Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / "The Resurrection" Mark 16:1-13

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"The Resurrection" Mark 16:1-13 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Good morning, everybody.
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It's a beautiful resurrection day.
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Morning. And I just want to say to
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everybody, happy resurrection day.
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Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.
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Amen. Amen.
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What a blessed day to be here today.
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You know, and I, but I just want to say that whoever keeps
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raising this platform every week and making it harder for Clark
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and I to get up on this, no one's doing that.
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I would just getting older, I guess, getting more challenging.
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Amen. Well, please turn in your Bibles
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to the 5th, the 16th chapter of the book of Mark.
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That's what we're going to be coming out of today.
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And while we're doing that, I want to thank our sister Carrie
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for the gracious welcome of everyone that's here.
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New, those who are coming who are new, and of course, those of
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you who come all the time. But I just want to extend also a
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very warm welcome to those who are listening behind prison
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walls this morning. We're not forgotten.
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And we are praying for you. And we pray that today's service
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would be a blessing to you. Thank you for joining us today.
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So without getting into too many other things, let's just pray
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and let's get into the Word of God.
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Amen. Amen.
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Father, we do thank you for this wonderful day, this blessed day
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as a believer. Lord, this is one of the most
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favorite on most favorite days of the year as we celebrate your
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dominance over death in the grave.
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Lord, we thank you that you are risen, that we serve a living
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God. We don't serve an idol.
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We don't serve a Pagan God. We don't serve many ungodly
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deities, but we serve the true and living God.
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And this morning, Lord, we celebrate your resurrection, We
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celebrate your life. And we thank you, Lord, that you
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loved us so much, that just as you live, as you said in your
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word, Lord, that we will live also.
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So Father, I pray that You would hide me behind the cross this
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morning, that You would allow Your word to come forth and not
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mine, that You would think with my mind and speak with my lips.
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Stand in this old, weak body, Lord, and I pray that everything
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that is done today will bring You glory.
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We have worshipped, we have sang, and now we will worship
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You by sitting under Your Word and not just sitting under it,
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but obeying Your word. In Jesus holy name, we pray that
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everyone say Amen, Amen. So today is the day of
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resurrection and it is one of the most awesome days and not
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just in the history of Christianity, but in the world
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period. This is history.
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This is an event that has taken place in the world period.
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And when we're going to start at this this particular study,
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we're going to look at Mark chapter 16.
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And as you can see, it begins with now when the Sabbath was
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passed. But I want to bring you back to
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chapter 50 at the end of chapter 15, where it ends with the
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events following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
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And in the events following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we
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see very clearly that the, the men, the Josephs of Arimathea
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and, and, and Nicodemus actually took the body of Jesus and they
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wrapped them in fine linen and they, they put them in a, a tomb
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that was cut out of stone and they put them in a tune and they
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sealed that, that tomb was sealed with, with a rock, a big
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rock, a big stone. And from that point on you had
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grief, you had sorrow. And what I want to do today is
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to look at what happened very briefly.
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I want to look at what happened between that Friday, which was
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the day of his crucifixion, and the day of preparation for the
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Sabbath, and that Sunday, which was the day of Jesus rising from
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the dead. And that would be the Sabbath
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day, the Saturday. We never talk too much about
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Saturday. We talk about Good Friday and we
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talk about the Cruces and we talk about the rest day of
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resurrection, but we never talk too much about Saturday.
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But if you can imagine with me, just for a couple minutes, what
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was it that the disciples, what were the people who believed in
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Jesus Christ? What were they going through at
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that particular time? I mean, they, they, they have,
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they have just seen that their, their savior, their hope was,
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was, was crucified. Many people believe that that
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Saturday was the darkest day in the history of mankind because
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their Savior lay dead in the tomb.
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It was a day of sorrow, a day of grief, a day of mourning, a day
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of weeping. But it was also a day of fear
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because they feared that those who were arrested and crucified,
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their Lord was also looking for them as well.
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So they hid, and they, and they and, and they, they, they
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coward. And according to John 20 and 19,
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it said that they were hiding in fear from the Jews, from their
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own people. But what's amazing is that prior
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to that, everything seemed to be going so well.
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I mean, they were walking with their Lord.
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They were watching Him do miracles.
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They were listening to his teaching.
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They could feel His love. They were communing with him,
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dining with Him, going from town to town, just doing the work of
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the Lord. Everything seemed to be going so
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well. But then the unthinkable
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happened. The unthinkable.
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One of their own betrays the Messiah.
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Jesus is arrested. Peter denies him three times.
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Jesus is crucified and he dies in their hopes.
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All their hopes, all the things that they imagined would happen
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died with them in their hearts. They didn't recognize, They
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didn't remember the promise that he gave them several times when
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he said it was so, it has to be so and fulfilled that the Son of
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Man would would die, He would be he would be crucified and he
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would be buried, but he would raise again the third day.
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That thought was nowhere in their hearts.
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They were it was covered by the grief and the sorrow that they
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were feeling those unthinkable things.
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But this experience actually revealed evidence of their
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disbelief and the weakness of their faith.
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Even though he told them on three occasions that this would
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happen, they were still caught off guard.
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It's, it's, it's amazing how sometimes even though we can
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know or anticipate that something may happen, when it
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does happen, we can still be caught totally unprepared and
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off guard. All of us have that experience
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at one time or another. We've had a life changing
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experience where something happened suddenly in like for
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example, losing a loved one. Or maybe you have had the
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experience of having a, a, a negative medical report from the
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doctor test result that may have come up and and it caught you
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off guard. Maybe you had the experience of
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a financial crisis in your life. The COVID epidemic caught many
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people off guard and unprepared. How about this war and the
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crisis that the country is going through right now?
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And for a lot of people, they are dealing with grief and and
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they're dealing with sorrow as a result of these things.
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But thank God for his scriptures, his scriptures that
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we can go to for comfort. And for example, scriptures like
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Psalm 46 that says God is our refuge and strength as a very
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present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear even
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though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into
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the midst of the sea, and though the waters may roar, sometimes
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in our life we feel like the waters are all roaring and the
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waves are raging. But he says, you don't have to
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worry about that because God is our refuge and He is our
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strength. Psalm 33 tells us that our soul
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waits. Our soul waits for the Lord.
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He is our help in our shield. Sometimes we need to remember
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that, you know, we want to run to other people when these
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things happen sometimes, but it's God who is our refuge.
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He is our our our our shield. He is our help for our hearts
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shall not shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his
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holy name. So as we move into verse one and
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we look at what happened, I'm going to read down to verse 5
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and then we'll come back. But he says here and Mark
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chapter 16 verse 1, he says now when the Sabbath was passed, so
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Saturday is over with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
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James Salome brought spices that they might come to anoint him
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very early in the morning on the first day of the week.
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They came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
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So that lets us know that they had no intention or no idea that
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they would find the tomb empty. They came prepared to anoint
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him. They came prepared to finish
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with Joseph and Nicodemus had started to anoint them with
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these spices to try to delay the decay of the body and to take
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care of that odor that happens with the the decaying body, the
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odor of death. They didn't come there thinking
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that there would be any kind of of of of empty tomb, but they
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were looking to see a body. They never considered that he
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would be risen. They expect, they never expected
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the miracle of resurrection, which really makes that
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conspiracy theory which they had tried to conjure up, the
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enemies, the the Jews. The Jews tried to conjure up
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this conspiracy theory that said that Jesus's followers stole the
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body. That sounds even more ridiculous
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when you think about the fact that they didn't come prepared
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to see a body. They can't prepare to see a
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body. They didn't come prepared to see
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an empty tomb. They would have never done all
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that if they had plans to steal Jesus's body and it came early
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in the morning on a Sunday morning could be when the lights
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when the sun came up so that they can see inside the tomb.
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They knew they needed to have some light because it would be
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so dark. But when they got there, they
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saw that the tomb was empty and the stone was rolled away.
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Look at what it says here in verse 3.
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It says and they said among themselves as they were coming,
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This is interesting. Who will roll away the stone
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from the door of the tomb for us?
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But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had already
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been rolled away for it was very large.
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So they were looking and they were considering as they're
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walking along the way. We have our spices and we have
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these things that we need to try to minister to our Lord, to our
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savior. But we got a problem here.
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There's a big stone. This stone is about 1 to 2 tons
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and, and we need some help. You know, men can't even move
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this thing and it's just three of us ladies, and how are we
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going to move this stone? But God had already taken care
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of that provision because he had an Angel come down and, and
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through the power of God, that stone was rolled away.
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But what's interesting about this is that the men were
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cowering. They were cowering somewhere.
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They were hiding, you know, from the, from the Jews and the
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enemies of Jesus Christ. They were all hiding somewhere.
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But these women who the only thing they had on their minds
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was ministering to their Lord. They didn't care about what the
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threat would be if we went out into the public.
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They didn't care if they, if they thought that everybody knew
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that they were with Jesus. They just wanted to minister to
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their Lord and they were fearless about it.
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So what the men worried about, they were concerned about who's
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going to know that we are followers of Jesus and find out
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where we are. And the women, the only thing
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they worried about was how we're going to move the stone to
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minister to our Lord. So the next verse says in verse
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5 says in and entering the tomb. I'm going to come back to that
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stone a little later, but entering that tomb, they saw a
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young man clothed in in a white robe sitting on the right side
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and they were alarmed. Verse 6 says, but he said to
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them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who
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was crucified. In other words, he had to make
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it clear he is dead. He did die.
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No one survives crucifixion. He is dead.
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But then the next verse is the thing that we are all the reason
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why we're all here and the reason why we come every Sunday,
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the reason why we believe what we believe, and we're so adamant
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about sharing this truth. He is risen.
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He is risen. He is not here.
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He's not here. See the place where they laid
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him, But go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is
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going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he
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said, he's risen, He's risen. The, the, the, the resurrection
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has happened. Now there was no one there that
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actually witnessed him coming out of the tomb, except for the
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angels. But the proof of his
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resurrection is massive. It's massive.
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And that's what we're going to talk a lot about today is going
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to be that the resurrection, the proof of it, what it means, it
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was massive. And he says, go tell his
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disciples evangelism. Go tell somebody what you know,
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go tell the truth. Go tell what you what you just
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witnessed here. Go tell them that's evangelism.
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And also tell Peter I love that because that tells me that
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regardless of my shortcomings, regardless of how many times I
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may come short of His glory, He doesn't forget me.
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He doesn't forget you. No matter what we do in this
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life, if our hearts are to seek Him, if we believe in Him, He
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won't forget us. He knew that Peter was
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heartbroken. He Peter had just denied him
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three times. He probably didn't even feel
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like he was a part of the group anymore.
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But yet Jesus made it a point to tell the women, When you go tell
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the rest of them that I've resurrected, that I'm no longer
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here, go tell Jesus. I mean, go tell Peter as well.
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Tell Peter. Let him know that I've forgiven
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him. Let him know that my grace is
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sufficient. Let them know that I have mercy.
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And that is such a good, that's such a good, a good message for
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me. It's such a good, such a good
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word for me and for you. You don't have to be perfect.
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We can't be perfect, but we just need to know.
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As he said, he'll remember you. Go tell Peter too.
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Don't leave him out. Don't leave him out.
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So she goes back. These women go back, as you can
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see in verse A So they went out quickly and they fled from the
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tomb. And they, and they, they, they,
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they, they tremble because they, they were in fear, fear of the
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fact that what they don't know what the Lord is.
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They, they, they, he was told that he was, he was risen, but
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we don't know where he is. But they were also amazed.
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They were astonished. They had great joy and they said
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nothing to no one, for they were afraid.
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Now in most manuscripts, this is where the 16th chapter of Mark
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ends. You know, some of your Bibles
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may not even have the rest of the book of Mark from verses 9
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to 20. And the ones of them ones that
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do some of your verses, some of your, your books may have
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parentheses or braces at the end that starts with the verse 9 and
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goes through verse 20 of the book of Mark.
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But this is accepted. So we go through and we read the
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rest of it. And he says, now from verses 9
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to 13, we see something interesting.
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You would think, you would think that if the word, the message
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was coming through that he's resurrected, that he's not in
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the grave. You would think that that would
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be met with jubilation. It would be met with a bunch of
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joy. It would be meant by people
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just, oh, praising and worshipping and being thankful
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and belief. But it wasn't.
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In fact, verses 9 through 13 tells us that it was actually
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met with unbelief. And this isn't from the people,
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just the people of the town we're talking about, from his
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disciples. It was met with unbelief.
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Look at what it says now. When he arose early on the first
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day of the week, verse 9, he appeared first to Mary
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Magdalene, out of whom he had cast 7 demons.
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She went and told those who were had been with him.
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And as they mourned and weeped, so they were still weeping, and
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they were still mourning as they wanted to meet.
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And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her,
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they did not believe. Let's drop down to verse 12 and
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13. After that he appeared in
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another form to two or three to to two of them as they walked on
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the way into the country. That was when he talked about
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the, the road, the disciples that he met on the road to
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Emmaus. And they went and told it to the
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rest. After they saw Jesus, after they
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commune with Jesus that night and they realized that it was
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Him, they went back and told the rest.
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But look at what it says. But they did not believe them.
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So it was met. The news of Jesus rising was met
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with unbelief. And even to today, there is
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still unbelief about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Still today we're dealing with that.
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I looked at a study that was done by Lifeway Research and it
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said that 66% of people who profess to be Christians, only
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66% actually believe the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus
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Christ. Only 66%.
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What was wrong with the rest of y'all?
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But then it says that 20% don't believe at all and then 14% are
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not sure. What's really sad about this is
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that that 20 and 14% include. Men who are standing in the
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pulpit and preaching the gospel, how can you preach the gospel
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when you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
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Can't happen. It can't happen.
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The resurrection is a non negotiable part of the gospel
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message. It's non negotiable.
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To not believe in the message of the resurrection is to not
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believe the gospel at all. That's why at baptism, Pastor
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Clark does an excellent job of giving a brief devotional before
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anybody gets in the water. He does a brief devotional on
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the gospel of Jesus Christ and make sure that everybody
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believes it before they step into the water.
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Because baptism does not save you.
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It's what you believe before you get in that water that saves
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you. So he gives that brief he, he
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gives that brief devotion. And before they go down into the
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water or before they're dipped, they have to agree and they
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believe or profess the gospel that Jesus is the Son of God,
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God himself in the flesh, that Jesus did die for our sins, that
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Jesus was buried and that he arose on the third day.
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That is the core message in the central belief of the Christian
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faith. Paul says in the in the in the
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book of Romans, he says that it's a part of our confession of
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faith for salvation. In Romans 10 and 9, he says if
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you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
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heart that God has raised him from the dead, that's
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resurrection. You shall be saved.
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So it's not up for grabs that we talk about resurrection.
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I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
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I believe that he died, but I don't know about the
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resurrection thing. If you either you believe at all
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or you don't believe any of it, it's the gospel.
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It's the gospel. So at this point, I'm going to
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take your attention to the defense of the resurrection
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because today I want each and every one of us.
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Just like Jesus made sure that each and every one of his
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disciples of his apostles, he made sure that they were sure,
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that they were reassured and that without a shadow of a
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doubt, they knew that what they would go out and profess, what
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they would go out and preach. They did it with the true
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understanding and that they believed it with all of their
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heart. And that's why he appeared to
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them all. They had eyewitness accounts of
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their Savior being risen. So today we're going to talk
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about the defense of the death of the resurrection.
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So with the defense of the resurrection, we have to go back
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to the 15th chapter of the book of First Corinthians, 15th
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chapter, the book of First Corinthians.
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I just want to bring out a few things concerning that.
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First of all, from verses one through 8, when we look at that,
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we look at first at verses one through 4 which presents the
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gospel and it says here, moreover, brethren, starting at
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verse verse one and chapter 15, it says, moreover, brethren, I
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declare to you the gospel. This is the gospel which I
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preached to you, what you also received and in which you stand.
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This is important. The gospel message that he
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preached was the message in which they stand.
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It's the message in which we stand as Christians, as
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believers in Jesus Christ, by which also you are saved.
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He wouldn't put that in there if it didn't mean something by
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which you are saved. This is the gospel.
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You can't be saved by another gospel.
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You can't be saved by half gospel.
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You got to believe in this gospel, this gospel, unless you
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have believed in vain. So here's the gospel message.
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There's three points to it. Some people say that this is a
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A3 legged stool. When I first heard that, I said,
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wait a minute, shouldn't it still have 4 legs?
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But it can stand on 3A stool, Can't stand on three, cannot
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stand on two though not a stool. So he says this, that Christ
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died for our sins. According to the Scriptures,
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Christ died for our sins. That's important, the death, to
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have that, to have the a record of that death.
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That's the sacrifice that paid our sin debt.
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That's why the death is important.
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Without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of
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sins. And only Jesus Christ could have
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done it because he was the only one that was without sin.
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He was the Lamb. He was the Lamb without spot or
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blemish, so only he could have done that.
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Because we're not redeemed with corruptible things like silver
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and gold. I couldn't come up with enough
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money to redeem us and save us or pay for our sin debt.
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Couldn't pay for it with enough money.
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But it was with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb with
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our blemishes spot, according to Peter.
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And Peter also understood that it was Jesus who bore our sins
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and his own body on the tree, that we having died to sins,
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might live to righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed from
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that sinful condition. By his stripes we're healed.
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His death was prophesied in the Old Testament as well.
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If you look at Isaiah 5053 and 80 says he was cut off from the
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land of the living for the transgressions of my people, He
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was stricken. So yes, there is the proof that
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he did die and it was prophesied that he would die.
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So that's part of the gospel. The Messiah will come and he
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would die for our sins. That's part of the gospel.
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And then there's a second part. He was buried.
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Now He was placed in a tomb that was secured.
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And when he was buried, he was placed in the tomb that was
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secured three ways, three ways. The first way he was secured,
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they put a they put a guard, they put a door, a rock, a big
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stone in the mouth of the tomb where he was.
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And then in addition to that, they put a guard to watch over
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it. And as if that wasn't enough,
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they sealed it. They put a seal on it over in
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Matthew chapter 2766 says that they went and made the tomb
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secure, sealing it, sealing it with a stone and setting a
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guard. So it was sealed and that's
27:19
sealed with that seal meant was that it was the authority and
27:24
the ownership of the Roman government.
27:28
And they knew that if they sealed that tomb that nobody
27:31
would tamper with it because to tamper with something that was
27:34
sealed by the Roman government meant death.
27:39
So that was one of the ways that they tried to secure that tomb
27:41
to make sure that nobody, nobody would interfere with it.
27:45
And they didn't, but they wouldn't didn't bank on the
27:48
power of God. They didn't bank on the power of
27:52
God. And you know what, Thank God we
27:54
are sealed. The Bible says that when we
27:56
believe, at the moment that we believe, we are sealed with the
27:59
Holy Spirit of promise. We are sealed.
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Each and every one of us who believe are sealed and we are
28:08
under the authority and we are the ownership of Jesus Christ.
28:14
We serve Him and we're sealed by him.
28:17
Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord.
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But then the third part, the third leg of this, of this three
28:23
leg of stool is that he rose again the third day.
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And that's what we're here celebrating today.
28:28
In fact, we celebrate this every Sunday, every time we get
28:30
together. It is a celebration of the
28:33
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because without that
28:35
resurrection, there'll be no need to come together.
28:38
There'll be no need to get up and come to church.
28:41
But we do have a reason to come because we raise, we, we, we
28:46
serve the risen and living God. Amen.
28:51
Amen. So that third one is the
28:53
resurrection. OK?
28:55
Christ is not just our suffering Savior.
28:59
He's our living Lord. He is not just your suffering
29:03
Savior. It wouldn't mean anything if he
29:05
just went to and got and had to suffer, or if he went to the
29:10
cross and just died and that was it.
29:12
There was a period left or that that wouldn't mean anything but
29:17
the resurrection that is what gives our that's our hope.
29:21
That's where our faith lies in the resurrection of Jesus
29:25
Christ. He is our he's not just our
29:28
suffering Savior. He's our living Lord Proof.
29:32
Now there's a couple of things that his resurrection proves
29:34
first of all proves of his power over death and the grave.
29:39
It proves that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is divine, and
29:44
that he is the Son of the living God.
29:47
And most important, not only that, but it proves that God the
29:54
Father accepted his sacrifice when he came out of that grave.
29:59
When God raised him from the dead, it meant that he accepted
30:04
Jesus Christ as our sacrifice. And because he accepted that
30:10
sacrifice, we have forgiveness of sins.
30:15
The sin dead is paid 100% paid. Yeah.
30:22
He was delivered because of our offenses and was raised because
30:27
of our justification. We redeemed through the blood of
30:31
Jesus Christ and that was accepted by the Father.
30:37
So Paul defends this truth of the gospel, the fact that he
30:41
died, the fact that he was buried and the fact that he and
30:44
the fact that he rose on the third day.
30:46
He defends the resurrection. He defends it based on this, the
30:51
authority and the authority has two points.
30:56
The authority of the Scriptures. Throughout the Old Testament
31:00
Scriptures it prophesied that the Messiah would die, but that
31:04
he would be raised again. Again Isaiah 53 and 10 says,
31:08
When you make his soul and offering for sin his death, he
31:14
shall see his seed. That means he's going to rise
31:17
again, and he shall pro, and we shall He shall prolong his days,
31:21
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
31:24
That was written 700 to 750 years before he ever went to the
31:29
cross. And then Psalm 616 and 10, he
31:37
says you will not leave my soul and she O nor will you allow the
31:41
Holy one to see corruption. And then even Job, even Job
31:46
talked about Jesus resurrecting. He says, for I know that my
31:49
Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth.
31:56
So it's well prophesied that they that he would live.
31:59
So the so through these through the fulfillment of these Old
32:02
Testament prophecies of his death and his resurrection, he
32:06
is declared to be the Son of God.
32:10
He's declared and what Paul said over in Romans, it just really
32:16
strikes me because Paul says over in Romans chapter 1 and
32:19
verse three and four, he says concerning his Son Jesus Christ
32:23
our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the
32:27
flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to
32:33
the Spirit of holiness. But how did he declare to be the
32:38
Son of God according to power? How did he declare to be the
32:43
Messiah? How did he declare to do this?
32:47
And we look at the last part of that verse.
32:49
It says by the resurrection from the dead.
32:54
That's how he declared it. So we have proof.
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The second authority is the authority of eyewitnesses.
33:07
There the resurrection of Jesus Christ is most attested, is the
33:10
most attested event in ancient history.
33:14
It is the most attested event in ancient history.
33:16
What do I mean by the word attested?
33:18
It means that it is the most witnessed and confirmed event
33:25
and proof that something is true.
33:28
When you attest something, you you're basically witnessing that
33:32
it is true. That's right, young lady, help
33:34
me teach this. He's witnessing that something
33:39
is true. So Jesus's resurrection was
33:43
witnessed by all the apostles, Not just look at you.
33:47
Do the math in your own minds as we go through this.
33:50
He was witnessed by all the apostles, and then he was
33:54
witnessed, and then He was witnessed by over 500 brethren
33:57
at once. Now we're talking about people
33:59
seeing the Messiah after He rose, not just hearing about
34:04
Him. They saw Him.
34:07
They saw Him after He arose from the grave.
34:11
And that strengthened their faith and they became bold
34:14
witnesses for Christ, even unto death.
34:17
That's why you have so many people who didn't, you know, who
34:20
didn't shrink in the face a martyr ship in the face of
34:24
death. They would get on their knees
34:27
and they would start singing hymns and be prepared to die for
34:31
their Lord because they knew that what they were proclaiming
34:35
was true. They knew it was true.
34:39
And last of all, he was seen and witnessed by Paul.
34:43
At the last time Paul saw Jesus, he spent time with Jesus and
34:46
Jesus taught him the gospel. And that was before he went to
34:50
be with the other apostles. So he saw him.
34:53
Paul said it was like 1 being born out of time.
34:56
So just as a point of reference here, you have 500 / 500
35:03
witnesses, and then you have the 12 apostles.
35:07
OK. Then you have Jesus's brother
35:10
who saw him, and then you have Paul.
35:12
That's a lot of people. That's over 500 people who saw
35:16
Jesus alive after the resurrection.
35:19
Now, the Bible says only two or three in the mouth of two or
35:22
three witnesses. Every word is established.
35:25
Well, I would think 500 is a lot more than two or three.
35:29
And in any court of law, if I was if, if I was defending a
35:33
case, OK. If I was defending my brother
35:37
Dan here, Dan was accused of robbing the bank down the
35:43
street, got a couple $1,000,000 out of there and they accused
35:47
him of it. But the first thing they would
35:50
do is say, well, Dan, say, well, wait a minute.
35:52
I, I wasn't there. I wasn't there.
35:55
Well, where were you, Dan? I was at Starbucks.
36:00
That would have been my first guess for Dan.
36:04
If a police officer ever come to me and say, do you see, have you
36:07
seen Dan? Did you check Starbucks?
36:11
But he would say, OK, I was at, he was at Starbucks.
36:14
Now, if two or three people were to say that, yeah, we saw him at
36:18
Starbucks, that would be OK, That would be great for the
36:22
court of law. But he has 500 people, that's
36:26
it. They saw him at Starbucks, 500
36:29
witnesses. So even with that, they still
36:33
question the resurrection of Jesus Christ even with that.
36:38
So you know, that's nothing but an evil agenda.
36:42
And I say this to you because I want us, just like Jesus Christ
36:46
wants us to be affirmed in our faith.
36:49
That when we go out and proclaim the word of God, regardless of
36:52
who we proclaim it to, if we proclaim it to a relative, to a
36:56
friend, and we proclaim it to an enemy and we proclaim it to a
37:00
neighbor, to a Co worker, no matter who we proclaim it to, we
37:04
need to be affirmed that he is who he said he was.
37:10
He is Jesus, He's the bread of heaven.
37:17
He's God in the flesh. We have to be affirmed to that.
37:24
So he goes on and we see that this resurrection is is
37:28
falsifiable. What do you mean he's
37:30
falsifiable? Well, because anybody could have
37:34
went to any of those people and asked them privately.
37:38
Did you see him? And anyone could have said no, I
37:43
didn't see him, not really. Or all they had to do was
37:47
produce a body. If you say he didn't rise from
37:51
the dead, OK, produce a body. Where's his body?
37:56
It's been almost 2000 years and they haven't come up with a body
37:58
yet. I don't think they're going to,
38:01
personally. My money is on that.
38:03
He's not going to. I feel secure in proclaiming
38:08
Jesus Christ as being my Lord and Savior, very secure.
38:13
Nothing's going to die. Make me doubt him.
38:15
My grandmother used to say, you can't make me doubt him because
38:18
I know too much about him. Verse 20 over in verse 20 and
38:31
the book of First Corinthians, Paul makes this assertion.
38:35
He says, but now Christ is risen from the dead.
38:40
Why did he say that? He said that because there were
38:45
so many who would doubt that he had risen.
38:49
But but Paul understood that if there was no resurrection,
38:53
there'd be no Christianity and no salvation.
38:56
If there's no resurrection, those who are dead or just
38:58
perished, we would have no hope for the future of eternal life.
39:04
If He did not rise out of the grave, then we are still all in
39:07
our sins with no hope of being redeemed or being forgiven.
39:15
But Paul says, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has
39:20
become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
39:25
Glory to God because when he says first fruits, then that
39:28
means that means it's going to be others to follow.
39:32
You can't be the first unless you got somebody coming after
39:36
you. And we are those who are coming
39:37
after him. Amen.
39:41
So with that said, that is the defense for the resurrection.
39:47
Now going back to as we come in for a landing pretty soon here
39:52
going back to Mark 16, I just want to take another look at
39:56
that stone. That stone back in verses 3
40:01
through 6 when he talked about the stone that was in the tomb
40:05
there verse verse 3. He says and they and they and
40:09
they sit among themselves, who will roll away the stone from
40:11
the door of the tomb for us. I just want to take a quick look
40:15
at that stone. As we said, that stone probably
40:18
weighed between 1 1/2 to 2 tons. But there's something that that
40:24
stone symbolizes for us. The stone symbolizes the
40:29
finality of death. That stone symbolized It was
40:34
used as a door to shut death in, just as sin as a door that shuts
40:42
us into the prison of death, keeps us in darkness.
40:48
But faith in Christ removed that sin and it revives us and brings
40:53
us into everlasting life. Just as those ladies were were
40:59
able to go in and see what was in the tomb, death was no longer
41:03
in that tomb. It was gone.
41:05
But Jesus didn't have to have the, the, the stone removed in
41:09
order for him to get out. That wasn't why the stone was
41:12
removed. It wasn't removed so Jesus can
41:14
get out. He could have walked through it.
41:16
He could have transported himself.
41:18
He rose with a spiritual body. At that point he could have done
41:21
a lot of things, a lot of things as he did with the disciples.
41:26
He was walking through doors. He was appearing in different
41:29
places, so he didn't need anybody to move the door, but
41:36
the door wasn't moved for him to come out.
41:38
The door was moved for those ladies to be able to see in to
41:42
justify their proclamation of his resurrection.
41:46
And even when we go, I asked the last time we talked about the
41:49
resurrection. I asked because Clark is the
41:52
only one that I know to hear it has actually been to Israel on
41:55
more than one occasion. And I'm sure he stopped by that
41:58
tomb and he affirmed that when he stopped and looked in, Jesus
42:03
wasn't there. And that's enough for me.
42:06
I don't have to fly to Israel to go to see if he's in the tomb.
42:10
I know he's not there based on 501 witnesses now, right?
42:17
Amen. Amen.
42:18
So this stone that was there to shut in death is no longer
42:23
there. And I love what Matthew 28 and
42:26
two says. He said the Angel rolled back to
42:28
stone and sat on it. He sat on that stone, that thing
42:33
that was supposed to be so secure to lead, to have death
42:37
shut in, that thing that was going to be so secure to have
42:40
darkness be sat in and overwhelming.
42:43
He sat on it to show that God's victory over, his victory over
42:47
and dominance over death in the grave.
42:50
He is victorious over death in the grave.
42:53
Death couldn't keep him and the grave can't hold him.
42:57
Oh, Death, where's your, where's your thing?
43:00
Where's your sting? Death doesn't have sting
43:02
anymore. We don't have to be afraid of
43:04
death anymore because we know we will rise.
43:07
So we don't have to be afraid. Death doesn't have that sting
43:09
anymore. Oh grave, where is your victory?
43:12
The grave can't keep anybody. It won't keep us because it
43:15
didn't keep him. Jesus says you will live because
43:20
I live. And if I live, you will live our
43:24
soul. So the door to the prison of
43:29
death was removed. Charles Spurgeon said this.
43:31
He said death's ancient prison house is missing a door.
43:38
Glory to God. So today we celebrate and we
43:42
recognize that resurrected new life in Jesus Christ.
43:48
We recognize his victory over death and the grave.
43:52
His resurrection is our hope of eternal life.
43:57
He is the first born from the dead, meaning that there will be
44:00
others who will follow. But lastly, in the praise and
44:02
worship team can come forth now please.
44:05
But lastly, that stone represents something else.
44:12
That stone represents the obstacle that was in the way of
44:19
those women getting to Jesus. It was an obstacle to keep these
44:25
women from being able to see Jesus, from being able to
44:27
minister to Jesus. It would have been an obstacle
44:31
to keep them from Jesus, and it had to be removed.
44:37
But they couldn't remove it themselves.
44:38
It had to be removed by the power of God.
44:41
Many of us have obstacles. We have stones in our lives that
44:47
stop us and keeps us from getting closer to Jesus Christ.
44:53
Many of us do. We have obstacles that that,
44:57
that, that keep us from believing on Jesus Christ or
45:00
keeps us from giving ourselves totally to Jesus Christ.
45:04
That stops us from giving him all.
45:06
Or I'll give him this much, but I can't give him everything from
45:11
totally surrendering to Jesus Christ.
45:12
There are stones, there are obstacles that stops us from
45:16
doing that. What is yours?
45:18
What is your obstacle? If you can take a moment, just
45:21
think about that. What is the obstacle that's
45:23
really stopping you from going deeper in the Lord or stopping
45:27
you from serving Him the way that you know that He's worthy
45:32
to be served? Or if you're an unbeliever, what
45:36
is the obstacle that's stopping you from believing?
45:39
What's the stone that's in your way that's stopping you from
45:42
believing? What is stopping us from being
45:45
more like Jesus Christ? You can put anything in there.
45:49
I would follow Jesus closer if wasn't there or I would get I
45:55
would give my life today to Jesus if wasn't there.
46:00
What's the stone? I would read my Bible more if
46:06
wasn't there. I would come and assemble with
46:11
the believers more if wasn't there.
46:15
What's the stone in your life? We all have to answer that
46:19
question for ourselves, we all do.
46:22
But one thing we know for sure is that the same stone, the same
46:27
God that raised Jesus from the dead, the same God that rolled
46:34
the stone away from those women to be able to go in and see the
46:38
tomb. The same is the same one who was
46:42
able to roll the stone way out of my life and he's able to roll
46:46
the stone way out of your life. You just have to determine what
46:50
that stone is and give it to the Lord.
46:54
Bible says if we submit ourselves to God and resist the
46:59
devil, he will flee from us. What's your stone?
47:05
So as we go into our communion, Lord's Table, which for some
47:15
reason for me today has a little bit more meaning, and it should
47:18
have meaning every Sunday. So I even repent for that
47:23
because this should have meaning every Sunday.
47:27
Because every Sunday that we come and we congregate as a body
47:31
of believers, we are celebrating His resurrection because we
47:35
wouldn't have to come if He didn't resurrect.
47:42
So let's pray. Father, there are so many things
47:46
in our lives, Lord, that sometimes keep us from getting
47:49
closer to You. And one of those things is
47:53
unbelief and doubt. Father, we just talked about how
47:58
the resurrection was doubted and and was even not believed by
48:03
those who followed you the closest.
48:07
So what about us? It wasn't until they saw you,
48:13
Lord, that they believe truly and was ready to give their
48:17
lives for the cause, give their lives to proclaim you as the
48:22
Messiah, the resurrected Lord. But you told Thomas, you said,
48:29
Thomas, you believe because you see me.
48:33
But blessed are those who believe and not see.
48:38
So, Father, we believe even though we don't see, but we see
48:44
your effects in our lives. We see your power working
48:48
through the Holy Spirit in our lives.
48:50
We see, Lord, how you brought us out of darkness and into your
48:54
marvelous light. We see how you bless us with
48:59
good things, Lord, and how You keep no good things from those
49:03
who fear you. We see how you translated us
49:07
from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of your dear Son.
49:11
We see the effects of your power, the effects of Your
49:16
resurrected life. We see that You are still the
49:19
advocate for us in heaven. We see that You still work
49:24
intercessory for us even here. So Father, we thank you that you
49:30
are no longer in that tomb, but you raised, You are risen.
49:35
And because of that, we have a living faith because we serve a
49:40
living God. We're the only ones who can
49:44
boast that Confucius is still in the grave, Muhammad is still in
49:50
the grave, Joseph Smith is still in the grave.
49:55
But you, you are the living Savior.
49:59
You're the living Lord. You arose.
50:04
So on a night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread.
50:08
And after he broke it, he said, take and eat.
50:11
This is my body which is broken for you.
50:15
Eat this in remembrance of me. In the same manner he also took
50:28
the cup, and after supper he said, This cup is a new covenant
50:34
in my blood, which was shed for the sins of many.
50:43
Lord, when you went to that cross, when you allowed your
50:47
body to be beaten, when you allowed your blood to be shed by
50:52
mere men whom you yourself have created, Lord, you did it
50:59
thinking about us. You did it because you loved us.
51:05
You did it not for your sins, but for ours.
51:12
So this is the New covenant in your blood.
51:15
Drink this as often as you drink it, drinking in remembrance of
51:20
me. For as often as you eat this
51:25
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until he
51:30
comes again. Amen.
51:32
I would just ask that if anyone would like to come up to the
51:35
altar and just do business with the Lord, to just share what
51:40
that stone is that keeps you from being closer to Him.
51:46
Whatever that stone is, that prevents you from being able to
51:52
see Him more clearly and to serve Him, walk with Him more
51:57
dearly. The altar is open.