All right. Good friend of mine that I never see is here today. And he has been a blessing to me in the last few years, Brother Clay Smoot. He made a big detour in his life, but God was merciful to him. Amen. Well, that's kind of throwing me out of kilter. Y'all know what it means to be out of kilter? So good to be in the Lord's house this morning. We're studying the book of Matthew, so if you wanna turn over there. No, everybody I went to school with is getting old. I'm glad I'm not getting old, I'll tell you. We've been working our way through Matthew and we are in Matthew chapter four. We're not in any hurry, we're just going verse by verse through the book of Matthew. And we're down to verse number 11. We've been dealing with the temptation of Christ. I'm glad he knows what it's like to be tempted, that way he's able to help us. And then there's a verse in verse 11 that we just touched on, excuse me, last week. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. That's Matthew 4 11. I'm glad we don't have to be tempted constantly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, aren't you? And there are those times where, uh, you know, I, I don't, I don't know how Matthew came up with this information. Obviously it was inspired by Holy spirit. Uh, Luke, who was not even present in the garden of Gethsemane gives us a similar situation that happened in, uh, the garden of Gethsemane the night before Jesus was crucified. He, Jesus is praying his sweats, his great drops of blood. And, uh, There the Bible says, Luke tells us that angels came and ministered to him, something very similar to this. So I don't know how that works, but chances are we know from the scripture from Hebrews chapter one, verse 14, that his angels are ministering spirits. And so chances are, if you're, if you're a Christian, his angels have ministered to you from time to time. Now, We studied, hadn't been too long ago, we studied on angels. And, you know, you read in the scripture about the Holy Spirit and thank God for the Holy Spirit. And sometimes he speaks to our hearts and sometimes angels have spoken. The Bible says that an angel said to Philip, go to Gaza, which is desert. And of course he went and he won the Ethiopian eunuch. So, you know, that stuff's out of my league. I can't explain it, but I'm thankful for it. Amen. The devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him." That would have been something to see. It's their job. It shouldn't surprise us that it happened. You know, sometimes we get to thinking about Jesus that maybe We fail to see his humanity as it really was, and we think of him being his only God. He was the Son of Man and the Son of God, but he was just as much human, we talked about this last week, as we are, just as much flesh and blood as we are, yet he was God in the flesh. And he had to be as much human as we are to be able to be tempted like we are in all points, like as we are. But praise the Lord, yet without sin, That means he's able, he was able not only to be the sacrifice for our sin, but he's able to help us when we go through temptations and troubles and trials. What a great savior, amen. And I'm thankful for him this morning. So we've gone through the temptation now. His public ministry, we, you know, Jesus has gone to, back in chapter three, we read about the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist. And this is kind of his coming out, if you will. He's gone public. He's not. in the back, out of view. Now he's coming forward, he's been baptized of John, and then we get to chapter 4, and he's at the beginning of his public ministry, out in the open, and that's kind of where we're getting into as we get into John chapter 4, verse 12. We find in Luke 3, verse 23, at this time he's about 30 years of age. So that kind of gives you an idea. And so verse 12 says, now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. So we know from reading the other gospels that John, of course, was cast into prison by Herod. He ends up losing his head there, literally in prison. And so now Jesus, as of course, John, we've talked about this. We spent a lot of time on John. John's making straight the way of the Lord. He's the forerunner. He's getting things ready for the ministry of Jesus Christ. And now John's in prison and Jesus steps forward. This was kind of John's prayer. He must increase, I must decrease. And that's what's happening. John is now cast into prison. And Jesus heard that John was cast in prison. And so Jesus departed into Galilee. And so we see Jesus beginning his ministry in Galilee. I got to look in Galilee. He's mentioned 17 times just in the book of Matthew. Trish and I were able to be there back in 2019. Beautiful place if you've ever been. Galilee is a really special place to go. You get to looking and you think about Jesus walking on the water and saying to the disciples, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. You know, his whole ministry is almost all in that region there around Galilee. So it's a neat place from a spiritual standpoint, but it's a neat place from a physical standpoint. It's the lowest elevated, lowest elevation rather, freshwater lake on earth. It's huge. To a boy from Tennessee, okay, you can't see from one side to the other. But it's really a great big lake, the Sea of Galilee is. It's freshwater fish obviously there, unlike the Dead Sea, which has nothing living in it, and the salt content's so great there. But of course the Jordan River is flowing down from the upper parts of Israel, and it flows into the Sea of Galilee, which has fish and a lot of life there. And then the Jordan River continues flowing until it gets to the Dead Sea, and that's the end of the Jordan River. It goes to a place of kind of like the Colorado River does out past the Grand Canyon. It just goes up in the sky in evaporation. So I just remembered many years ago, Brother Elijah Allen from Missouri. First revival we had here at Quebec after I became the pastor. I had met Brother Elijah prior to that. He and another brother preached for us a few nights, and I don't know where he read, heard, or figured this out himself, but he gave the illustration of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, and how the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee. It's full of life. It's full of fish. It flows on further down to the Dead Sea. But at the Dead Sea, nothing comes out of the Dead Sea. And there's no life in the Dead Sea. And so his point was that those who give, like the Sea of Galilee, that continue to flow with what they are given, that's where the life is at. And that's a great illustration. But the Sea of Galilee is about 700 feet below sea level. You know, what's amazing to me, I guess geologically would be the right word I'm looking for, about that is that you're not far from the Mediterranean Sea, and here's a fresh water, body of water, big body of water that's 700 feet below sea level. And of course, I don't think I made a note of that, but the Dead Sea is something like 1,700 feet below sea level, so it goes even lower. To give you an idea of the elevation there, Death Valley, which is the lowest place in the United States, It's 282 feet below sea level. Right now here at Quebec, we're probably about 900 feet above sea level. Go over here on the Cumberland Plateau up to Crossville, they're close to 2,000 feet. So that kind of gives you an idea of the drop to sea level. Not that that matters, that's just an interesting point of discussion has no spiritual value in it that I know of, but I'm just trying to get you familiar with the Sea of Galilee. So Jesus begins his ministry there, and then the Bible says, leaving Nazareth. Of course, we know from studying the scripture that Nazareth has been his hometown as a child. Leaving Nazareth, and I'm going to read maybe down through verse 16 here. He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast and the borders of Zebulun and Naphtalem, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtalem, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw. great light, and to them which sat in the region in shadow of death, light is sprung up. So this is a prophecy that has been fulfilled as Jesus goes to the area of Galilee and begins his ministry. And prophecy is important. Prophecy is so important because prophecy, uh, gives proof to who Jesus Christ is. You know, anybody, uh, he even said, he said, uh, beware in the last days, there'll be many false Christ. And they'll say, I'm Christ and I'm Christ and I'm Christ. But, uh, Jesus is fulfilling prophecy. Uh, it's, it's kind of amazing that most of those prophecies were made some 700 years before he was even born. from the very place he was born. Bethlehem, Micah 5, 2 tells us about that. Isaiah 7, 14 says, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son. That's about 700 years before he's born. On and on the list goes of the prophecies that have been fulfilled by Christ. And they are proof of who he is and his identity. And I thought about this, and you can be turning with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Actually, we'll be in 1 Corinthians during the morning service today, but I ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians 15 with me now. Excuse me. Off top of your head, how many scriptures can you think of that prophesy the resurrection? You know, there's just not many, not many, uh, scriptures that prophesy concerning the resurrection. Uh, first Corinthians chapter 15 verse three, Paul said to the Corinthian church, for I delivered unto you first of all that, which also, which also received how that listen to this Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And then verse four says, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So that's important. It's important again, because it proves who Jesus was. But Paul makes it sound like that, you know, hey, we knew that Jesus was going to rise from the dead according to the scriptures. But there's, you know, I got, as I was studying the lesson earlier this week for this morning and looking at where we're at, and of course saw the calendar and you would be celebrating the resurrection this morning. And I got to thinking, how many scriptures are there that prophesy the resurrection of Christ? And I did some research and some study on that. And they're very few. The best one is probably in Psalm chapter 16. Let's go to Isaiah. We'll look at the scriptures that are given concerning the resurrection of Christ. And some of those are not as, Uh, plain, you know, you got Micah chapter five, two, which says, and thou Bethlehem, uh, Freda, which is where Jesus was born that you can't miss that. The Bible says plainly where Jesus is going to be born. And that of course is Bethlehem. Even when the wise men came and inquired of Herod, where he, where he would be. The scribes that were there in Herod's day, they said, well, in Bethlehem. So that was something that was pretty obvious, but this thing of the resurrection is not as plain as most other prophecies concerning Christ that are given in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 53, verse nine. This, of course, to me, this is the greatest prophetic passage about Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53, 9, and he made his grave with the wicked. Now that's referring to his death. He died with a thief on either side of him. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Of course, a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, he gave him his tomb to borrow for three days. Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Now, when did the Lord make his soul an offering for sin? On the cross, right? On the cross, Jesus became the offering for the sins of the whole world. Every sin from Adam and Eve all the way as far as time's gonna go, he became an offering for the sins of the whole world. And then the Bible goes on to say, thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, or when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. So there is sort of a, you know, it's not a hidden prophecy, but certainly when it talks about seeing his seed, that means being able to see fruit and birth, if you will, children born into the family of God. And then that part about he shall prolong his days, we know that he's alive and alive forevermore. So that kind of refers to his resurrection after he's been made an offering for the sins of the world. I tell you what, let's go to Psalm 16 and then we're gonna go to Acts 2, okay? Acts 2 is a great passage. I never would have thought that Acts chapter 2, which is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost would have been one of probably the best passages concerning the resurrection, but it probably is. He's quoting in Acts 2, Peter quotes Psalm 16. So we're going to go to Psalm 16. I've still got this terrible cough. You just bear with me. I'm not sick. I just sound like it. Psalm 16. This is a Psalm of David. The heading tells us that, and also Peter tells us that over in Acts 2. We'll see that in a minute. So Acts, or rather, Psalm 16 says, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. So this is probably the very best prophecy, at least, if somebody else can think of one that's better, I'll be open to that this morning. You know, there's, Jesus said, when the people were asking him for a sign, he said, there shall no sign be given except the sign of the prophet Jonas, heart of the, uh, the belly of the whale rather for three days and three nights. Socialist son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. But you know, when you read the book of Jonah, you don't get that. That's just kind of something that we get from listening to Jesus in the new Testament. So I'm talking about actual passages where the resurrection is prophesied to take place here in Psalm 16, David. It says, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Now, if you didn't know the New Testament and the New Testament writers and preachers, then you probably might, myself, I'm just speaking for myself, that might go right over your head. It probably wouldn't mind, but let's go to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, and the day of Pentecost and Peter's preaching. There's some 3,000 that get saved that day. What a great day it was. Boy, I've often thought, first time Peter preached, 3,000 people got saved. Second time Peter preached, 5,000 people got saved. Wow. I've been preaching for years and I ain't seen that many sweet people get saved. But certainly that was a great time in the church. Acts chapter two, verse Let's just start in 22. Acts 2, 22. This is Peter preaching. You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So he's just simply saying, you killed the son of God. Verse 24 is a great verse, whom God hath raised up having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. You know, sometimes, and I'm off track for just a second, we get this idea about the resurrection, and we kind of see a struggle going on, and the devil's holding him down, and he's got death holding back the body of Christ, and Jesus is trying to get loose, you know, and no, no, no, it's nothing like that. Jesus just gets up. He just gets up and walks out of the tomb. It was not possible that he should be holding of death. All right, now we get into this Psalm 16 thing. Verse 25, Acts chapter two, for David speaketh concerning him. In other words, David is speaking concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope. Now that's part of Psalm 16 that we did not read, and now we get to verse 10 of Psalm 16, which is verse 27, Acts 2, where Peter is quoting, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer the unholy one to see corruption. Now, he goes on to say, let's skip down to verse 30, therefore being a prophet, he's talking about David, therefore David being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, That's an unfulfilled prophecy. It will be fulfilled, but it hasn't been fulfilled yet. He's seeing this before spike of the resurrection of trust. And so here we see plainly that Peter says in Psalm 16, when, uh, David said, they will not, uh, leave my soul in hell. Neither will thou suffer the Holy one to see corruption. that he's talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And David, of course, is way over 700 years before Christ is born. So way, some like a thousand years before Christ is born, David is speaking of the resurrection of Christ according to Peter in Acts 2 31. He's saying this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, Neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. He goes on to explain a little bit further down in verse 34, for David is not ascended into the heavens. David wasn't talking about himself is what he's saying, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. And so Peter's just making it plain that Psalm 16 is about Jesus Christ, it's not about David himself. Uh, and so, uh, now kind of going back to the other things I'd mentioned, uh, Jesus said more than once, I think there's three times when he said that there shall be no sign given except the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, uh, or heart of the belly of the whale, rather social center man be. in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. So this is not the lesson, I'm just throwing this in. It's something we've looked at before, I've taught on it before. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me. Now what that means is, is there's no other way to heaven. There's no other way to heaven. And whether I like it or not, whether you like it or not, Jesus is the way. He's not a way, he's the way. He's the way, the truth, and the life, and no man goes to the Father but by him. That's why we pray in Jesus' name. Uh, he's our, there's, there's one God and one mediator between man and God, the man, Christ Jesus. The only way to get, the only way you can even talk to God is go through his son, Jesus Christ. That's the only way you can even talk to him is to go through his son. So, uh, the old Testament saints, you know, we get this idea that the old Testament saints went to heaven, but that's not, that's, that's not what the Bible bears out. Uh, and I don't have time to get into all of it this morning, but what I want to say to you is that the devil. prior to the resurrection of Christ had, death was his, death was his. Death belonged to the devil prior to the resurrection of Christ. And those Old Testament saints that had died before Christ, they were in the heart of the earth. Uh, that, that that's where they were at. And so Jesus, those three days and three nights, you can't argue with that. Jesus is in the heart of the earth. And while he's down there in the heart of the earth, uh, the Bible says he sets the captives free. Now, the reason, the reason why they were there is because they could not get to heaven because there wasn't a way yet. Okay. Uh, you got, and I've got scripture that I could give you for all this. And I know this, if you've never heard this before, this sounds like a crazy thing. But if you'll just think about it, it makes sense. If the Old Testament saints could get to heaven without Jesus, then somebody could today. But nobody can get to heaven outside of Jesus Christ. Going to church, joining a church, getting baptized, putting your money in the offering plate, that won't get you to heaven. All the way to heaven is through Jesus. And so those Old Testament saints that were in, their souls were in the heart of the earth, they were held captive. The devil had a claim, if you will. Those Old Testament saints weren't necessarily his, but he had a claim on them because there wasn't a sacrifice. There was a propitiation for their sins that had been made and the power to bring them to glory to heaven had never been accomplished until the resurrection. So when Jesus is in the heart of the earth, those three days and three nights, he preaches to those that are captive there. He takes the keys of death and hell. The Bible bears that out in book of revelation. When John sees him, John turns to see who's speaking to him. I'll read that later on this morning, Lord willing. And Jesus is speaking to him there. He says, I have the keys of death and hell. So what he did was he went down and those three days and three nights, he took the keys of death and hell from the devil and he set the captives free. Those old Testament saints went to heaven. And after Jesus's resurrection, some of those old Testament saints He even came into Jerusalem and walked around and talked to people. That sounds, you say, Brother David, that sounds too far-fetched. Well, I'm just telling you what the Bible says, okay? Just telling you what the Bible says. And Jesus rose from the dead, okay? He wasn't laying there, he wasn't in soul sleep for three days and three nights. He was busy. He was busy doing the work that God intended for him to do, and that included defeating him that had, the Bible says that the devil had the power of death, but Jesus defeated him there in the heart of the earth. And he took the keys from the devil of, of hell and of death. And, uh, now as, as Christians, uh, that's why the Bible says in the new Testament, when it talks about the saints of God that died, it talks about him being asleep. Now that's not a soul sleep. But it's figurative of what, you know, Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But it's figurative of what's happening to God's people. We don't have to fear death. The Bible says, excuse me, I get to these coffin spells and sometimes they last longer than others. I promise I've not been smoking. That's not the problem. But in 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about the sting of death and the strength of sin and those things. Jesus defeated all of that. And so now as Christians, death is not something to be feared. As Christians, we don't have to be afraid of death because we trust the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's already defeated it. And he's got the keys of death and hell. Uh, you've got, you've got the key to your house. You got the key to your car. You can walk out here today and get in your car and start it up. Cause nobody else can, cause they don't have the key. Well, uh, Jesus Christ has the keys to death and hell and, uh, he's in control there. He is. And, and he defeated the devil during those three days and three nights. And that now that he had the keys to death, he just comes back and unlocks himself and walks out the door. Amen. Uh, there in the tomb. in Jerusalem. So the resurrection is prophetic. I've got this note down. When I underline a passage, that means I want everybody to turn to it. I don't even remember what it is, but since I've got it underlined, I'm going to ask you to turn to Luke 11 and we'll see what that says. We're just talking about the prophecies of Christ. I thought it'd be a good day as we're looking at the resurrection to spend a little time seeing about the prophecies in the Old Testament. Because again, the resurrection, if there are prophecies concerning the resurrection, it eliminates all the frauds. I mean, who's gonna do that? Right? Everybody awake this morning? Who's gonna get out of the grave and never die again on their own? Well, we're, you know, we're trusting the Lord for the first resurrection and expecting the Lord, the trumpet God's going to sound, the dead in Christ to rise first. We're trusting the Lord for that by his power, but who else is going to be able to fulfill such a thing as a prophecy concerning the resurrection? Only Jesus Christ could do that. Luke 11, 29, yeah, this is kind of what I was talking about earlier. When the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation, they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet, for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. So Jesus is just simply saying, even though you don't get it from reading in the book of Jonah, that hey, I'm gonna prove who I am, by doing what the scripture says I would do, and that's get out of the grave and be alive forevermore. So that the resurrection eliminates all the frauds, but there's not only the Old Testament prophecies, but Jesus' own predictions. We're gonna kind of walk through the book of Matthew real quickly. We'll look at these verses again later on. Go with me to Matthew 16. Excuse me, Matthew 16, verse number, We're gonna look at Jesus' own predictions concerning his resurrection. Well, somebody either have to be crazy or have some real power to say, I'm gonna die, but I'm gonna get out of the grave. And that's what Jesus said and that's what he did. Matthew 16, 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. So, you know, maybe Jesus quotes some Old Testament scripture when he's describing this to the disciples. We don't have a record of that, but we just do know here that Jesus does tell his disciples, at least the 12, how many I don't know, the Bible doesn't say here, but he's telling them, hey, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem, I'm gonna suffer, they're gonna kill me, I'll raise again the third day. Uh, we see that in the scripture. We see Jesus saying that go over with me to, uh, chapter 17, verse 22, 17, 22. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they should kill him. And the third day he shall be raised again. So this is not just an isolated event. More than once, Jesus is telling his disciples, now they don't really understand it. The Bible says here they were exceeding sorry. But even when it came to pass, they still don't really get it. Their hearts were hardened. I don't know. It sure doesn't sound like, it doesn't sound like something they expect him to say. But he gives them, He gives them the evidence, he tells them about it. One more place, this one would be, one more place in Matthew, Matthew chapter 20. We'll just look at the places where Jesus said of himself that he would come out of the grave on the third day. Matthew chapter 20, verse number 17, Matthew 20, 17. And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the 12 disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed, and to the chief priests, and to the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. Of course, that was to Pilate, to Mark, and to Scourge, and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again. So that's pretty plain, isn't it? Pretty plain. And he's saying that before that time even comes. One more place in John chapter 20, we're looking at I'm sorry, I didn't mean John 20, I meant John 2. John 2. John chapter 2. We're looking at Jesus' own words concerning his resurrection. Now, I've said some of these things before, I'll say them again. Anybody, you know, there are literally people out there that say Jesus Christ never existed. They've got to be the biggest idiots there ever were. What year is it? 2025, 2025 what? A.D. That means, how many years have we had in A.D.? We've had 2025 years. What does A.D. stand for? It stands on Domini, which is Latin for the year of our Lord. So, what started the new count of time? Before A.D. was B.C., which they've tried to rename. They don't like calling it B.C. anymore. They've come up with something else for it. B.X. or something like that. Now we know, until they got uncomfortable with it, BC stands for what? Before who? Christ. You'd be a fool to say Christ never existed. I mean, even time itself has been divided by his arrival to the earth and what was before him and what's been after him. You'd be so ignorant to say, well, there was never such a person as Jesus Christ. Well, there is so much evidence to his resurrection. And I know that the Bible is our main source of truth. It's our only source of truth. Technically, at least written truth is the Bible. We can glean from nature and the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork, the Bible says. But the written truth and the written word of God is in his word, the Bible. There's so much evidence of the resurrection of Christ. Over 500 people saw him at one time after his resurrection. On and on the list goes. So, in John chapter two, verse number 18, John 2, 18. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, what sign showest thou in us, seeing that thou doest these things? Now this is Jesus has just cleansed the temple, okay? And basically what they're saying, man, who gives you the right to come in here and do this? He's turned over tables. He's run some of them out of there because he doesn't like the way they're treating the house of God. And they say, man, what gives you the right to do this? What sign are you going to show us to show us you've got the right to do these things? And Jesus said in verse 19, Jesus answered and said to him, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Now we know, as we read on, let's just read on, verse 20. Then it said that Jesus, 40 and six years was his temple and building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. And so here Jesus even tells those folks that in three days, they didn't understand it, but in three days, if they destroyed his body, he would rise again. And of course, his enemies themselves, as he's being tried in front of Pilate, They tell Pilate, he said he'd destroy the temples and build it back in three days. So they heard him, they knew it. I'm just telling you, I'm giving you all of this information this morning because we're looking at the resurrection on this day and the Old Testament prophesied concerning the resurrection. Jesus himself before his death told about the resurrection. Not a coincidence. It's real. The greatest evidence of the resurrection, I like the way the hymn writer put it, you ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. I know what he's done for me. He's done for me what nobody else could do. You know, I just can't get over Clay Smoot being here. But I think of what he's done for Brooklyn. My goodness. Nobody else could do it. Nobody else could do it. Nobody else could do for brother Jay. Jay's downstairs teaching Sunday school, got saved in jail. Nobody else could do for brother Jay what God did for brother Jay. I mean, uh, brother Jamie pack preached for us last Sunday afternoon. He told about going to all these rehabs and, uh, and listen, I'm not, I'm not condemning the rehabs. Don't misunderstand me. Uh, thank God for those that they're able to help, but only Christ can do for us what nobody else can do. And that's to me, that's the greatest evidence of the resurrection. But thank God we have the scripture that kind of backs it up and we can, we can stand on the scripture. Uh, and I'm thankful for that. So, uh, anybody else think of another passage in the old Testament that refers to the resurrection, but Joe, the seat of the woman. when he was born or when he crossed and was resurrected? Crossed, yeah, yeah. That was kind of veiled though, if you know what I mean. It's not as plain as maybe some of these we've looked at, but yeah, that's definitely to us, we can see that, but not to, you know, not to the average Bible reader, they wouldn't be able to pick that out, but that is, yeah, that's definitely a token of his resurrection. Somebody else? Okay. We're down to verse 17 then. Verse 17. From that time, so this is the beginning of his public ministry. From that time, Jesus began to preach. Before we do that, go back with me to chapter three. Before we read that verse. Let's go back to chapter three and verse number one and two. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, so here's John the Baptist message. Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now turn the page again to Matthew chapter four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Same message John's been preaching, right? So John preaches this message and now Jesus comes on the scene. John's in prison and Jesus is still preaching. Well, that doesn't mean that Jesus was, what do you call it? Oh goodness, don't tell me, I know the name of it. Oh man, plagiarism. Uh, Jesus is not plagiarizing John. He's not trying, he's not copying John. Okay. Uh, this, this John's just getting everybody ready to hear what Jesus has got to say. You know what Jesus got to say? Repent. Same thing John was saying. So, uh, uh, we're going to spend a little time on that word. Repent Jesus message and his public ministry is identical to John's. John was paving the way. John preaches, repent, Jesus comes on the scene while John's off the scene. And what does Jesus preach? Repent, repent. So repentance, uh, I may say more about this later. No, there's a, there's a lot of folks today that say repentance is not necessary for salvation. It's not what the Bible says. It's not what the Bible says. Jesus Christ said in Luke 13 twice, verse three and verse five, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. That's what Jesus said. Now, so it really doesn't matter what I think or what you think. What matters is what does Jesus say? And Jesus said, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Uh, repentance is a requirement for salvation. Repentance is a requirement for salvation. I don't care how many times you get baptized. I don't care how many times you join a church or whatever the case may be. If you don't repent, if you've not turned from sin, you're not saved. That salvation is not absent from repentance. Luke 24, verse 47. This is the great commission at the end of Luke, much like we read in Matthew 28. But the scripture says, and this of course is Jesus talking, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Repentance and remission of sins. So Jesus instructed his disciples as he's leaving earth to preach repentance. So I'm just gonna kind of give you a walkthrough of this thing of repentance. John the Baptist preached it, right? Jesus preached it, yes. Peter preached it. Acts 2.38, Peter said, repent and be baptized. Acts 3.19, Peter said, repent and be converted. And 1st Peter, let's see if I, I don't want to know that reference, but 2nd Peter 3.9, 2nd Peter 3.9 says that God is not slack concerning his promise, his men count slackness, but his long suffering to us were not willing that Any should perish, but that all should come to what? Repentance. So Jesus Christ preached repentance. John the Baptist preached repentance. Peter preached repentance. You may be thinking, well, what about the apostle of the Gentiles? What about Paul? Paul preached repentance. Let me give you some scriptures. Some of these I'm familiar with and some of them, uh, I'll have to look up. I could almost quote act 1732, but I'm right here at it. This is Paul speaking in Acts 17, verse 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. So Paul preached repentance. That's not the only place. Acts chapter 26, verse number 19. Acts 26, 19 says, he's talking to Agrippa. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. This message of repentance is preached by John, it's preached by Jesus, it's preached by Peter. In fact, in Romans chapter two, say, Brother Dave, what about the Romans road? Well, that's where I'm taking you. I'm taking the Romans chapter two, verse number three. Paul said, and thinkest thou this, O man that judges them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. And so we see that Jesus and John preached repentance, Peter preached repentance, Paul preached repentance. In fact, there's somebody that is quoted in the scripture who is actually in hell. The rich man in Acts chapter 16, he asked father Abraham to send Lazarus to talk to his five brothers. And Lazarus says, but if one or rather the rich man says, hey, if one went to him from the dead, they would what? Repent, he's looking for his brothers to repent. I'm trying to make the point to you that repentance is something that has always been preached and you can't get away from that. Peter, John, Paul, Jesus, all of these men that were preaching the gospel were preaching repentance. Go with me to, let's get these in order, make it easier for you. Luke 17, Luke 17. Now, let me put this in a way maybe you can understand it. You ever tried to forgive somebody that hasn't apologized? Well, it's hard to do, isn't it? Sometimes it's hard to forgive them after they apologize, to be honest about it. But someone that has not apologized, those are the, you know, in our heart, we have to find a spirit of forgiveness. Those folks, that's just as Christians, okay? As Christians, we're supposed to forgive. Even if they don't apologize, we're supposed to find a place to forgive those folks in our heart. But boy, if there is an act of repentance, it sure makes forgiving us awful easy, doesn't it? When they come and say, man, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Will you please forgive me? That really helps. So what I'm trying to make a point to you this morning is we're running out of time. Luke 17, verse number, did I tell y'all? Three, Luke 17, three. Take heed yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day and seven times a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. That's just what I've been telling you that we as Christians are supposed to forgive. But what I'm trying to make a point to you is, is that the act of forgiveness is, preceded by the act of repentance. And we're kind of out of time this morning. So we're just gonna stop right there. I've got more scripture. I'm making the point that repentance is necessary for salvation. Jesus doesn't save us in our sins. He saves us from our sins. So anyways, we'll get back to that next week, Lord willing. I appreciate your attention. We got a short break before we start our worship service this morning. Thank you for your attention.