Well, we've been studying the Word and the first book in the New Testament, which is the Gospel of Matthew. And we've been working our way through, and we saw in the 27th chapter, despite the religious and the governmental rulers not wanting to believe who Jesus is, one of the centurions who watched everything looked up and said, truly, this was the Son of God. And in the 28th chapter last week, when we delved into it, as Mary Magdalene and the other women came to see, there was a great earthquake and there was an angel sitting on the stone after he rolled it back from the door. And the angel said, fear not, I know you seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen. Look at the perfect use of the tense. Past tense was, is risen. Today and forever, evermore, He is risen indeed. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. There's no bones about it. You can't keep a good man down. He's up and He's the only one that's good. Why callest thou Me good? Because He is good. And He came out and conquered death. And we saw the great thing and we saw that it was a picture of any one of us encountering the empty tomb for the first time in our life and recognizing that that work of salvation was for us personally. Now, a lot of us traditionally knew history, and it was just a historical event that happened long back then, and we didn't give it much thought, but one day, somehow, someway, God got us to look personally, and we saw that tomb is empty. He is risen. He is the Savior. And we made the same confession, and our soul And what happened to us and what happened to them historically is, verse 8, they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring His disciples' word because the disciples were still hiding in the upper room and they didn't know the fact that the tomb was empty. They were still thinking that their master and their lord and their rabbi was still dead and they wanted to let them know that the tomb is empty. He's risen. They departed with fear and great joy. You know, I kept looking at that phrase. I mean, don't you mean, Lord, they just departed with great joy? Why fear? And then I was thinking it through. Well, of course, at the time when they were approaching, they knew there was a guard of centurions. They knew that they were told by the authorities not to let anyone near. The angel had distracted those men at the time, got them to lie down for a moment, let the women look inside the tomb. But still, the rest of the city, the rest of the authorities were against Jesus Christ. They wanted Him dead. And here they are. Now they're coming with a new message. And they're a bit afraid as to how the Romans are going to respond to this, how the authorities at the temple are going to respond historically. But they also had great joy because they know that they know that they know that He's risen indeed. It's not they hope. It's not they think so. It's not they wish. They know for a fact this is a fact. The resurrection is a fact. That is the cornerstone of Christianity, is the resurrection. It's not a myth. It's not a fable. It's not a tradition. It is a fact of history. And many people have looked into it and have found it to be so. And all you've got to do is look in the Bible, and God will show you that it is so, and you will know. But then I thought about, well, if this is a picture of us getting saved, when we first get saved and we run quickly to bring other people word, we have great joy at our salvation, but you know we have fear? And I had to think about it. What's the fear that we have? And then it dawned on me, the initial fear that we have, we haven't developed the fear of the Lord yet, it's too soon. He doesn't put the fear of the Lord in us the moment we get saved. What happens is, I'm talking to adults, children might not be able to relate to this, but an adult that gets saved, one of the things that will go through their mind in the next couple days is the reality, oh my goodness, there really is a hell. I really would have gone to hell had I died before this moment of salvation. You'll have a bit of fear when you think back in your life. I remember I got saved in 93, 92, 93. 93 it was finally when I bowed the knee, but I've been hearing some Bible. And then I remembered back to the car accident I was in in late 89. And I'm driving to go, we were going to, open a surgery center in Buffalo. Amar Atwal and I, the Atwal Eye Clinic, and he needs an anesthesiologist. I said, I'll do the work for you. And he said, you know, I'm busy doing surgery. Can you go check out a surgery center in Syracuse today, see how they're doing it so we can set it up here? And so I said, yeah. So I got up early in the morning to head out to Syracuse. And I'm going down Colvin at about 7, 8 in the morning. I don't remember what it was. And I tend to drive in the left lane, because I pass everybody. And so I'm in the left lane. Fast driver. Yes, young kid, young punk. And there was a red light, and I'm waiting for the light to change. And I'm just waiting to gun it. And finally, the light changes, and I go gunning. And I'm going forward, and a guy coming in the other direction must have fallen asleep at the wheel. Might have been coming home from the night shift, and came right over the double yellow line, heading right for me for a head-on collision. And, you know, I had some reflexes. I was able to quickly turn into a school bus and hit the school bus and bounce off it and drive away. And the school bus called the police. It was a long story. But the point is, I could have been killed, and I never thought a thing of it when that happened that day. And then, in 93, I thought, if I'd have died that day, I'd be in hell. And I'd still be in hell. And I'd be in hell for a thousand years. And I'd have to stand naked before God. And you know what happens when you finally get that salvation? You go away quickly with a bit of fear and great joy. But I'm not. But oh my goodness! The time with the bicycle and the car almost hit me. If I had died, I'd have been in hell. And you have that fear when all of a sudden you recognize the reality of there really is a hell. I really do have a soul. If I hadn't gotten saved, I'd be in hell. By the way, it's not a bad thing to keep in the back pocket so that it might encourage you to want to pull others out of the fire. Because they don't realize it. And if they ever get to the sepulcher one day and see it's empty, they're going to depart quickly with fear and great joy. Right? You understand what I'm saying? Yeah. And the reality of the empty tomb and the salvation, of course, brings the joy. But the recognition, wow, that could have been me there, but for the grace of God, I'd be in hell. But the great joy is Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, you shall weep and lament. He told them of the week coming up. He was saying this on Wednesday before the Thursday on the cross. You will weep and lament and the world will rejoice. Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. And amen. It's been turned to joy, but we still got that little bit of fear back there that we remember. That could have been me. And it will be anybody that doesn't find the empty tomb. So it encourages us as we go forth, verse 8, to bring word to others. End of the verse. We want to bring the word to people, not just to disciples, but to all. Now, as they went to tell the disciples in verse 9, behold, Jesus met them. and said, All hail! And they came and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him. All hail! Now, that was a term, it was an exclamation like, Be well, everybody. Everybody, be well. Be fine. Now, the reason Jesus would say that to them, you have to go back to Mark 7. Forward to Mark 7. The reason he can say that to us is verse 37. Here they see the resurrected Savior, and beyond measure they're astonished. And what we're able to say, and he can say us all hail, is because he hath done all things well. It's an exclamation, all is well is what he's saying. And why is all well? Because He did all things well. He makes the deaf to hear. He makes the dumb to speak. He makes graves to be empty. He quickens to life those that are dead in trespass and sin. He turns fear to joy. He turns mourning into dancing. You know, mourning like when you're mourning and then, I mean, wow! All hail! I mean, let's just grab on and enjoy. In 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul is trying to explain to that young church about the great resurrection, he says, you know, there's a day when this corruptible body will put on incorruption. There's a day coming when this mortal body will have put on immortality, and then shall be brought to pass the saying, it's written, death is swallowed up in victory. All hail! Here's the one that just conquered the grave. Here's the one that just conquered sin. Here's the one that just conquered Satan. Here He is standing before them alive forevermore. All hail, all is well. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God. All hail, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. All hail, everything is well. The victor is here. The conqueror of death is here. You've got nothing to fear. Now, interesting, in Matthew, as he goes through, it says in the 9th verse, they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. Now, I don't want to take the belabored time, because it would take maybe two weeks, to go through every post-resurrection appearance of Jesus Christ. I put it on your notes. Do you see that? It says, the list of the New Testament post-resurrection appearances of our Lord, and there are 19 listed there. I got this from Dr. Ruckman. I looked at it. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but I would say it's good. I'd say it's good enough. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to sort it all out. The important thing to see is these are Scriptural attestations to the fact that the Lord appeared to His own after His resurrection. There are 19 Scripture references. Nineteen is the number of complete faith. It's a picture of 16 love plus 3, the work of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost giving love through giving new birth to people. It's a picture of the fruit that God gives to those to place on top of His Ten Commandments because we're going to live by the Ten Commandments for all eternity. Eternity with the fruit of the Spirit above the commandments. It's faith, and that will only be done by faith. There's no other way you can keep the Ten Commandments. There's no other way you can have the fruit of the Spirit but by faith. Nineteen is the number of faith. So I guess these references are to show people, hey, you can have some faith. I've got 19 references to show you. But curiously, as I was looking at it, they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him, but when I was reading... Anybody read John 20? And in John chapter 20, and the author John is spending a lot of time looking at Mary Magdalene when she came to the sepulcher. And it says, after she spoke to Peter and to John, the disciple that Jesus loved, that's John, and they went running to the sepulcher together. And it's an interesting story as to what happened as they were running to the sepulcher. Verse 4, they ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter. I mean, the young guy who was 18 years old could outrun the 47-year-old man. And even though Peter left first, John got there first, came to the sepulcher. He stooped down. He looked in. He saw the linen clothes were lying there, but he went not in. And then came Peter following him and just burst and walked right into the sepulcher. And that's like Peter. He's just like a bull in a Chinese shop. He goes anywhere and he just walked in. The first one to actually walk in, and he saw the linen clothes lying there and the napkin about his head not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. So the Lord, I guess, came out with the clothes, he separated them just a little bit, the napkin on the head from the clothes that were on his body. It's a picture to show you that the head of the church is right now separated a little bit from the church, where the body, he's the head. And, you know, it's going to be like this for a while, so let me just put an object lesson for you to see right here. and he laid it out there. And then finally, v. 8, John, the other disciple, he went in and he saw and he believed. Now what he believed was not that Christ was quite resurrected yet. He was still struggling with that. What he believed was the testimony that Mary had given him in v. 2. They've taken the Lord away. But we don't know where they've laid Him. Even at that point, Mary, all she knew was the sepulcher was empty. The angel told her, and she was still struggling with her faith a little bit. And by the way, it's not uncommon for newborn babes to struggle with their faith a little bit. So these are just pictures. God is going, this should encourage us. If you have initial doubts, it's okay. God understands. This is a big deal. Understanding that someone rose from the dead. You've never encountered this in your life. It's going to be a little bit hard to get, and there's going to be all kinds of people talking against it, and you'll wrestle with doubts a little bit in the beginning until God confirms it more and more in His Word. But anyway, so the disciples then went their way in verse 10, but Mary stood without at the sepulcher. And she was weeping, verse 11. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher. And she saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet. And they're sitting where the body of Jesus had been laying. And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said, Because they've taken away my Lord. I know not where they've laid him. And when she had said thus, she turned herself back and she saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. When Jesus was... He did this with the two on the road to Emmaus. He kind of withheld His identity to them because He wanted it to come out of their own heart, and He wanted to see what their heart was searching for. And Jesus said, Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? And this is the question God's going to ask every heart. Why are you troubled? And what are you seeking? People are troubled for many different reasons. Welcome to planet Earth. This is a woeful, painful life down here with a veil of tears and all kinds of tragedies and trials that we all go through. Nobody escapes the trials of life. Everybody suffers them. Everybody has things that causes them to weep. But the Lord's question is, well, what exactly are you seeking? Well, her answer was, she supposed him to be the gardener. She said, Sir, if Thou hast borne him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid him. I will take him away. What she's saying in the midst of that sentence is, I'm seeking Him. I'm seeking Jesus. She doesn't even know how to say it. It's like when someone first gets saved, they don't know how to pray. When you're witnessing to someone and you're giving Bible to someone, They'll say, I don't know how to pray. Now, sometimes we'll lead them in a prayer. But you know what? God would rather hear their own words. And we might sit back and go, well, those aren't the right words. And God will say, no, those are exactly right. I'm reading between the lines. That heart is searching for the right thing, and I'm going to give it truth. I've never been want to give invitations and lead people in prayer. I just want to give them the Word and let God ask them what they're seeking and let them work it out with God. I think God can do it fine without me as long as I just deliver the Word. So, he asked the question, she answered in a way that God said, that's right, she's seeking Jesus. And then Jesus revealed and said to her, Mary. And all he did was had to speak her name. Somehow, someway, when you got saved, I don't know all that happened, but somehow, someway, God spoke a still, small voice to your heart. And at that moment, you were saved. In a moment of time. And then she turned and said, Rabboni, Master, Lord, Thou art the One. And she wanted to grab him, and Jesus said, Touch me not. for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God.' And then Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her." And so what had happened is this encounter in John actually occurred just before the encounter that Matthew records. Matthew records the later encounter. John records this encounter. Do we need to know it? Do you want to know what happened? Well, if you want to know doctrinally, we're going to have to go back to Leviticus and look at a number of books. Alright, let's see what happened here between the time that Mary was alone with him. You can't touch me. And an hour later, Mary's with the other girls. You can all hold my feet and worship me. All hail. All's well. Something got finished in that time period. Leviticus 16. This is not necessary, but we do it anyways. It's fun to search the Scriptures. Leviticus chapter 16, by the way, this is an amazing chapter. This is the chapter of how the high priest will enter into the most holy place and will do the sin offering for himself and the sin offering for the people. This is chapter 16. What book is this in the Bible? Let's see. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. 3.16. Coincidence? Third book, 16th chapter? It's all about the high priest taking away the sin for the people? Okay. So here we are in this chapter. I mean, I'm telling you, the chapter and book, the references, the verse references, the book order, this is all laid out by God. This is God's book. 3rd book, 16th chapter, a high priest taking away sin. And so, here's what's happening in verses 1-3, the Lord spake to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord strange fire. and died. And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which is upon the ark, that he die not." If he thinks he has the right to walk into the holy place any time he wants, I'll kill him. He can only come in when I say and how I say, God says. You can only worship Me the way I say, God says. You try some other way, I'll kill your form of worship. And if you're not saved, I'll kill you. God will tell you how He wants to be worshipped, to which you will say, Amen. We're not going to take them by the finger and say, I like rock and roll music and I want church on the beach with G-strings and bikinis. No. No. No. I said it's in a sanctuary. It's going to be according to My Word. I'll tell you how I'll be worshiped. You can, in the vein of imagination or your mind, go run out and do those things. I don't care how many Christian radio stations condone it. I don't, saith the Lord. Anybody know that God? Anybody met Him yet? The average Christian hasn't. that he die not, verse 2, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat, and thus shall Aaron come into the holy place. And I'll tell you how he's going to do it. And he lays a whole bunch of verses out here. We don't need to study the chapter again, but skip down to verse 15. And here's what he's supposed to do. He's supposed to kill the goat and it's for the people. And He's to bring the blood of the goat within the veil and do with that blood as He did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. And when He does this, He shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, because of their transgressions and all their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place until he come out." In other words, this is a work that only the high priest can do. I don't want anyone there with him. I don't want anyone touching him. I don't want anyone near him when he does this work. This is a work for only one man, the high priest, as I told him to do it." And verse 18, he'll go out to the altar before the Lord and make atonement for it. He'll take of the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat. He'll put it on the horns of the altar round about and he'll sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it. and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and He'll make an end of reconciling the holy place of the tabernacle of the congregation. That's what He does. Now, that's historical. Now go to Hebrews 9. And Paul has to take these actual historical truths and try and take it to the next level for the Jewish people in the book of Hebrews. And our most holy faith is built on the oracles of the Jews, because salvation is of the Jews. So we get to read this book too and learn. In Hebrews chapter 9, in verse 11, and Christ has now become the high priest. And so instead of Aaron and those earthly high priests, now we've got a high priest of good things to come by, verse 11, by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle, one not made with hands. That's to say, not of this building. And Paul's writing, it's about 62, 63, 64 AD, and the building is still standing there in Jerusalem. The temple is still there. Picture of it over there. And the Jews were still flocking to the temple. And Paul's trying to tell the Hebrews, you don't need that temple anymore. You don't need that high priest over there, whoever it may have been at that point 30 years later. Caiaphas, Anaphis' son. I don't know who it was. We've got a better high priest. One that isn't going in there with the blood of bulls and goats. One that's going up there in the Tabernacle of Heaven with His own blood to cleanse things for us eternally. That's what he's trying to say. Verse 12, it's not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. I mean, why? Because the blood of bulls, goats, ashes of a heifer sprinkling to the unclean may sanctify us to the purifying of the flesh. But how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, remember that, offered Himself without spot to God. There's the Trinity right there. The Godhead right in that verse to show the Jews. He'll purge your conscience. from dead works to serve the living God. When you receive Christ, when you get to that empty tomb, like Mary did, and you meet Christ there, your conscience is clean. All of a sudden, for the first time, you feel clean and washed on the inside, and the burden of sin is and the guilt is gone, and the fear of death is gone, and there's this relationship with God and embracing of your Creator and the One of Life. You've all felt it. You all had your honeymoon experience when you got saved. And that's what's happening right there at that moment. And why is this? Verse 15, because He's the mediator of the New Testament. That by means of His death, for the redemption of all the transgressions that were under the First Testament, you know, that they might receive the promise of eternal inheritance, not just a temporal inheritance in the land of Israel, but one in the new Jerusalem and the new heavens and the new earth with God. For where a testament is, there must be the death of the testator. So he's telling them that. Skip down to verse 22. Look, almost all things are by the law purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there's no remission. But almost all things are purged. The one thing that can't be, like I said in verse 13 and 14, is your conscience. Your soul can't be cleansed. Your conscience can't be cleansed. Other things can be cleansed, but unless the soul is cleansed, the soul that sinneth and is red like crimson will die. It must be cleansed by Christ. Verse 23, Therefore it was necessary, down here, that the patterns of things in the heavens were purified down here, but heavenly things themselves had to be purified with a better sacrifice than these. For Christ has not entered into holy places made with hands, which are just a figure of the true. Christ entered into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. And what had happened there in those few minutes is the Eternal Spirit took the resurrected body of Jesus Christ, flew Him all the way up into heaven, so as the High Priest, He could put His blood on the The throne where God is. Now, the throne in the Old Testament was a throne, the habitation of His throne is judgment and justice. God's throne is a throne of judgment and justice. And you know what happens when you come before a just judge and you're guilty? He can't acquit you. So what did God do? He said, look, here's what I'm going to have my high priest do. These people have their sins. These Jews have their sins. I'm gonna have you sprinkle blood and you're gonna turn the throne of judgment and justice into a throne of mercy for one year and I'm gonna have mercy on them for a year and then you're gonna come back next year and you're gonna do in and I'm gonna have mercy and my mercy is going to allow them to live another year on planet Earth mercy is for mortal life Christ now Go Hebrews of four He went with His blood instead of bulls and goats. He sprinkled it not on a throne and on an ark that was inside a temple made with hands. He went to God's throne in heaven on the ark that's in heaven, Revelation 15, 5, you read about that. up there in heaven, the true ark of the covenant, up there in heaven where God is, and here's what he did. He sprinkled that blood in, and verse 16 of Hebrews 4, it now became not a throne of mercy, but a throne of grace. And grace is what brings eternal life. And the only blood that could turn that throne of judgment to a throne of grace was the blood of Jesus Christ. And so what He did in that short period of time is faster than the speed of light, He left planet earth, He went all the way up into heaven by the eternal Spirit, He presented His blood. When you go back and you read the priests in the Old Testament, half the blood was on the ground, the other half went on the ark and the throne. Jesus Christ shed His blood on the ground. When He went down, He took some of it. He went back up that day. Don't touch me yet. I'm a high priest. I've got to do this work alone. Put it on the throne up there. Throne of Grace came back. All hail, all's well. You can handle me now. It's the Throne of Grace. And there it is right there. And that's doctrinally what happened. And today we have a throne of grace that we can obtain mercy to help us go another day down here, and find grace to help in times of need, particularly when we're trying to find grace to bring it to others, because others need grace and we're there to help. Back to where we are in Matthew 28. That's a doctrinal teaching. That's what happened. Verse 10, so verse nine, Jesus met them, all hail, everything's fine, you can hold me by the feet and worship me now, all the work has been done. You can now have a direct relationship with the high priest and the God of heaven, I'm the mediator, and the throne has now been turned into a throne of grace. Anyone can approach it through me. What a deal. Free grace, open to all. You say, well, you know, that's so narrow. There's only one way. That seems to be exclusive. You've excluded the Buddhists. You've excluded the Mormons. You've excluded the Muslims. You've excluded the totem pole people. You've excluded everyone else. You're right, it is exclusive, but it's inclusive. Anyone can come and grab me by the feet and all hail and all is well. I've done the work and I'm the only one that could do that work. Verse 10, then Jesus said to them, Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. Now, the Galilee part. He had prophesied about a couple chapters ago, back in the 26th chapter. And they were in the upper room at the Last Supper. And they were walking toward the Mount of Olives in verse 30, singing a hymn, probably singing the great Psalms of degrees that they used to sing when they came for all the feast days. And Jesus said in verse 31, all of you shall be offended because of Me this night. It is written, God, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. But after I am risen again, I will go before you to Galilee. And he told them that was going to happen. And go all the way back to chapter 4. Not only did Jesus say it, His Father prophesied it a long, long time ago back in the 4th chapter of Matthew. I tell you this, I'm sure it troubled the Jews a little bit. The Jews seemed to have exclusive rights to God for a long time, but the patent ran out, and now you could go generic to the Gentiles. And I'm sure that bothered them a little bit because, you know, you get that relationship and you want to hang on to it. Today, we have that relationship with the Lord. And here's a reality, real soon we'll be taken up and God's going to go back to the Jews. And I know you care a lot about your relatives, and so do I and my relatives, and I want them saved too. But God's focus at that point, He's going back to Judea and Jerusalem to witness to those people. He's not sending the 144,000 to America. I'm sorry. He did His job for 2,000 years. If they didn't get it, they didn't get it. But at this time, He's making the flip from Jerusalem to Galilee of the Gentiles, Matthew 4. Verse 14, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias, or Esaias the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulon, the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light. them which sat in the region in shadow of death. Light is sprung up." And Jesus said, I'm going to go before you to Galilee. All you folks, go tell My disciples. Go to Galilee. There they're going to see Me. I mean, the portrait is, in the end of the chapter, Matthew 28, He's going to say, look, go therefore and teach all nations. Okay, well, if one nation is the Jewish nation, what are the rest of the nations? They're Gentile nations. The gospel's going to the Gentiles. and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Teach them and baptize, immerse their mind in the truth of the Trinity and the Godhead, of the truth that there is a Father, of the truth there is the one Son and the only begotten Son that can save from sin. There is a Holy Ghost that's convicting people of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come and will come and live inside people. You've got to tell them, in verse 20, teach them, teach them, teach them all things. Teaching is necessary. That's what the Lord's saying. Look at verse 19. Teach. Verse 20. Teach. Teach. Explain My Word to them. Yes, it's good to preach, but then they're going to say, what does that mean? Like the Ethiopian eunuch. What does that mean? I don't know. It's like some man guide me. Let me teach you what this passage is saying. And then He gives you teachers. But notice what else he says to them in verse 10. He said, be not afraid. Be not afraid. That's one of the things that the Lord wants to do with his children is to take away all fear. Let's take a look at this. I found it is 28 times in 16 different books of the Bible is be not afraid. And let's take a look at some of them. The other phrase he uses that's equal to it is, fear not. Go to Genesis chapter 26. Why should we not be afraid? when the rest of the world is scared of everything. They're scared of a black cat. They're scared of the number 13. They're scared of a virus. They're scared of, you know, a diagnosis from a doctor. They're scared to lose their job. They're scared of everything. Why does the Lord want us to be not afraid? Genesis 26. Here's Isaac. And let's see the verse. We're looking at 23 through 25. And Isaac went from thence to Beersheba. That's the well of the oath. Today, the Bible you have is the water of the Word of God given by the oaths of God. And you know what happens? And the Lord appeared to him in the same night. And you go to that book, and you know what it'll tell you? I'm your Father. I'm your salvation. I'm the God of Abraham. I'm the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm also thy Father. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bless thee. I will multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." And back then, it was Abraham, Father Abraham. Today, it's for Jesus' sake. And God the Father will bless you for Jesus' sake. And verse 25, he built an altar right there by the bedside. He built a little altar, and he called upon the name of the Lord. And he pitched his tent there, and they all digged a well. They got deeper into the book. And God says, you don't have to fear, I'm going to be with you on your journey through life. Every day, I'm not going to leave you. You come to the well, you pray, and for my son's sake, I'm going to be with you. You don't have to be afraid. You're walking with God, I'm walking with you. Go to 1 Kings 6. Fear not. Be not afraid. You've now come to the empty tomb. I've got so much for you. I think the one I want is 2 Kings 6. I am sorry. I am sorry. I'm getting old. 2 Kings 6. That's the one I want. 2 Kings 6, Elisha is the prophet giving out God's Word, and the king Assyria wants to kill him. And so he tells his army, go spy out where he is and fetch him. And so, oh yeah, he's in Dothan, verse 14 of the 6th chapter of 2 Kings, verse 14. And so he sent thither horses and chariots and a great host. They came by night. They compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God, Elisha's servant, rose early and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city with horses and chariots. And the servant said to him, Alas, Master, what shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and the Lord opened his eyes that they may see. And the Lord opened his eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And you've got nothing to worry about. Fear not. Be not afraid. I'm going to protect you in the trials of life. I don't care who comes against you. You're walking with me as we go down this journey together. I'm here with you for every trial. You don't have to fear. All's well. All hail. Hold on to me. Hang on to me. I'm going to be with you every step of the way. Go to Isaiah chapter 41. Why do I have to? I don't have to be afraid like everyone else. I'm not going to have the spirit of fear. I got God with me. Isaiah 41 and verse 10. God speaks of his merciful provision and he says, verse 10, fear thou not I am with thee. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. I'm going to give you, when times are weak and you've fallen down and the just man falls seven times, I'm going to reach down with my mighty arm. I'm going to lift you up and give you strength in your weakness. I can't do this, Lord. No, you can't, but I'm with you and I can do it. I'm going to get you through it. Be not afraid. The Christian ought to have no fear. Christian doesn't need to be on anxiety pills. Got nothing to worry about. No phobias. A wounded spirit, who can bear? But the spirit of a man walking with God will sustain any infirmity or trial down here. Got nothing to worry about. Go to Isaiah 43. Look at verses 1, 2, and 3. Thus saith the Lord that created thee, He that formed thee, fear not, I've redeemed thee. I've called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I'll be with thee. When thou passest through the rivers, they're not going to overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. You remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Why? I'm the Lord thy God. I'm the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. You've got constant companionship, strength, protection along your journeys. Go to Matthew 10. Be not afraid. These are good verses. It's a blessing. That's your God. That's your Savior. That's your Jesus. Matthew 10. Verse 28, "'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him which is able to destroy the soul and the body in hell. Look, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father?' You know him, he knows. Hey, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not, therefore you're of more value than many sparrows." You're valuable when God dies. You've been bought with a price. You are the Lord's. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to worry. What profit a man if he gained the whole world and loses his own soul? And what is a man's soul worth more than the whole world? When I've got that soul and that soul is in my hand and in the Father's hand, no one can pluck it from me. Be not afraid. Fear not. You're the most valuable thing I see down there. I'm going to be right with you. And not only that, go to Revelation 1. Be not afraid, fear not. Revelation 1. Verse 12, I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and behold, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like to the Son of Man. The candlesticks are the churches. And the voice is heard in the churches. And who's in the midst of the churches is the Son of Man right there. Jesus said, I'll build my church. You come to the assembly and Jesus wants to build you up, and there's no doubt. And he's clothed with a garment to the foot. His girt about with paps and a golden girdle. Every part of him is covered except his face. No masks for Jesus Christ. You understand that? He wants you to see Him face to face. No masks. Everything else is covered. Today I saw a girl in a bikini with a mask. What is that all about? Everything was exposed except her face. This makes no sense. His head and his hairs were white like wool, white as the snow. His eyes as a flame of fire, his feet like fine brass. They burned in a furnace. His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. He laid his right hand on me and said, Fear not." I'm the first, I'm the last, I am He that liveth. I was dead for about six hours there, but behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of death and hell. You don't have to be afraid. You've got life beyond the grave. There's nothing to worry about. I conquer death. I'm going to help you conquer it too. I'm going to be with you on your entire journey. I'm going to protect you in trials. I'm going to give you strength and weakness. I'm going to be your constant companion. You're valuable to me, and I'm taking you beyond to eternity future. Be not afraid. What a deal. We'll finish today and next week we'll finish the chapter as we see how the enemies try and lie. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for these resurrection appearances. Thank you for showing us the great work and thank you for telling us we don't need to be afraid. We don't have to fear. You haven't given us the spirit of fear, but of power, the love of God, and a sound mind. And help us, Lord, to go into Galilee and give this word to others. In this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.