Latest / HBCWestminster / 4.17.22 Luke 24:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner

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4.17.22 Luke 24:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  so thankful that you could join us this morning. If we've never met, my name is Danny Gardner. I'm the senior pastor here at the church, and we've got some word of God to get to. If you guys have your Bibles open, if you would, to Luke chapter 24. Luke 24, we have the last couple of years here at Highland been walking through the gospel of Luke, and the capstone is this morning. We finally come to Luke 24 and verse 1, the resurrection. If you're able to stand in honor of God's word as I read.
• 0:28
  I would ask you to do that now. I'll read verses 1 to 12. It says, But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
• 1:00
  Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them.
• 1:29
  But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. Would you pray with me? Lord of heaven and earth, we come into your gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and into your courts with praise. Because we are your people.
• 1:52
  We are the people whom you love and for whom you gave your son, and we rejoice this morning in his resurrection because it means that we serve and worship a living God in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. 1 John 2. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
• 2:25
  The Greek language, which was the original language of the New Testament, and the English language are quite different, and they actually word things very differently. And so you can't necessarily translate word for word all the time Greek straight into English. Sometimes it becomes a little bit ambiguous and loses its meaning. And if you look there at the second sentence, you get a good example of that. It says in the English, But if anyone does sin,
• 2:50
  It's almost as if the author is saying it's possible to go through this life sinless. It's possible to squeeze through without ever failing, to squeeze through without ever sinning. It seems like that in the English, but the Greek is very different. The Greek word for the word in English, if, is also the word since. Since is the author's intent. Since everyone sins. And can I get an amen from the sinners in the room?
• 3:20
  Like, man, because everyone sins. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And I love this verse because of the reminder that Christ is not our accuser. Rather, he is our advocate. He is not our prosecuting attorney. Rather, he is our defense attorney. And church, I am so tired of feeling guilty.
• 3:51
  Even though I am guilty, I'm tired of that heresy that continually bounces around in my head that somehow I can't come to Jesus because of what I've done. Maybe you're like me, struggling with spiritual paralysis. You almost feel frozen because you feel overwhelmed with guilt and shame, a feeling of condemnation because of what your past looks like, a feeling like maybe you owe Christ something, like you've got to pay back a debt.
• 4:24
  Many years ago, my oldest son, Pearson, was 14 years old. He was a freshman in high school. I took him and all of his 14-year-old buddies, who all played on the JV baseball team, took all of them to Commerce City to play against another high school. I get them out of school a couple of periods early, which they were always pleased with. Like Coach Danny, earlier the better, especially before algebra. If you can get it before, like, I can't take you at first period, okay? So, you know, get you out of the last couple.
• 4:49
  go and pick them up. I and a couple of other parents were driving all of these kids, I don't know, a dozen, dozen and a half of these 14-year-old boys to Commerce City to play baseball. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm Denver morning. But as happens in May very frequently, every minute that ticked by, it got darker and darker and darker.
• 5:10
  And so we all load up in the cars. We thought we were looking so forward to getting our uniforms dirty. We drive to Commerce City, and with every mile that ticked by, we could see that there was this big storm cloud forming over Commerce City. We got all the way out there. We're just piling out of the trucks to run onto the field, and the Lord unleashed a storm on top of that field. For 10 minutes, there was torrential rain.
• 5:33
  Only for 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes, the sun came back out. It was beautiful again, but the field was now flooded. There was no baseball happening there that day. The game was immediately canceled, and I thought, okay, what am I supposed to do now with 14, 15 freshman boys?
• 5:50
  They said, Danny, my parents aren't coming for two hours. Like, I'm just going to be sitting here. And I said, okay. There's a burger place down the street. Everybody pile back into the trucks. We're driving back. We're going to drive to the burger place. We're all having lunch together. It was so much fun. But listen, they're 14-year-old boys. None of them had money. None of them did. And so I stood at the front of the line with my credit card. And boy after boy would walk up. He'd make his order. Coach, I don't have any money. I'm really sorry. It's no problem. Swipe my card. Pay for his lunch.
• 6:19
  He said invariably every time, Coach, thank you so much. I'll pay you back. And I said, that's impossible. And they were like, what? No, I really can't. No, you can't pay me back. And I said, why? And I said, because I don't give loans. It's impossible to pay back a gift. And he'd walk away a little bit bewildered. Next kid would step up, order, I'd swipe. Thanks, Coach, I'll pay you back. No, that's impossible. Why? Because I don't give loans. You can't pay back a gift. And kid after kid after kid, all the way to the back.
• 6:50
  to my son who was at the end of the line he was used to me paying for his lunch and so he didn't say anything you know on that one particular day in the life and ministry of jesus he was joined by both pharisees and scribes and these men had proven to be his enemies time and again their purpose was clear they wanted to trap jesus on that day and so to accuse him their plan was simple they were going to catch a woman in the act of adultery
• 7:14
  They were going to drag her before Jesus, and if he truly was the rabbi he claimed to be, they were going to allow him to throw the first stone at her. They had no interest in a trial. What they wanted was a public lynching, and they wanted Jesus to pass the judgment. They cared nothing for the woman involved. She was in their minds an expendable pawn in their scheme to indict the Savior. But Jesus turned their scheme on its head.
• 7:43
  when, as they demanded her execution, he encouraged anyone among them who was sinless to throw the first stone. You guys remember that story? I've always found it funny that he knew the woman was not going to be executed that day, and yet he never forbade them from stoning her. They said, we need to stone this woman, and he says, yeah, we do. You first. He bent down, began scribbling in the sand, and Scripture never records what he wrote.
• 8:12
  Whatever it was, it had the desired effect. As one by one, the woman's accusers began to drop their stones. You can imagine hearing that thud, thud, thud, and then left the scene. And Christ eventually stood himself, and I think almost playing dumb, kind of looks around.
• 8:31
  I think he probably even had a stone in his hand. I mean, he was ready to participate in the justice that was being so mercilessly demanded and which according to the law should have been carried out. After all, she was a lawbreaker. But Jesus and the woman were suddenly left alone. And then he spoke to her for the first time, still holding that rock, asking a question. Where'd they all go? Is no one left to condemn you? You know, he in no way condoned her sin.
• 9:01
  He never declared her innocence. I picture him standing there with a rock in his own hand asking, where did all the other rock throwers go? She replied with respect and belief, no one is left to condemn me, Lord, except for you, to which he replied, John chapter 8 and verse 11, neither do I condemn you.
• 9:19
  There was a sinless man in her midst. There was a man who could have, with justified righteousness, thrown the first stone. And yet he said, I'm not going to condemn you either. And you can imagine hearing the thud of his rock. I try to imagine what was going on in the mind of our Savior that day. I can only imagine the woman was elated with joy. She had now received forgiveness from Christ. But we who know the end of the story.
• 9:50
  know that it only came through Christ. When he dropped that rock, he was making a conscious decision not to condemn her, but instead to do what? Condemn himself. If he had thrown that rock, he didn't have to go to the cross. She was bearing the punishment for her own sin. That was just. But in dropping the rock, he knew that he had condemned himself. You know, Easter is the celebration of life.
• 10:22
  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, died on the cross. He was buried. We celebrated that on Friday. And He rose from the dead. And this is why when I say, He is risen, you reply with, He is risen indeed. But let me take us back to that scene, just for a moment, with Jesus and the woman. We know from Scripture that Jesus, God, is a righteous judge. I preached about that on Friday. That He must punish every single sin that has ever been committed in order for Him to retain that righteousness.
• 10:52
  So what did it mean when Jesus dropped the rock? It meant that the woman was no longer condemned, but that Christ would be. And you may ask the question, well, how did he do it? How did he condemn himself so that we could be forgiven? And that question is answered in our text this morning. Notice in verse 1, chapter 24 in verse 1, begins with a very simple word. What is that word? You guys have your Bibles? What's it say? The first word, the word but.
• 11:21
  I love that the text before us begins with the word but. Chapter 23 ended with Christ's death and burial. Should have been the end of the story. There shouldn't have been a chapter 24. Death is always the end of the story. Death is always final. Death is a period. It is not a comma. Death is the last event. In fact, the only words that should follow death are the words the end. That's it, but not the gospel story. The gospel story begins with the word but.
• 11:53
  But, and can I give a brief word of encouragement? You may be here this morning feeling like that woman caught in adultery. You may feel like you've sinned too much, that you've failed too much, that God and his people can't accept you but take heart. There is a but for your story too. Failure doesn't have to be the end of your journey. In fact, our God, who we were just singing to, specializes in bringing life where there was previously no hope.
• 12:24
  That's what he does. Our God specializes in shining the light where there has only ever been darkness. And he can do that in your life too. It says, but on the first day of the week, and this would be Sunday. Let me catch us up. The last supper was Thursday. Christ was crucified and buried on Friday. Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath. No work was done.
• 12:51
  Christ rose on Sunday. It says on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared. And just as the sun was beginning to rise, you can just imagine the first glint over the eastern mountains. The women who had attended to Christ's body after he died went to the tomb to finish their work. It was customary at the time to wrap a person's remains in linens and spices.
• 13:21
  It would do a couple of things. The spices would help with the decomposition of the body. It would help the body to decompose more quickly, but it also helped to knock down the smell. Death has a stench to it, and so they would wrap the bodies in these spices. The modern-day equivalent would be showing up at a funeral with flowers. That's why we bring flowers. Not only are they pretty to look at, but we've adopted that tradition because of the smell. You bring something that smells nice.
• 13:49
  to a funeral and this is what the women were going to do look at verse 2 when they got there they found the stone rolled away from the tomb when they went in they did not find the body of the lord jesus and those women who showed up that morning most assuredly assumed the worst that big large stone blocking the entrance to the tomb was meant to protect christ's body from nefarious evildoers the stone was so large and heavy
• 14:19
  Moving it would have proved next to impossible. In fact, another gospel records that those same women even discussed along the way to the tomb how they were going to manage rolling away the rock. They had no plan. There's no way the four or five, six of us are going to be able to move this thing. John's gospel records that Mary Magdalene, Mary Magdalene was the first to reach the tomb. And we know who Mary Magdalene is. The first time she's ever mentioned in the gospels, it says Mary Magdalene.
• 14:48
  Who was a prostitute? That's what she did. But then another gospel says Mary Magdalene, the prostitute, had seven demons exercised from her. That was Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was a demon-possessed prostitute. And that's the first person who showed up on the scene when she encountered Christ months before.
• 15:12
  And Christ had redeemed her and forgiven her and restored her from a life of shame. She determined from that day on she was following Jesus. And even if he told her at points to go away, you can't make me leave. I'm following you, Lord, to the end. And we see that she did that very thing before the sun even rose. She was there. Seeing the stone also rolled away, she peered.
• 15:38
  inside she assumed probably that grave robbers had broken into the tomb that they had stolen christ's body and so she ran back to the to report to the apostles what she'd seen and finding that tomb empty you can imagine her mind racing her imagination running wild she thought the men who destroyed his body now were seeking to desecrate it what she imagined was her enemies jesus's enemies parading his dead corpse
• 16:07
  through the streets this is an example of what happens when you cross the jewish authorities and the roman government let this be an example to you you know mary may have been the first to draw that conclusion that her enemies stole
• 16:26
  the body but she would not be the last in fact the number one theory as to the empty tomb if you don't believe the resurrection then where did the body go the number one theory as to the empty tomb is that the body was removed by jesus's enemies but all of this christianity nonsense that we've been spinning around in circles for the last two millennia could have been stopped at any time had the authorities simply done what produced
• 16:58
  The body. If they had somehow stolen the body, if they had the body of Jesus and they had produced it, they could have proven that he didn't rise from the dead. If they had the body, they would have used it. Does that make sense? But they didn't produce the body. Why? Because they didn't have the body.
• 17:19
  They could attempt to deny his claims of deity and his miraculous power. They could deny the testimony of the father and deny the testimony of his disciples, but they could never deny the empty tomb. Mary shows up. She sees it empty. She begins running on her way back. She's passed by another group of women recorded here in Luke, finding their way to the tomb and also finding it empty. And notice in verse four, while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
• 17:49
  clearly angels right and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground the men said to them why do you seek the living among the dead he is not here but has risen these two angels appear on either side of the empty tomb and confront these women and ask why do you look for the living among the dead if you're looking for somebody who's alive you don't first check the cemetery and then they issue the very first he is risen in church history
• 18:18
  There it was. And you would expect that the women would all reply with, he is risen indeed. But they don't. Apparently they had not yet been to church. They hadn't learned our tradition. The angels then begin to remind the women that Christ had been predicting his resurrection all along. They say, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee. This is months ago. The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.
• 18:47
  he had to i mean it says must the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men he must be crucified he must on the third day rise they say he's been talking about this for months in fact no fewer than three times had christ foretold his own death and resurrection mark chapter 8 and verse 31 it says and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests
• 19:16
  the scribes, and be killed. And after three days, rise again. And in case you're thinking, well, maybe he like spoke in code. Maybe it was another language. I mean, maybe it was hard to understand. Maybe he was using big words. After all, his apostles were fishermen, right? Maybe they didn't understand. It says, and he said these things plainly. He just said, listen, we're going to go to Jerusalem. It's going to end poorly for me. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to go to the cross. I will raise from the dead. And you think, okay.
• 19:46
  Maybe somebody showed up absent that day. Maybe he only said it once. No, he didn't. He said it again just a chapter later, Mark 9. He was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him. When he is killed, after three days, he will rise. They didn't understand the saying. They were afraid to ask. You're like, okay, maybe they missed it twice. No, he said it a third time. Mark 10. He began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
• 20:11
  Saying, see, we're going up to Jerusalem. At this point, you can imagine him at the bottom of the mountain. Jerusalem's on the top. Look, there's Jerusalem at the top. When we get there, he says, the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise.
• 20:40
  Three times, at least. That's just the three times recorded. Jesus says with such clarity, this is exactly what is going to happen to me. And notice the women respond the way that they should. Verse 8, they remembered his words. Oh, yeah. He did talk about that a lot. It turns out it's true. Now they're seeing it. So what do they do? Returning, verse 9 says, from the tomb, they told all these things. You guys with me in your Bibles?
• 21:09
  They told all these things to who? To the 11. Do you see that? They told all these things to the 11. Let me ask you, who were the 11? Those were the 11 apostles, the apostles who were left. Judas had already hanged himself, okay? So the 12 went down to 11. So there are 11 apostles hiding in a room. Mary Magdalene busts in and says, you will never guess what happened. You remember all those times Jesus has been talking about?
• 21:40
  He was going to rise from the dead. I went to the tomb and it's empty. And there are two angels standing there saying he's alive. And just as she finishes, a bunch of other women all bust in. You'll never believe what happened. Do you guys remember all of the times that Jesus said he was going to suffer and die and be buried and rise? Do you guys remember all of those times? We just went to the tomb. It's empty. And there are angels standing there saying, why do you look for the living among the dead? This is a weird place to look for a living person.
• 22:09
  They found it just as had been recorded. Verse 10 says, it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told all these things to the apostles. Verse 11, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they didn't believe. The 11, I mean, you guys, these are, they're the superheroes of the faith. These are the 11 men that Jesus himself chose.
• 22:39
  He appointed them. He gave them authority. These were the 11 who actually performed miracles in Jesus' name. That was these guys. They preached in Jesus' name. In fact, in just a few days, Jesus would entrust to them the reins of the first generation church. These are the first 11 pastors of the Christian church. And what was their response? I don't remember hearing anything about that.
• 23:09
  You're making these things up. It's a fairy tale. What are you talking about? I have never heard this before in my life. It sounds a lot like, if I could choose a modern day equivalent, I would choose church announcements. You guys know, we make announcements every Sunday. And we say the same four or five things over and over and over. And then sometime during the week, I send an all church email.
• 23:43
  That's literally the word that I type into the to bar, all church. When I hit send on that thing, it goes to 1,100 emails. 1,100 emails around the city receive that all church email. And yet people show up on Sunday mornings, they're like, this is brand new information. I have never, I have no idea. Wait, we have a choir? Like, what are you talking about? I have never heard this before in my life. Church texts like these honestly bring me a certain sense of encouragement.
• 24:13
  Because sometimes I feel like I'm spiritually dense, like things just don't click like they're supposed to, like I'm behind where I should be spiritually. Sometimes I compare myself to others and I think maybe I'm not getting it done because they seem so much more successful than I am. The church take heart. No one was thicker than our superheroes of the faith. And if Christ's kingdom has room for them, then guess what? There's room for you too.
• 24:44
  Notice in verse 12, 10, 10 we find of the apostles did not believe. Verse 12 says, but Peter, but Peter. How did we say our text began? With what word? The word but, and here it ends with the word but. You may recall from two Sundays ago, if you were here at Highland just two weeks ago, that Peter denied his Savior and friend three times. He denied his Lord.
• 25:14
  three times and on that third time he did it with cursing and spitting on his lips he screamed at the top of his lungs denial that he had ever even met jesus i don't know him i don't know what you're talking about i've never seen that man before and with cursing on his lips looks across that courtyard as jesus is in the middle of being
• 25:36
  beaten then jesus is stood up the rooster crows you can hear the words of peter still echoing in the courtyard and jesus and peter make eye contact for just a moment across the courtyard together it is the last words peter ever says to his friend i don't know him i don't know him and jesus turns and walks the road to calvary no doubt when it says but peter
• 26:10
  peter was holding on to the slightest hope that this resurrection news might be true he's going to decide to go and investigate why because he wanted to apologize he desperately wanted to ask the lord's forgiveness and so verse 12 says but peter rose and ran he rose and ran to the tomb and may i encourage you if you like peter have denied christ if you've turned your back on him
• 26:40
  If your heart weighs heavy within you, even now, and you feel that same type of shame and disgust with yourself that Peter felt, then run to Jesus. Don't walk. Run. And run, holding on to these two promises. From Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25, he, referring to Jesus, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God. No matter what you've done, if you're the worst sinner in the room, God can save you through the blood of Jesus.
• 27:09
  Look at this one, John chapter six. These are Jesus's own words. Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. I will never cast out. You think, Danny, what if I do? What if I do want to run to Jesus, but I run all the way over there and the gates are shut and barred and locked? What if I get there and the door is locked? The promise of Christ is that if you will come with faith and in humility, he will never turn you away.
• 27:35
  Run to Jesus. Peter rose, ran to the tomb. It says, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. He went home marveling. Perhaps you came this morning because a friend invited you and perhaps you're still thinking through whether this resurrection message, the gospel story, is actually true. Maybe you're skeptical a little bit, just waiting like, I don't know. Allow me to give you a challenge.
• 28:05
  The challenge is this, the strangeness of the claim supports the truthfulness of the claim. In other words, the weirder the story is written, the more likely it is that it's true. Like, what do I mean? You know, the most prominently held belief by all of our neighbors living here in North Denver, critics, skeptics of the Christian faith regarding the Bible, those who do not believe that this was written by God believe it was written by man.
• 28:35
  And most prominently, early church fathers. Most of them, that's what most of them believe. And that it was written in such a way that it either conjured miraculous stories out of thin air. All of the miraculous stuff, that's all fairy tale. It's made up. Or maybe it was based on like a seed of truth, but then it was manipulated in order to suit the church's needs. But let me ask you, if that were true, let's say that that's true. Let's say that this is a man-made, man-written, man-produced...
• 29:04
  it had nothing to do with God, then would the resurrection story that we've just read, what is honestly the foundation of the Christian faith, would that story have been written this way if it were untrue? And I think not. You notice in the text, the very first witness to the resurrection was who? Mary Magdalene, a woman who in ancient Jewish courts, women couldn't testify.
• 29:33
  Their testimony was invalid. They couldn't act as witnesses, and yet the first witness to the resurrection was a woman. If it were manipulated and written by men, they wouldn't have chosen Mary. Who would they have chosen? Probably Peter, right? I mean, if those early church fathers really believed that Peter was the first pope, wouldn't it make sense that he was the first witness? They didn't choose Peter. They choose Mary, a woman. Mary who was who? A demon-possessed prostitute. Imagine just for a moment, modern courts.
• 30:04
  A modern trial. And here, one of the attorneys said, I bring as my first witness to the witness stand a demon-possessed prostitute. We all chuckle like that would never happen. Like, I know. I know. It would be the worst eyewitness possible. And this is when you read this and you think, well, then it's probably true. Why else? Why else would they choose Mary as the first witness unless it was true?
• 30:32
  Then you continue to read. You see the second witness, also a woman. The third witness, also a woman. The fourth witness, also a woman. What were the men all doing? Sitting in some room, disbelieving. They didn't even believe. You couldn't even coerce them to go and check it out. Additionally, we find that it was unlikely that his enemies stole his unresurrected body. Like I said, they could have produced it any time, but they didn't. But on top of that, his enemies were actually fearful.
• 30:59
  that his disciples would raid the tomb and steal his body. Why? Because they had been paying attention, unlike the apostles, who forgot everything that he had announced. His enemies were paying attention. They remembered that he claimed he was going to rise from the dead, and they said, so we've got to stop this. They did it by posting Roman guards, whose job it was to keep people out of the tomb. It's also, I think, unlikely that his friends...
• 31:27
  stole his unresurrected body since those same friends died such gruesome deaths. Liars, we find, make lousy martyrs. A martyr is somebody who dies for their faith. But somebody who knows their faith to be a lie probably is not going to be willing to die for that faith. James, one of the sons of thunder, was stabbed. He was thrown off the roof of the temple. John, his brother, was boiled in oil. He survived.
• 31:59
  He was exiled. Peter was crucified upside down. Philip was tortured, impaled with hooks, hung upside down until he died. Andrew was crucified. Bartholomew was skinned alive first and then crucified. Simon the Zealot was crucified first and then sawn in two. And I'm like, I don't really understand that one. But consider that for a minute.
• 32:19
  These guys who supposedly manipulated this whole thing and stole the body, they knew they were defending a lie, and yet they died brutal, savage, grisly, awful deaths, all to propagate what they knew was untrue, doubtful. In fact, the most likely conclusion has to be that neither his enemies nor his friends stole his body. The most likely conclusion has to be that based on the crazy claims that it makes.
• 32:49
  Which would have been remarkably different had they been doctored that the biblical record is actually true. The most likely conclusion has to be that Jesus himself moved the rock which blocked the exit. We find that Peter left marveling. Marveling at what had happened. And church, that's my hope and prayer for each of you. That you too will leave marveling at what has been done for our sin. And maybe you really do feel like that sinful woman.
• 33:18
  Maybe you feel like you've been condemned. You're just waiting for somebody to throw the first rock. There is such good news today. Jesus dropped the rock, refusing to condemn us and so condemning himself. He dropped the rock by moving a much larger rock, the stone which blocked the exit from the tomb. And Jesus doesn't condemn you. He offers instead forgiveness through his own condemnation and death. There's no need to feel like you owe him something.
• 33:47
  Because Jesus doesn't give loans. It's impossible to pay him back. It's impossible to pay back what was freely given. He was crucified. He was buried. He rose to new life. And he offers that free gift of salvation to any and all who will receive it and who will believe in his name. And God, I pray that we would leave with this message in our hearts, that you are a God who is alive, who is not stuck in some hole in the ground.
• 34:17
  God, that you dropped the rock condemning yourself, that you've made us this promise that whoever comes will not be turned away. And so, Lord, I pray that we would combine that promise with faith, that our people would come to you, that we would ask for your forgiveness and be saved. In Jesus' name, amen.