Four Dirt Walls

September 25th 2022

Philippians 3:9-11

“If, by any means, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” By any means. Any. Remember, that God uses means to accomplish His will here on Earth. He doesn't simply snap His fingers and make things happen, He uses the free will of His creatures, and all of their choices, as the means by which His will comes to pass.

And here we have Paul, saying that there are no means by which His resurrection can come, that he will be opposed to.

He speaks, brothers and sisters, of his own and our own resurrection. When we, after a long and healthy life, or after a sickly and short life; when the time comes for our heart to sing its final beat, deep within our chests, and it pumps our life blood for the final time, through the body it has been sustaining for decades; when our brain, in its final encore, sends brilliant sparks of thoughts through our mind, when we remember a memory for the last time, when we lay our eyes upon our loved ones never to see them again, and we see those for whom we have lived and fought and died and failed for, standing beside us, looking upon us with love and pity and fear…and we take our final breath, think our final thought, experience our final feeling…our broken body will be laid to rest, but we will still be.

We will continue onwards, brothers and sisters, because there is a door inside of every grave. Every tomb and every Urn, has within its walls, two doors. One golden, shining like the Sun, speckled in blood, and terrifying in its incandescent beauty. The other, gray, black, and dry.

And make no mistake, your grave waits for you. It calls your name. That spot of Earth, where your mortal body will be gently laid within by your family and loved ones, sings your name and calls out to you from the moment of your birth.

Throughout your entire life, four dirt walls have been beckoning to you, singing their siren song behind your every thought and action. Behind our every behavior and belief, the fear of the grave, the fear of death, the fear of loss, gently and quietly sings to us. At times it is loud! At times, our grave screams and deafens us with its ferocity, warning us of its warm embrace and cold walls.

Do you hear it this morning brothers and sisters? Do you hear your grave calling to you? Do you feel its icy fingers pulling you beneath the Earth? Do you see your headstone, freshly decorated with the items of those who one time loved you, standing fresh beneath a blue sky? Do you see even further from then? When everyone who has ever known and loved you, has joined you within the ground, and your headstone has crumbled and fallen, overgrown with moss and lichen? Do you see that your grave gets passed by, by those who have never heard your name, walking over your casket, to go visit someone else's grave, who soon will be forgotten as well?

And when that day comes, when you answer the call of your grave, and, shovel-full by shovel-full of dirt is dropped upon you while your family watches and mourns…and you see the two doors by which you may escape the grave…which one will open to you?

Will the door of light, shining like the Sun, speckled and stained with blood, with neon light escaping from beyond its closed edges, open to you? Will you hear the choir of angels, bursting forth in rapturous hallelujahs to the Lamb that was slain to save you, filling your earthen grave? Will the light of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, guide your way out of your grave, into his wonderful embrace, where He will look at you with eyes full of kind and loving fire, and say to you: “Well done, my good and faithful servant?”

Or will the black door, exponentially wider than the Golden door, creak and groan itself open before the last bit of dirt is placed atop your casket? Will the black river of judgment, break free from its black frame, and flow in torrents and gales into your grave, catching you in its dark current, to carry you before the all seeing eyes of Him who you knew existed? And when you are standing there, naked and wet from the sluice of death and grave that carried you before your maker, there will be nothing that you can say. There will be nothing that you can say, because your time is over. You have used up all of the patience of God, and every beat of your heart where you did not turn and repent, will be the evidence of your refusal.

And the eyes of fire that looked upon His children with care and love, will then turn to you, and the fire that was once filled with love, will now be filled with unending holy anger.

Which door will open to you, brothers and sisters? For we will be resurrected. We are going to live again. And the life that we live again, when this one is spent and ragged, worn and beaten and left as nothing, will be a life that has no end. Our next life will be an endless, eternal, never ending existence, with thousands and thousands of millennials, passing by and taking no time away from the time we still have yet to live.

In this life, our time comes and goes, and when it is gone, we are that much closer to our end. To our grave. But the life to come, has no end.

John 5:24-29

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

We, sons and daughters of the most High God, when our time here ends, and we pass through the blood-soaked golden door of salvation, will be going to a land of eternal joy and peace and life. There are no cemeteries in heaven. No Urns. No graves. There lies no dead within the golden shores of eternity, upon which we shall dance and worship before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, the savior of the World who was and is and is to come, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the unchanging, undying, all knowing thrice-holy King of reality.

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No amount of effort or good works, will move that Golden door, streaked with the blood of Jesus Christ, any amount at all. It will remain steadfast and immovable, unchanging in strength. The door will not budge. It will not move, regardless of how many times you approach it to coax it open with your list of accomplishments, your list of goodness and worth, your list of family members that you descend from, your receipt of monies given to your Church.

Galatians 2:16 says that by the works of the law, no man is justified, for there are no deeds good enough to atone for the depths of your sin. The most vile and wicked thought you have ever had, is a stain unwashable by any human action. The darkest actions you have taken, in the depths of the night, or in broad daylight, if you regretted them afterwards, or if you lie to the sky and say that your actions are good by your own standard, the stain remains.

For it is not a stain of inconvenience or impatience. It is not a stain of hurt or sorrow. It is not a stain of pain or suffering. -- It is a stain of guilt. And not guilt against a loved one or a family member. It is a stain of guilt against a holy God who demands and commands holiness of all. Your sins have brought guilt and testify that you are guilty.

And that stain of guilt, smeared in streaks of sin and immorality across the ornate door of salvation deep within the heart of your grave… is the seal that keeps the golden door closed to you. Your own actions, your own thoughts and deed…your inaction in the face of wickedness…your lust...your defense of homosexuality…your extramarital sex…your pornography…your bitterness…your laziness…your defense of abortion…your anger…your fear…your anxiety…your doubt…your loss of self control…your arrogance…your self-righteousness…your unwillingness to help the poor or the stranger…your disobedience…your envy…your hate…have sealed the golden door of salvation.

You have left a stain of guilt, upon the latch of the golden door of salvation, that is unable to be cleaned to free the door to open to you its path into eternity.

However, there is one way in which the door will open. Theres is but one single way, in which the stain of your blood guilt, keeping you from the arms of your Father, can be broken. And it is not by our efforts, deeds or righteousness…but by the efforts, deeds, and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

“...who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We are set free from our grave, because God is gracious and kind. Loving and merciful.

You must have faith

Habakkuk 2:4 / Romans 1:17 / Galatians 3:11 / Hebrews 10:38 → all say “The righteous shall live by faith”

You can not add to this or contribute to your salvation. This is what we mean when we say “Sola Fide” -- “Faith alone”

By grace alone

Through faith alone

From Christ alone

Based on Scripture alone

For the glory of God alone

Have faith that God will use the event of your life to fulfill His will

Have faith that Jesus Christ is God

Have faith that He lived a perfect sinless life

Have faith that He died

Have faith that He was resurrected

And have faith that if you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ, that you will be resurrected as well.