took place. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God strengthen our faith in the reality of a resurrected Lord. And Father, I pray that you serve us up today with great faith in you. Bless the children, I say, the young people come and sing now. I pray, God, that you bless them and encourage our hearts in the message that they share through song. It's in Christ that we pray. Amen. Matthew 28, 5-9. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead. And behold, He goes before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples' word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying all tale. And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. Crown Him King of kings, crown Him Lord of lords, Jesus, my Savior, worship and adore. He arose from death, love, and sore He shall reign forevermore Found in King of Kings, found in Lord of Lords Found in King of Kings, found in Lord of Lords Good. All right, thank you, young people. In 240, 240, were you there? 240. By the way, this is a contemplative type hand. It's asking a question that, obviously, we can't say we were there. But it does put us in the perspective of what would it have been like to have been there. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified me? Were you there when they knelt into the tree? Were you there when they knelt into the tree? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they built him to the tree? Were you there when they lived in the tomb? Were He there when they laid Him in the tomb? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they made him in the tomb? when he rose up from the grave. Were you there when he rose up from the grave? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when it rose up from the grave? Amen, y'all did very well, all right. I'll have my kids come up, and we're gonna sing before our priest is coming. There is the wise Who cast out darkness, fear, and sin He is the Christ The long-awaited hope of man In death He was, the souls of sinners there did sit. In resurrection He gave life to them. He said, Arise, and death give way to life. He said, Awake, and blind eyes look to sight. He said, Arise, and the tomb was filled with light. He said, Forgiven and give eternal life. He touched my heart And taught me love I never know He took my hand Forever making me His own He gave me dreams And living waters filled my soul He found me lost and brought me to His home. He said, Arise, and death give way to life. He said, Awake, and blind eyes watch in sight. He said, Come out, And the tomb was still but white, He said, Forgiven, And gave eternal life, And gave eternal life, He said, Arise, And death gave way to life, He said, Awake, and wide-eyed walked His eyes. He said, Come out, and to most ill-bred light. He said, Forgiven, and gave eternal life. He set our eyes. He set our eyes. And gave eternal life. He set our eyes. All right, praise the Lord. We'll dismiss the kids to go to class with Mrs. Shore. And we're going to go through a lot of scripture today. And I hope you're ready to turn your Bibles to that. Luke chapter 24 is where we'll start. Or actually, we'll start in Matthew 28. So we can turn to both. Luke 24 is going to be our main text. This morning we'll be coming back to that. But a lot of scripture this morning. It's important today that we go to the Word of God and this precious story of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So beginning in Matthew chapter 28, which I believe the young people may have read this morning as they quote the scriptures. But in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, lo I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed them to the chief priest all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. There's two places where in Israel, if you go to Israel and tour Jerusalem, there's two places that are supposed places of the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. One is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And I'll just tell you, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, when you go into it, it's a Catholic facility. It's very spiritually dark. It's very physically dark as you walk into there. It is oppressive. If I can put it that way, if you're a person who the spirit of God dwells in what that's like, you go to a place that is just a sense that you have, it's a dark place. The other place is the garden tomb in Golgotha. And that's just outside of the city. It makes sense in a lot of ways with the scripture. The Bible speaks about the sign that was put up above the cross of Jesus being written in many languages. And there were a couple main routes from the city that went by this place. It's at the base of the Hill of the Skull, which the Bible speaks of now. And you can see it still, even though just about from here up, part of it is underground now. It's actually a car park, where Galgatha took place. Interesting. I walked there. It's in the Arab section of Jerusalem. And it's a bus car park. And you can walk right up to the face of the hill that's there. But the tomb, the garden tomb, is within a couple hundred meters of where Golgotha is. And as you get to that, there's a trough where the stone would have rolled into the front of this grave. Very interesting, just like the Bible said. There's a precious sense of the presence of God in that place. Again, if you're a believer, you can understand that. It's run by believers, protected by believers, and it's just a very sweet place. And to stand there, obviously that's where I believe this took place, where so many other men believe this took place. But I can picture the soldiers at the tomb that morning. Perhaps they got there early in the morning. They just leaved. The night watch. Oh, they've gone through the night. They're there. They're kind of sleepy and tired. Either way, they're going to find these soldiers. They're looking at the wax seal that's on that tomb to make sure that stone wasn't moved so that nobody could lie and move it later and say that Jesus rose from the dead. And so they're looking at that maybe and perhaps discussing why are we guarding a tomb? You know what I mean? Inside is a dead body and he's not going to escape, he's not going anywhere. What are we doing here? And they begin to talk about what's taking place. And one says, hey, you know those paramount Pharisees, they want to kill Jesus, they think the disciples are going to steal the body. And the Word of God tells us that story, Matthew 27, verse 62. It says, now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while I was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal away, and say unto the people, he has risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, you have a watch, soldiers, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting the watch. And so they put these guards there, they put again this seal on the throne so the soldiers are talking and saying, yeah, those are Pharisees, they're paranoid that somebody's going to come and snatch away the body of Jesus and then people are going to say, see, he's risen, that's going to make him even greater than he is. And so we're guarding it because of that. And they said, well, did Jesus really say that he'd rise from the dead? John 2 verse 19, Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And the Jews are sitting there looking at the temple there in Jerusalem and they said, forty and six years with this temple and building and will thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. Maybe some of the soldiers, centurions get saved in the Bible, we see that. Maybe some of these soldiers come to faith, and they're there, and they're talking about it. They say, no, I heard Jesus say that he would rise again. Then as they're talking about that, they're asking, do you really think somebody can rise from the dead? And then an earthquake strikes, an angel descends, The stone is rolled away. These soldiers are so terrified that their knees knock together and they fall over in a dead thing. They wait for their fame. They look in the tomb. The tomb is empty. And they run back and report what took place. And we've already sung about it this morning as we sung the hymn, Christ the Rose. Lo, in the grave he lay, Jesus my Saviour, waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph for his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. Vainly, they watched his dead, the soldiers. Jesus, my Savior. Vainly, they sealed the dead, they sealed the tomb. Jesus, my Lord. Death cannot keep his prey. Jesus, my Savior. He tore the bars away. Jesus, my Lord. You know, the resurrection of Jesus is so significant that 2,000 years later, mankind celebrates the fact that Jesus Christ arose from the dead. My message this morning is, He rose. And it's from Luke chapter 24, that'll be the text that we look at. But my emphasis this morning is the Gospel, and also the encouragement to faith as believers in what the Lord did. And the fact is, you must believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or you cannot be saved. See if you're here this morning or somebody is singing this morning, I don't really know that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Or I'm not convinced in my heart that Jesus rose from the dead. That person cannot be saved without agreeing with God and what Jesus Christ as he did as he rose from the dead. Romans 10 9 says that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's part of it. Us understanding that Jesus Christ didn't just pay for our sin, but that he rose up out of the grave and that he's alive today, it has to be believed by you or you cannot be saved. And so this morning, do you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus arose from the dead? If not, our desire this morning would be that God would convince you by His Spirit. And as believers, let's be encouraged. Let's be challenged by what our Lord definitely did as He arose from the dead. Let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to this text this morning. Father, all Scripture is sacred. But Father, there's something wonderfully sacred about the cross and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the scripture that tells us the story. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will increase our faith this morning, whether it's somebody that is an old believer, and Father, has been in faith for many years, and knows in their heart the sweetness of that resurrection life, or Father, maybe again, somebody that's lost, Father, unsaved, maybe because of a denial of this truth. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would open hearts and minds today. Father, I can't speak without your help. I need the Spirit of God to guide me as I speak. I pray, Lord, that you help me preach biblically. Father, I pray that you help me preach lovingly. Father, I pray that you help me preach practically. And Father, by your grace, I pray that you help me preach powerfully. And Father, that we would have ears to hear. And that this place would be a place that glorifies God the Father. as we focus on the resurrection of His Son. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. So He arose. At every point this morning, He arose. First of all, He arose definitely. OK? He arose definitely. And we're going to cover again a lot of texts of Scripture. And here in Luke 24, we've got two men on the road to Emmaus. And they're walking. And the Bible says, in verse 13, Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three square fur lawns. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. but their eyes were a-holding, that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another, and are sad? You know, that's a good question. Why are you so sad? It's the first day of the week, and they're walking along, and there's a great sorrow, and something had taken place on Friday that they're thinking about, and they're burdened about. Verse 18. It says, And one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? He said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed, and were before God and all the people. And now the chief priests, our rulers, delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. They're sad because Jesus was taken and condemned to death and crucified. They watched the hope of Israel die. I mean, their heart and their love for Jesus was great. And they'd seen all these things that Jesus Christ had done for these several years. And now, perplexingly to them, they see their dream wiped out as Jesus Christ dies on the cross. You know, Islam, I was speaking with a man last night, I was hoping to come today, his name is Ross, a witness from last night. And we got to talking about the resurrection, and I said something about my message today, and what I'm going to speak about right here, is that Islam teaches that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross. And he said he was surprised. He goes, they believe in Jesus? Yes, they believe in Jesus. You talk to Muslims, they're going to be very convincing. They'll tell you, yes, we believe in Jesus. Yes, he was a prophet. But if you ask them, did Jesus Christ die on the cross, do you know what they'll say? No. They're taught that Jesus Christ didn't die on the cross. Surah, I guess part of the Quran, 4, 157, says that they neither killed him nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them. So they explain it by saying it either wasn't really Jesus or he swooned, is how Islam would teach this. You know, do you think today that the Pharisees who hated Jesus so greatly could have been fooled with a fake Jesus? They despised him. They hated him. I mean, they're close and personal with Jesus. They're always around him. Do you think it was possible that somebody could be such an imposter and such a look-alike and such a sound-alike that they would be deceived? Do you think it's possible that the disciples that were there and saw Jesus Christ on the cross, the one they love, that the mother of Jesus there at the foot of the cross and John the Beloved that was a close, personal friend of Jesus, do you think it's possible that they could be deceived? about Jesus, the United Cross, or the fact that Jesus Christ died. If these Muslim clerics would have walked with men on the road to Emmaus as Jesus did, would they have comforted them with their theory? You know, it wasn't really Jesus. I don't know why you're saying that. It wasn't really Jesus. He didn't really die. Imagine going to a funeral of someone that, you know, is going to that funeral and someone they loved died. And they saw that person murdered. And try that with them. Go up to them and say, look, you know, I just want to comfort you today. That's not really the person that you love. They didn't really die. I'm thankful today that God made it so clear that it was Jesus and that Jesus Christ did die. John 19 verse 33 says, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. Why is that important? It's important today because Jesus had to die. We'll get to that in the message. But Jesus had to die. It had to be Him. It had to be death. And the Word of God makes it abundantly clear in the Word that it was Jesus and that Jesus died. Luke 23, verse 46, when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said this, he gave up the doves. Now fast forward back to our story, Jesus is now walking with his men on the road to Emmaus, and there's some things he said we'll come back to. But verse 28 says, they drew nigh unto the village whither they went, and he made it as though he would have gone further, But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it's twerk evening, and the day is far spent. And he went into tannery with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened. And they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. It's an interesting story. God's allowed their eyes and neck to be open. They know Jesus, Jesus is walking with them, but they don't realize it's him until suddenly he's made known to them in the breaking of the bread. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking bread. It's wonderful that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he didn't ascend into glory. But God let Jesus walk this earth, and have just that many more days with his disciples. In fact, Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 15, 6, after that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once. And as I spoke to Ross last night at the playground, I said to Ross, I mean, it's incredible. If we had five people that testified that something happened, it would be compelling, no matter what the character of those witnesses were. But over 500, of whom the greater part, the Bible said, remained at the time that Paul penned those words in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 6. So what's the point this morning? He arose definitely. Definitely. He arose definitely. Secondly, he arose bodily. It says in verse 36, and as he thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see. For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And as Jesus appeared to them in that room, he appeared to them miraculously. He passed through a wall. When they rolled the stone away, Jesus wasn't there. And so his body had incredible power. The disciples looked at that and they said, whoa, it's a ghost. It's a spirit, okay, a disembodied spirit. And that had happened before. Mark chapter 6, Jesus came to the disciples when they're out in the boat. And he'd gone up into a mountain to pray. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling and roiling, for the wind was contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he'd come up unto them, walking upon the sea. It would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and he cried out. For they all saw him and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them and said unto them, be of good cheer, it's I, be not afraid. You understand today that if we're out there on the Sea of Galilee in a boat, it's nighttime, we're toiling and rolling, and all of a sudden you look over to the side and you see the Son of God walking on the water, that in your heart you would stop and think, this is pretty unusual. there'd be a fear that would be there. So they think it's spirit. By the way, when I'm witnessing at times, and if I have to close the window so the sign doesn't fall over, I'll do that, okay? But sometimes when I'm doing evangelists, I'll speak to people. You know there are spiritists today? And there are witches today? And there are people in paganism and witchcraft. You know, at times they'll mention an experience to me, and I don't deny it. I don't say that didn't happen. I said, don't seek that, right? That's something God forbids. You know, when King Saul had the witch Endor bring up Samuel, God forbid, right? But she did. And see, we're not going to dwell on this today. We need to be very careful. Our world gets into Ouija boards. They get into tarot cards. They get into all sorts of things. And they think Harry Potter is a big joke. Harry Potter's not a joke. He's promoted witchcraft more than anything. By the way, she's from Edinburgh. It's interesting when you think about spiritual darkness and spiritual light, what has gone out of Edinburgh, both with light and with darkness. She's an example, so is Darwin. Darwin studied at Edinburgh for a year. I could give you great men of God that did as well. Point is, these things are real. Jesus doesn't say, hey, there's no such thing as a spirit that you could see. We're not to seek it. But he said that's not what it is. When he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wonder, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of boiled fish, and of a honeycomb, and he took it, and did eat before them. This is the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're terrified. And Jesus came in. He goes, don't be afraid. It's I. It's I. Look, I'm not a spirit. You can touch me. I've got bones. I've got flesh. Hey, you got anything to eat? Why is he eating? Well, he's hungry, which is interesting. His resurrected body has appetite. And he takes it, and he eats in front of him. So they look at him and say, wow, you're rose bodily. See, that's important to us today. Why? Because our body's important. Are you thankful today you got a body? I mean, that's important to us. This is our tabernacle. This is what we live in. I do this to people. I'll say to them, hey, who you are is not your body. Who you are is your soul. And I illustrated, you've heard my illustration probably, but I saw a new thing, they've come out with a 3D printed heart. They're developing it. Say you got one of those 3D printed hearts, and you get up, you know, off the operating table, you're not going to go... or something. I mean, you're going to talk, and you're going to be who you are. Why? Because who we are is not our body. I heard a preacher say it, and I don't know if I can say it right, we like to think I'm a body and I have a soul, but you're not a body and you have a soul, you're a soul and you have a body. It's a tabernacle. It's where our spirit lives. And by the way, if you're saved, the Holy Spirit of God lives there too. He's resident in there as well. But when we rise again, because He rose, will also be resurrected bodily. This is a very important truth. It's not just someday it will exist in some ethereal world. It will exist bodily, physically. Why? Because the Bible says Jesus is coming bodily back to us. Acts 11. which also said, men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, and like manners ye have seen him go into heaven. That same Jesus is a bodily Jesus. Jesus right now in glory is existing in the humility of what he took on as he identified with us. He arose and ascended bodily. He's coming back the same way. The Bible says this, when he comes, then you and I, if we're saved, are gonna be like him. 1 John 3 verse 2. It says, beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So when Jesus Christ comes back, I'll just move these signs. Then they won't wrath. When Jesus Christ comes back, we'll see him as it is, and we'll be like him. It's not a new teaching. It's a teaching even from the Old Testament. Job said in Job 19 verse 26, and go, after my skin, worms destroy this body. It's kind of gross. Yet in my flesh shall I see God. After decomposition takes place, Job said, I know this, in my flesh I'll see God. Do you know that today? Do you know that you have everlasting life in you? That as we rejoice today in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you know in your heart of hearts that you'll rise again bodily, because Jesus Christ did. The Bible speaks about it again, saying, We know that if the earthly house of this cavern afterwards is all, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. See, the sad thing about our flesh today is it's corruptible flesh. We can have disease, we can have illness, we can die, because that's this flesh. But someday, when we have a resurrected body, it's perfect. And it'll never, never perish. John 11 verse 25, Jesus said unto Martha, I'm the resurrection of life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall I live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? I preached this last Sunday at the trust. What a question. Because he's saying to her, look, I am the resurrection life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead physically, yet shall he live eternally. Believest thou this? You know, if you don't believe it today, I say again, you can't be saved. In your heart, there has to be a convincement that I believe this. I believe this. He arose definitely. He arose bodily. And then third, he arose prophetically. Verse 44, it says, And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Okay, God's word foretold what would happen about Jesus. Verse 45, then opens he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. So he comes back, and it's his men, his disciples, and he says, guys, I want you to get this. I want you to get it. It's prophetic. God's word has said this about the Messiah, about the Christ. He's done this already on this day, the first day of the week, as he walked with men on the road to Emmaus. The Bible says in verse 27, in the beginning, Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He goes back and he said, no, it's just like God said. And I wonder if Peter got some of this as he's hearing this from the Lord and he's gonna preach it just a few weeks later as he stands at Pentecost and preaches in Acts 2.25. For David speaketh concerning him, 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." And it's speaking about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ that he's got confidence in God. Because then it says, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine folly long to see corruption. Thou'st made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God is 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. He's seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. So this Jesus has God raised up. God said it, and God did it. When I was in Israel, there's so many things that were a blessing. If you get a chance to go to Israel, it's wonderful to be able to put into context some of the biblical stories and things. There, by the Dead Sea, there's a place called Qumran. Qumran is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by Bedouin shepherds that happened in these caves. In these caves, there were fragments or whole scrolls of every book in the Old Testament from the time, dated, the scrolls dated from the time of Christ, but they were written pre-Christ, okay? And in there, you have texts like Isaiah 53 5, which says, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. And again, as I was speaking to Ross last night, I said, Ross, one of the neat things about the Bible is that God said it before it ever happened, and it did. Because people look at it and say, well, there's so many religions, which one's the one? Well, Jesus Christ was prophesied. God said it. He would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. A thousand years before Christ, in Psalm 22, in verse 14, it says, I'm poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it's melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue cleaved into my jaws. Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs, The Jews called Gentiles dogs. The Romans crucified Christ. For dogs has encompassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast locks upon my vestry. And so he's speaking to these men. They're in shock. What has happened? What is taking place? And Jesus says, and this is what the Word of God said, Let's go back and let's look at the text. Let's see what God said. And today, again, I just say to anybody that's struggling with faith, look at what God said ahead of time, and then it took place. He arose prophetically. And then He arose biblically. Verse 46, and this is different from prophetically. You'll understand my meaning in just a second. He arose biblically. Verse 46, He said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. He said it was written that way. It said it, and it had to be done. It had to be done. It was biblical. The Bible not only said it would happen, it said it must happen. It's biblical. The man of the road, Zola Neus, He had already said to them, in verse 25, He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? Remember, we were talking about going to the cross. Peter said, Far be it, Lord, that will never happen to you. And Jesus said, Get thee behind me, save me. Why? Because the Word of God demanded that Jesus Christ go to the cross and be crucified. So he had to die for a sin. The Bible said he must rise again. And so, let's think about it this morning. Jesus had to die for a sin. Paul said in Galatians 2.21, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If good people go to heaven, why did Jesus throw the cross? So you talk to people all the time, it's going to be the most common answer that you hear if you ask somebody about their hope of heaven. And you say to them, why should God let you into heaven? And they'll say what? I'm a good person. And you kind of go, well that's great, why did Jesus die? If good people go to heaven, it is cruelty on the part of a father to take his son as he's pleading with him in the garden, and he's saying, Father, if it would be possible, let this come pass from him. He's begging God. Three times. He had to go to the cross. Because the Word of God says, without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. And we've all sinned. Even in the better meaning, God said, the day thou eatest of, thou shalt surely die. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. Right? It's not just a nice story today, some fairy story that's made up in the Bible that makes Jesus the hero. It's the fact that Jesus Christ had to die on the cross. Because it's biblical. That's the only way. That's the only way for God to pay for man's sin. And that's what Jesus did. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God with him. Jesus, like that precious lamb, and by the way, it's a great time, Easter, you know, you can see all the lambs. He's the Lamb of God. Those precious, innocent little things, scampering around, we're talking Thursday night about this, because we were out by Gladstone Reservoir, and there's all these lambs out there, and you see these little lambs, I mean, they jump up in the air, kicking their heels, you know, they're full of life. And Jesus was full of life, and He was full of purity. And He had never sinned. But He died and took our sin on Him. He was our sacrifice so that God could take the righteousness of Christ and put it on us and cover our sin. See, it's biblical. Jesus Christ had to die. But to die, then He also had to rise again for our life. Do you know if it wasn't for the resurrection, God's got nothing to offer us. If Jesus isn't alive, he can't offer us life. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 12 says, I'll say some among you that there's no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, Your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. They also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable." But then he goes, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of the net slab. See, the fact is today, if Christ didn't rise from the dead, you're a sinner. This is vain. You might as well go out and enjoy the beautiful weather that God's given us today and go have a good time. Because there's no point to this. It's fake. But it's not fake this morning. And you're doing the right thing, honoring God and the Lord's sake. Because Jesus Christ isn't in a grave. He arose from the dead and therefore he can say to us today I'm alive and I can give you life. By the way, Jesus Christ is life. He doesn't just give life. If you have everlasting life today, you know what you have? You have Him. I'm the way, the truth and the life. And so I pray today that you've got Jesus because you've got to have him. The Bible says so. He had to die. He had to rise again. He arose biblically. But then he arose triumphantly. Verse 47 says, in that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Guys, Jesus is saying, it's happened, alright? And I had to die. And I've risen from the dead. And now it's time to get out there. Go out and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sin in my name. He was victorious. I don't want to rehash Sunday school. If you're in my essential class, you get it. You've heard it a time or two here in the morning services as well. But Adam sinned and death came. If you're here today, outside of Christ, you're defeated. Sin rules your life. Death rules your life. Satan rules your life. But when you get Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're set free, you'll never perish, and that sin is broken. We talked about this morning, the grace of God that changes a person's life. And so the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory. through our Lord Jesus Christ. World War II ended in Europe on the 8th of May, 1945. Winston Churchill celebrated by telling people VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, and let them know that the Nazis had surrendered. Why didn't he wait? You know, they surrendered on the 8th of May. Why didn't he postpone the announcement that this is taking place? Because more lives would have been lost, there would have been more suffering, and the good news would not have been known, right? You know, today, as we lift up the word, Jesus Christ, and the fact that He rose from the dead for man's sin, it's the best news there is. There's not anything better that we could give to our neighbors or to our friends or to our family. There's nothing more incredible than the fact that they can be forgiven of their sin and set free because Jesus Christ paid it all and rose from the dead. It's like those lepers that were in the siege of Samaria, that got out, and when the city's under siege, there's no food left in the city, and the army has split because God scared the Assyrian army away, and they go out to those tents, and they're spoiling all the stuff there, and they said to themselves, we do not good today, because it's a day of rejoicing, we're keeping it to ourselves. Let's go tell them, because something could happen to us. Do you know there ought to be in our hearts today an urgency to carry the gospel? Mark 16 verse 15, He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And I know we can look at it today and say, but pastor, nobody's getting saved. I mean, don't you see it? Look at them. They're out there having a good time. They're just partying and they're doing their own thing. And you tell them about God and it just, it doesn't seem to make a difference. Last point is this. We just looked at how he rose victoriously, but he rose convincingly. See, there is a power that God has given to us that is beyond our ability to persuade somebody. We live again in a day of skepticism, humanism, atheism, false science, perversion. But God is a convincing witness. Look at verse 48. It says, and ye are witnesses of these things. You're witnesses. Okay, you've seen it. What? Go tell them. You're witnesses. I witnessed a man on Wednesday in Beggars, January 72. And Jimmy's coming out of Beggars' house and I saw him, I said hi to him and just started talking to him about God. I said to Jimmy, you know, talking about eternal things, he said, nobody's come back and told us. I hear it all the time. Have you heard this? Nobody's come back and told us. I said, Jesus did. He said, yeah, but... I said, no, wait a second. Jesus did. I looked him in the eyes when I said it. See, Jesus did. Jesus died, and Jesus came back to tell it. There's eyewitnesses that saw him. Jesus did. And see, you and I can take that sitting witness. By the way, if the men that were with the Lord Jesus Christ had not been faithful in carrying that message, what would we have today? Nothing. If they hadn't said something, we'd have nothing, but they did. Romans 10 says, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a future? I mean, is it not true today that the majority of Lonehead is on their way to hell without Christ? That the majority of Midlothian is on their way to hell without Christ? That the majority of Southern Scotland, of Scotland, of the United Kingdom, of Europe, of the world, right? Is on their way to hell without Christ. But I can ask it very simply today and just say this, who did you tell this past week? Who did you tell last week? Who did you tell the week before? See, it's a day of good news, and part of the power of the gospel is just us giving the gospel. And it's not easy sometimes. Admittedly, I'll tell you this. I didn't do door-to-door growing up. It's a privilege for our kids to get to participate in that now. I didn't. But when I got to college, I was doing my internship before I ever did door-to-door. I'd done some evangelism. And I knocked on a door with a great old preacher, Dr. Ed Nelson. And he was in his 70s back then. He's 94, and he's still preaching now. But I'm knocking on doors with Dr. Nelson. He's like a who's who in modern church history in the United States, in the Independent Baptist Movement. He's a great guy. And I knock on the door with him. First time, knocking on doors. The door opens. I'm to speak. And I froze. I completely froze. And I'm waiting for Dr. Nelson to jump in. But he hung out to dry. Alright? I don't know why. I'm just joking. It's tough sometimes. It may not be your personality. And you may feel inadequate. And you may feel like what difference does it make? Listen. That's how God said to get it done. It pleased him through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. The preaching is not me up here preaching. It's us telling people what Jesus did. He's giving us a convincing witness. God's giving that to us. God's giving us a convincing power. Verse 49 says, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. These are good men, they've been with Jesus for three years, and Jesus says, go and tell it, it's done, death, resurrection's taking place, go tell it, start in Jerusalem, but wait. until you have power from on high. The power of the Spirit of God. Let me ask you today, do you know the power of the Spirit of God at work in your life? Acts 1.8, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. When's the last time you got on your knees and said, you know, God, I'm just, I'm lacking power. I'm lacking power. I'm scared, Lord, to witness. I'm scared to tell people about Christ. God, would you empower me? Have you asked Him? Why? He's given us a person of power. The person is the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you this, I'm a shy person. You want to deny that? Go talk to my mom. Alright? Or be around me long enough to realize I have to always ask God to help me do what I do. I do. I'm not just saying that. I have to get out of my comfort zone. How can I? Because God can. See, we can't. You can't live a Christian life without God. You can't be holy without God. We need God in all things, but especially in this area of evangelism, we ought to be crying out to God and saying, Dear God, fill me with your Spirit. Luke 11, verse 13, If ye then be an eagle, know how to give good gifts unto your children, and how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. And listen, power may not be incredible, you know, heroic courage. It just made me, I opened my mouth in obedience to God, trust the spirit of God to take it home to the heart of that person. Last night I was having prayer, and I, before I walked back, I walked a little ways from my house. I asked God to give me an appointment on the way back. I haven't witnessed any people this past week. And as I'm coming back, I get up to one road, and I'm praying out loud, and I'm walking along, and there's a man on the other side of the road, suddenly, with a dog, and I've been talking. And I said, good morning, it was night. That was the second bad thing you did. And so I said, if you heard me talking, I said, I'm sorry, I normally walk in the morning. I said, if you heard me talking, I'm just praying. I'm a Baptist minister. And I thought, this is my opportunity. God's answered my prayers. I asked God for a divine appointment. God's given it to me. As soon as we started talking, down this road, there's hardly any traffic, here comes a car. It gets closer and closer. It turns on a signal and pulls into the drive where the guy is. He goes, I'm sorry, I gotta go. I thought, Lord, I prayed for a divine appointment. And I said this, I was talking to her, I said, either the devil closed the door or you did, and I don't know which. And I walked across the field by my house, I got to the play park, and there's a guy, Ross, I've already mentioned him, sitting there. And I started talking to him, and God led in our conversation, and it was a six-minute window before his child needed to use the toilet, and his wife, or partner, pulled him away. If I had been delayed by another person, I wouldn't have had the opportunity, alright? But how did it all happen? Listen, God is your prayer. That's the Spirit of God directing God. That's God's Spirit working. I know that in the heart of that man. And see, I can tell you other opportunities, and God is working. We gotta trust Him for that. We gotta trust His power for that. God's given a convincing blessing lastly 11 out as far as Bethany and lift up his hands and bless them. And it came to pass when I blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Okay, and I was picturing this in my mind last night as I was thinking about this passage. You see Jesus Christ lifting up his hands in his love for these men and saying, God bless these men! As he gives them their commission, as he empowers them. And I picture him like this as he ascends. And notice what the scripture says. He was parted from them. It's interesting. Jesus Christ never left His men. He never left us. When He parted, He was blessing His men, and He was parted from them. He was Savior. Listen, do you think we got the blessing of God today? Neither pray I for these alone, but for them which will believe in Me through their words. Listen, we are part of those that have believed in Him through their words. and he prayed for us, John 14 through John 16. So what? We've got a convincing message. Don't walk around on Resurrection Sunday and kind of be ashamed, like, man, I believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The world doesn't believe that. Walk around with courage and boldness and say, hey, we've got a message that'll change somebody's life. It's a convincing message. God's given us all we need, all we need, if we'll be faithful and give that message. It's already convinced in your heart this morning that Jesus rose from the dead. He rose definitely. Eyewitnesses saw Him. He rose bodily. He could eat. Prophetically, God said it would happen. Biblically, it had to happen. Triumphantly, He did it for God's glory and our salvation. He's victorious. Convincingly, they will get saved. Let's believe God, right? That's what Resurrection Sunday is all about. May we say with His disciples, Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would take the precious truth of the Word of God and put it deep into our hearts. Savior, thank you that you rose from the dead. And Father, I just, I pray right now in our hearts, you make us stop and think. There could be two problems today. One, somebody doesn't believe it, so they've not gotten saved. Father, pray that it's saved. Father, sadly, another problem could be that even though this has happened, we've been negligent to witness, we've been negligent to ask for your power, we've been negligent to remember your blessing upon the Gospel. And so I pray, Father, for the powerful Gospel to change men's lives, because that's the glory of the Resurrection. by ministry be engraved in our hearts this morning. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand please, we'll sing hymn of invitation. Only trust him, 228, only trust him. Come every soul by sin oppressed, there is mercy with the Lord.