hope of the church. May I suggest what I believe, with deep conviction, what is the most important decision that any man, any woman, boy or girl could ever make as their highest goal in life. Forget all that the world may have with its ambitions, and that you may have within it, and listen to my blunt but very sincere advice in view of the soon coming of the Savior when he comes to the earth coming with divine judgment that is facing all mankind it is inevitable my conviction is that the most sensible practical and important decision for any man woman boy and girl to make is to know with divine authority from the Word of God, that I'm not going out of this world to hell, but I'm going out of the world saved by God's grace to heaven above. Is this your hope, my friend? One that Scripture calls a strong consolation, sure and steadfast, based upon not human authority, not upon human power and government, but direct from the word of God himself. For it is impossible for God to lie. We repeat the promise of our Lord Jesus, given to everyone who has placed his or her faith in him, and in his atoning death, and in his precious blood that cleanseth from all sin. Remember that promise of John fourteen, verse three, we repeat. Those undeniable, irrefutable words from one who cannot and will not lie, But who will very soon fulfill them? Here they are. May they burn in your heart and on your conscience with power. He said, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. John fourteen verse three. This promise is about to be fulfilled, my friend. Answer me. Is he coming for you? We have covered the blessed event partially in our preceding messages of the week. under the blessed theme of the rapture and the first resurrection, detailed by the Holy Spirit in First Thessalonians four, verses sixteen and seventeen. I hope you will read the words in your Bible. They describe the blessed consummation of that church. My beloved friend, have you realized the purpose of God, as it is taught in His Word, is to ultimately take the church out of the world to heaven. The true church, consisting, I say again, of every born-again believer from the day of Pentecost to the rapture, they are going out of this world to heaven as one united body of redeemed people, united forever to the head of the church above. Five distinct features of this blessed momentous, soon-coming event are revealed in our scripture. We have touched upon two of them. First, we shall be caught away from this world and out of it. I don't know, my friend, how you feel about this, but the more I see, the more I hear, and the more I know what is going on under sin and Satan within this world, my attitude is this. I often say the longer I live in this satanic-led world, the less I feel like living longer within it. For I know before evil reaches its complete exhibition as Scripture teaches, I am leaving it, for I am waiting for the Lord Jesus to come from heaven, my deliverer from the coming wrath, according to First Thessalonians one, verse ten. We have also noted a second feature. we shall be caught up together in that blessed event to meet the Lord in the air as our text teaches please remember again the magnitude of this great translation when all believers in the church throughout the history of the church from the beginning to the end of it upon the earth shall be caught up together not one blood-bought believer will be missing it is an impossibility for the church to be all gathered together upon the earth, congregating everyone who has trusted the Savior from Pentecost to the end. But when all the dead in Christ shall rise, when all living believers are snatched up for together with them, the blessed bridegroom of the church will have his complete bride. Every member of the body of Christ, literally, fatherly, will be united to the head above forever. in complete redemption? If any beloved fellow believer holds the theory of a partial rapture, or may I say in love, when it happens, I hope I can go up alongside of you, and humbly but gratefully say, I told you so, well, what is the Lord going to do? What is the third feature in our scripture of this great event? Now permit me to suggest, that at the same time this event takes place, there is to be a marvelous transfiguration. Every saint, whether resurrected from the grave or alive when he comes, when the Lord descends, every saint, living or dead, they're going to be transfigured, they're going to be changed. Now to prove this, On necessity we have to refer to another scripture pertaining to this event found in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. Every student of the epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, the fifteenth chapter particularly, understands the theme of that chapter is the resurrection. Therefore, as we have noted that in the rapture, there is a resurrection of the dead in Christ included. So the Corinthian epistle, and this particular chapter fifteen, will give us much light regarding the details of the great change, the great transfiguration of the saints. We would read in chapter fifteen of first Corinthians, verse forty-nine. Note the words, As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. There will be a change from an earthly body. to one that is a heavenly body. Read on with me in verse fifty, where we read concerning our present body, which we have on the earth. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. My beloved the living saints, when the rapture takes place, they have bodies of flesh and blood, God says that present body must be changed. And any sane believer knows that our present earthly body has the nature of sin within it, even today. Though some may deny this truth. But may I say, my beloved, while we're in the present body of flesh and blood, we possess the earthly nature which is of a sinful character. Once a man said to me that he had all of his Adamic nature removed, eradicated. I looked at him quietly and said, My dear friend, don't you even have to eat anymore? Oh, such a theory that God removes that Adamic nature while we're here on the earth is wrong. Our present bodies would defile heaven if we were taken there in that manner. But notice. Paul goes on to say also, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Now here God refers to the bodies of the believers who are in the graves. And my beloved, listen, you know and I know the bodies that we are buried of our dearly loved ones. They have decayed in the grave. They have returned to dust. The atoms have disintegrated. Dust thou art unto dust thou shalt return, said God to Adam in Genesis three and verse nineteen. So we can only come to one conclusion. There must be, there will be a change, a marvelous transfiguration of both, the corrupted body that is in the grave and the present body of the living believer when Jesus comes. Now let me go on with Paul's writing in First Corinthians, verse fifty-one. Behold, I show you a mystery. Something never revealed before we shall not all sleep in death, for we shall all who are alive be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last drum. How necessary then is that change for the living believer? Sudden is spontaneous. Now let me link this with Philippians chapter three in verse twenty one, where Paul also writes, as we read it from verse twenty and twenty one, Our citizenship is in heaven. From whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, to come? Who shall change our vile body, this present body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body? Thus, my beloved friend, the body has to be changed. And that takes place. Now returning to First Corinthians fifteen, let me read verse fifty-three. For this corruption, the body in the grave, must put on incorruption. And this mortal, the body of the living, must put on immortality. Now this will take place at the rapture. And you can read in verse fifty-four, Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. And you go down into verse fifty-five, and you can visualize the dual anthem that the saints When they rise up together, we'll be singing. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Ah, my beloved friend, the transfiguration, the change of the body, may I say this is what I'm longing for, waiting for. Let me ask the question, my friend. Will you have it? Will you be there? When such a great salvation is given to us by God's grace as this, why is it that men and women, boys and girls refuse to be saved? For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, putting our faith in Him and His finished work, we shall be there. It is easy to be born again by God's Holy Spirit, putting your sincere faith in the finished work of redemption that Christ has done on the cross. Or it means going to eternal hell. For whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation twenty and verse fifteen. And my beloved, let me just say this. With the Lord coming at any moment. And judgment coming to the earth. I would say if I wasn't saved, I'd get saved now. Now Lord willing, we will continue learning from God's word. More about this transfigured body of the besieged. When Jesus comes, are you interested? May you listen carefully, but most of all, make sure that Christ is your Savior now. Father, for the blessing and the refreshment of the saints, bless thy word to everyone. For the conviction and the salvation of our sinners, we ask thee to save in Jesus' name. Amen.