All right, glad you're here tonight. And we're gonna be at Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. And it's a great day, Easter Sunday, praise the Lord that we're here. And I'm thankful that the Scottish Government opened things up to allow us to meet together, especially as we have such a special Sunday so quickly after we're able to get back together. And, you know, as a student at university, on Easter Sunday they have a sunrise service. And you might have been to a sunrise service before, maybe not, but at university we couldn't get up until 6.55 normally, but I suspect that on Easter Sunday it was different. I don't remember what time we got up, but I remember going down to the athletic fields there at Bob Jones University. It was a, you know, there was the running track that was there and the stadium seats, and hundreds of students would come. Not everybody would come. It wasn't a required service, and it was very early in the morning. It was kind of a brisk, cooler morning before the sun rose. And you get down there and get seated, and I remember it was always a beautiful morning in South Carolina. and the preacher boy class president would stand up and after we would sing some of these Easter hymns, he would preach and he'd preach that message and it was just a wonderful experience to be in, being out there on that, at that time. I was walking this morning and it was sunrise and I was walking this morning and reminiscent of that. You might wonder why do they have Easter A couple reasons, I don't mean this flippantly, I mean this powerfully. Jesus was an early ariser, all right? Jesus Christ rose from the dead early on that first day of the week, and the women that came to the tomb, perhaps they couldn't sleep, they were very anxious to get there to care for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so the Bible speaks about them getting there just as day was breaking. And as we come to our Texas break again, or this evening, Matthew 28. There's the setting that's there that Matthew gives to us of everything that's taking place. And the setting was this, it was the final observation of the Sabbath. Okay, the final God-ordained Sabbath day had ended, and now it was the first day of the week. So it says in verse one, in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, the first day of the week, week is Monday and I as a child I think I got that confused a lot of times in my mind Sunday is the first day of the week and Jesus Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday. The women come to the tomb, and you might wonder, why the women? Why are the women the ones that are coming? I suspect it might be like what took place when the Common Book of Prayer was introduced at St. Giles. If you know the story, the women got up and protested. I think it was Mary Geddes through her stool, you know, the metal stool or whatever she was there sitting on. And they protested because the women wouldn't get persecuted like the a man would get persecuted for taking a stand. Perhaps it was like that in Jesus' day as well. The Bible says they came, then came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And then there's, the Bible says in verse two, behold, there was a great earthquake. Now there had been an earthquake a few days before as Jesus Christ had died on the cross. The Bible speaks about it then. And there's another earthquake as the angel And so the Bible says for the angel reward descended from heaven It came and rolled back the stone from the door and he sat upon it. This is like the greatest ever reveal, right? I mean, there's there's some great reveals maybe new cars or things that have come out. They've got a tarpaulin and over that, and then they come and they take the tarpaulin away. This is the greatest reveal ever. The angel comes and he takes that stone that made it so he couldn't see into that tomb, and he moves the stone away. The Bible says about this man, this angel, his countenance was like lightning, and his upon that angel. And the Bible says in verse four, and for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. Now there were some soldiers that were there about the tomb, because we'll talk about it later. There was a fear that Jesus Christ would do what he said he'd do, and that's come out of the grave. So they put soldiers there, they sealed the tomb. And these men might've been men that were present at the crucifixion of Jesus. They might've been some of those that punched Jesus and said, hey, who punched you? Or they spat upon Jesus. These are tough guys. And you imagine this, kids, if you had seen an angel from heaven come down and roll that stone back in an earthquake, I think you'd be a little bit afraid as well. But the Bible says about these strong men that their knees were not together, they were shaking, not because of the earthquake, but because of fear, and that they fell on the ground in a dead faint, okay, as if they were dead men. But God strengthened the women that were there. It says in verse five, the angel answering the sentence of the women, fear not ye, for I know Okay, so the angel comfort states that come to the tomb on this morning. Now, the resurrection morning was a wow morning, all right? It's amazing. We might be, today, too familiar with the story. It's common to us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. in those first experiences and the glory and the wonder of what was taking place. And my hope tonight, as we revisit a very familiar story, is that God will make it new to us tonight. And help us understand the wonder of that glorious resurrection, that coming again into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Spirit. out in that place. By the way, not through that open door that the angel opened. Jesus Christ was already absent. Praise God for his power in the resurrection. Let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to bless as we come to the Word of God this evening. Father, we're grateful for the opportunity again that we have every year to celebrate the resurrection of the Word of Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful, Father, for whatever reason, these traditions are in our calendar of Easter and Christmas. Father, I see the hand of God in you. And I'm grateful that we can focus our eyes on an event that was so spectacular, so amazing that even recently we've talked about it in church, about the angel's interest in things that are taking place and that here they come again to see the wonder of what Jesus Christ did. And Father, I pray tonight again, if there's somebody that is lost, Father, they're in their sin. If they died today, they wouldn't take a step towards heaven, but they'd be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. Father, I pray for that person tonight, that the Spirit of God would let them know that they don't have to go to hell, that there's a Savior that loved them so much that He died on the cross for their sin, even as we focused on last Sunday. And Father, that He paid the price completely. that they'll humble their heart and obey the gospel that they can be born again and have God's gift of everlasting life. Father, for others here tonight that are believers, I pray, remind us of the power of the resurrection. Remind us of the glory of who we possess in our hearts that the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is present tonight in the hearts of those that are born again. And Father, I pray, knowing I can't speak without your enablement, Asking Father, you not just speak to our hearts, but the hearts of the kids, they bless. Mrs. Schor, as she speaks with the children, that they listen to the Word of God. And Father, as I speak, I speak as the oracles of God, according to the Word of God. And Father, I pray that you'd be glorified to help in this time, and to guide in this time, and to have your way in this time. It's in Christ's name I pray. All right, so we're just gonna look at the story of the resurrection and go through it here tonight. The first thing I wanna point out is that it was the worst day in Satan's existence. Okay, Satan is a created being, he's an angel. As an angel, he was created gloriously, but you know the story is that he sinned against God. He said, I will be like the most high God. He became the archenemy of God. He became the leader in the rebellion against God in this world. And it was a bad day for him, in fact, the worst day. As these words are declared in verse six, the first four words, he is not here. Jesus Christ had vacated that tomb. I like what Luke records as these stories are recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. You know, Matthew wrote, Luke wrote, and Mark wrote the Synoptics saying the same stories, Luke said, as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, the women, they said unto them, the angels said, why seek ye the living among the dead? Why would you go to a graveyard to look for somebody that is alive? I mean, that's not something that you do. A graveyard is for dead people, and that tomb was for a dead person, and Jesus Christ was not there because he had risen from the dead. What was he thinking as that took place? And the Bible doesn't reveal the dynamics of that. I think the false teachers certainly thought that. They were Satan's emissaries. They were the ones that were working for Satan. They thought they had won. Jesus Christ finally had been put to death. I wonder, was Satan celebrating, throwing a party? And again, I imagine that the false teachers were, that there was some drinking taking place and some excitement taking place because they thought Jesus Christ was in that grave that Jesus was going to celebrating too early. When it comes to races, you'll come up with all sorts of videos where you see that runner running that race, and they begin to celebrate, or the arm goes up, or they're on that bike, that cyclist, and the arm goes up, and they're celebrating, and then that person comes from behind and goes right past them. You know, I think a little bit that Satan's arms were up as Christ was crucified, that finally it had been accomplished, the Son of God had been killed. We've talked about it before, but many times in the Word of God you can see that same desire, The infant Jesus, remember Herod, King Herod is a wise man king, and the Bible says that King Herod was troubled in all Jerusalem with him when they heard that the king of the Jews was to be born in that area, and that he sent out to Bethlehem and killed all children two years old and younger because he was seeking to kill the Christ child. Satan tried to kill Jesus by getting him to jump off the temple. He said, if you're God, throw yourself down. He tried to kill him on the Sea of Galilee. We talked about this before, but remember, Jesus rebuked the wind. He rebuked the wind because it was a satanic wind that threatened that ship. Even though he had been asleep in the boat, he wasn't worried, but it was Satan seeking to destroy him. He tried to kill we looked at Nazareth, the birthplace of Christ and where he grew up, and spoke about that story, where they sought to throw him again off the cliff after he said that he declared that he was Messiah in the synagogue. And we know this tonight, that beyond a shadow of a doubt, even though the cross was God's plan, Satan was behind the crucifixion of Christ. It says in Luke 22, verse 3, that then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. Now, Calvary is God's plan. That was God's plan from the beginning of time, that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, would die on the cross for the sins of the world. But what we don't know is this. How much of that does Satan understand? How much of that was Satan aware of? Because Satan is not on God's side. Satan is anti-Christ. Satan was not seeking to further the work of God by taking Jesus Christ to the cross. And I don't know tonight if he thought that somehow through the persecution of the cross, Christ would fail. But Christ did not fail. He said on the cross, it is finished. But I don't know that Satan fully understood that. So we're asked tonight, you and I understand that Satan was defeated at the cross. Satan certainly became aware of his defeat at the resurrection. And so we can see it was a very bad day up for Satan because the Bible says he is not here. Then secondly, the human spirit returned and did Jesus transform earthly body. aware of that. But I would say this, biblically death is more spiritual than physical. I'm talking about biblically, I'm not speaking tonight about your heartbeat or the rhythm of your heart, whether or not you have a pulse or how they clinically approve death, but there is a spiritual aspect of death, the Bible speaks about, of the body and the spirit and gone through a lot at the crucifixion. The Bible says in Isaiah 52, 14, as many were astounded at thee, his visage was so marred, more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. If you saw Jesus Christ on the cross, and you knew Jesus Christ before he went to the cross, you couldn't recognize him. He was so bloodied and beaten and battered by those fists and the crown of thorns and the whiplashes that had lacerated his back that the Bible says you couldn't recognize him. He had lost a lot of blood, but he was still alive until that point where his spirit separated from his body. On the cross in Mark 15, verse 37, Jesus cried with a loud voice, the Bible says, and he gave up the ghost. That means that his human spirit separated from his body. It's what James says in James 2.26 when he said, for as the body without the spirit is dead. So we have just a body here tonight and the spirit has departed from it. What we know about that body is that that person is no longer there. It's just a shadow. I like what's been said about our soul. It's this, you're not a body with a soul. You are a soul with a body. Who you are is more inside than outside. We've got a good young man up in Perth that's a MK, a missionary kid that's there, and he's getting a kidney transplant. And there's a pastor down in England, Pastor Kent Gospire, that's gonna give Dylan a kidney. When Dylan gets up off that operating table later this month, and he speaks to his family, Kent Gospire's a great guy, but Dylan is not gonna sound like Kent Gospire when he gets off of that table, even though he's gonna have a kidney that was given to him by Kent Gospire. It's going to be different. Why? Because who you are and who I am is not my body. It is my soul. It is that principle of life within me. Look, this body deteriorates. This body gets old. We might get a prosthetic limb, but we're still the same person. And some of us feel like we're still a young person, right? Because that spirit doesn't age. That soul doesn't age. It is who we really are. And Jesus had a human spirit because he was a man. He became a man. 1 Corinthians 2, 11 says, For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him. For Jesus to fully understand humanity and be our sympathetic high priest, Jesus Christ took into himself a human spirit because Jesus Christ became a man. But when Jesus Christ died, that human spirit departed. But when Jesus Christ came out of that tomb, by the way, again, not necessarily opening, not opening the stone. But as he passed through those walls, the Bible speaks about it later as he appears to the disciples in his new body that he was given, he could do things that you and I can't do, but that was the same Jesus, that was the same transformed body by the grace of God, changed body by the grace of God. And by the way, tonight, if you're saved, what Jesus Christ did by the grace of God is what you too will do on that day that God raises you from the dead. Bible says in Romans 8, 11, but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you. The thing tonight is this, do you have the spirit of God or do you not have the spirit of God? If you have the spirit of God, you have life. He that hath the son hath life, he that hath not the son If God's spirit, the eternal spirit, dwells inside of us, praise God, though we die, we'll live, just like Christ. And so we rejoice tonight that he proved his power over the devil by walking out of that tomb. He is not here. And that human spirit returned to Jesus earthly body where he is. He has risen as He said. Jesus had spoken about it. And you wonder, as the women went to the tomb that morning, did they suspect that Jesus Christ would not be there? Now, I suspect they might have thought that way. Why? Because Lazarus just, within the past few months, had been dead in the tomb for several days. Jesus Christ had come, and remember, He had stood at the tomb, and He said, Lazarus, come forth. They knew that. They also knew that Jesus Christ had said that he would rise from the dead. John 2 verse 19, Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture, Now sadly, the disciples had to think back and go, oh yeah, that's what Jesus Christ said. But remember this, when Jesus died, what did the chief priests do? They sent this deceiver, said when he was alive, that after three days, he was gonna rise from the dead. Let's get a bunch of soldiers, let's put them around the tomb. We wanna watch that he's there to prevent his disciples coming and sneaking his body away. But they knew I wonder tonight if you could put yourself in the place of His disciples. You know Jesus has said this, but you know what your eyes have seen too, and that's that the Son of God has been bloodied and battered and beaten and crucified and stripped in shame and dying on that cross. Would you still believe that Jesus Christ could rise from the dead? But Jesus said He would. And tonight, to put ourselves into the place of the disciples, we can kind of ask ourselves this. Do I really believe that Jesus Christ is gonna come again? Do I really believe that Jesus Christ could come tonight? John 14 verse two says, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus Christ said, kill this body, and in three days, it's gonna walk out of the tomb. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also. And I'm gonna come again, and I'm gonna receive you unto myself. And tonight, if you're a born-again believer, you have Jesus Christ as your Savior, our confidence could be as great as the disciples should have been in anticipating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus did what he said. And then fourth, fourthly tonight, garden tours, immediately. Okay, as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, garden tours began immediately. Verse 6, the angel said, come see the place. You know, I enjoyed this morning sharing some of the pictures from Israel, right? In the garden tomb there in Israel, I spoke about this, where Jesus Christ was crucified, called G-d You can kind of see eye sockets and a mouth socket in that face of that rock, and it was there in front of that that Jesus Christ was crucified. It's outside the city. The Bible speaks about him being crucified outside the city. It's by a major crossroads. And remember, they put, again, above the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, but they put it in different languages because of the major area that this was in. It was very close to the Garden Tomb. In fact, as I mentioned this morning, just a few hundred meters away. Now the Catholics, or the Greek Orthodox, that same faith type idea, that religious system, they believe that Christ was crucified at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they put the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that is also where he was put in the tomb, according to them. But you know, as I went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I tell you this, it is spiritually very dark in that place. It's a place that is oppressive. And it's inside the city walls. There's things that don't make sense about that location, but when you go into the garden, Jim, it's like a breath of fresh air. And it's not just because it's outside. It's run by believers, born-again believers. And in the 1860s, they located this spot, and this tomb was excavated, and it makes sense. And I'm just telling you, in my experience, you can sense the presence of God in that place. And I enjoyed it. I love the Garden Tomb. You saw the pictures there inside the tomb and all that. And that was one of my favorite places to see, but I wasn't the first one to see it 2,000 years ago. The first tour took place as the angel said to those women, come and see. Notice immediately as this happened, Satan was excited. Remember there were some men that were standing there that saw this take place. They could have said this, wow, an angel came and rolled back the stone, but they didn't say it, why? Because they went to the chief priest and the chief priest gave them the devil's lie to begin immediately to say. And so they gave them large money unto the soldier, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while he slept. Verse 14. And if this come 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. And no doubt, these soldiers are gonna say that, why? Because if they say the prisoner, even though he was dead, got away, that's a jeopardy of their life. They've been bribed by this chief priest to lie. If they go back on the word that they've given to the chief priest, the chief priest are gonna come, and they're gonna lie about them and say, get rid of these guys, right? Satan's good at lying. But the thing is, tonight, take the garden tour, right? Go to that tomb in your Bible, look at what the scripture says about tonight unto dust shall he not return unto dust shall he not return look look at what it says in verse 6 it says where the Lord lay Kids, if you were to walk into that tomb, remember you have to duck down to get into that place, but there on the limestone is a shelf that they would make. And that's where the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was put and where his body lay. And normally, if you put a body there, it would decay. And the Bible says about Jesus' funeral that it was a very lonely funeral. Remember, Joseph of Arimathea goes, takes the body of Jesus down, Nicodemus is there, and some of the women. And they go to this place, this rich man's tomb, Joseph's very own tomb, and they take him in, they lay his body there, but his body does not decompose. The Bible says about this statement, dust to dust, it says in Genesis 3.19, God said to Adam, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till it return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Now the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was beaten, bruised, and bloodied, but the body of Jesus Christ did not decompose. His body didn't turn to dust. Praise God, he was preserved just like the word of God says about Jesus that in Psalm 16, verse 10, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, thy holy one to see corruption. Psalm 49, nine, that he should still live forever and not see corruption. You know, tonight, if I died, Sadly, and we don't like to think about it, but my body's gonna decompose. But it's okay to think about it because of this. God's gonna take a decomposed body, and by his grace, he's gonna bring it back to life, putting my spirit back inside of it. That's what God's gonna do. Job trusted in this 1,500 years before Christ ever came. He said this, though after my skin, worms destroy this body, let's think about decomposition, yet in my flesh, Shall I seek out? That's awesome tonight. If this was a funeral, we'd have hope. We'd be able to encourage each other to the Lord and say, praise God, this person loved Jesus Christ. They were born again. They were saved. That body that we love and care about, that person that indwelt that body, they're coming back. Why? Because he lives. Praise God today, we can look at the scripture and say, Jesus' body did not decompose. And so unto us shall he not return. And then six. Joy has come in the morning. Joy has come in the morning. Psalm 30 verse five says this. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. There was sorrow in the hearts of the disciples as they witnessed the crucifixion of Christ. The resurrection was the worst day for Satan. The crucifixion was the worst day for God's servants. They saw their Savior crucified. They had been with Him for the last three years. He was their life, their light, their joy, their hope, their comfort, their communion. Everything about their life that was good was found in Christ, and now Christ was dead. And I can say this tonight, in those three days, they were living their life as if Christ was dead. Can you imagine what that'd be like tonight? Living our life as if the Son of God was dead. John 16, verse 32. It says, Behold, the hour cometh, yea, it has now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. It was a tough time, they forsook Jesus, they fled, Peter denied Christ, and it was a very, very dark day, and so the angel comes to the women, and the angel says this, go quickly, I mean, go quickly. Why the haste? Why the excitement? Because this is tough. They're living like Christ is dead. Tell them to stop that. I want to say to you tonight, are you living as if Christ is dead? Are you living as if there is no power, as if there is no forgiveness, as if there is no resurrection? Are you tonight in your heart saying, hey, praise God, my Savior lives, my Savior reigns, my Savior walks with me, He talks with me, I know Him, I know His presence, praise God. Our testimony tonight ought to be we know Him. Our case ought to be there's people that know Him. We need to get that message out to the world with that urgency of the truth of the resurrection. Now as we come, and I'm just gonna tell you this, there's a final three points, and they're quick points tonight, but they're application points. And so that means this, as we think about them, there's something that we gotta think about, what should I do because of what we're considering in the word of God? And so point number seven is that mission impossible is now mission accomplished. Mission impossible is now mission accomplished. Christ successfully went to the cross. Listen, with men it's impossible, but not with God. And I would say this about the cross. I know that Jesus is Jesus and Jesus is God, but Jesus went to the cross with the power of God. It was impossible. but by the grace of God, by the sustaining power of God. We know that Christ could not sin, Jesus Christ is God, and yet he faced it all for us. He was successful with his mission. His mission was accomplished. But now as he finishes that, as soon as he rises from the dead, he's on to the next mission. The cross is done, but he's gonna focus forward. Verse seven, it says this, the angel said, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him. And you remember this morning as we looked at the pictures with Israel, we saw the Arbol cliffs, Mount Arbol, and overlooking the Sea of Galilee. is to that mountain they think that Jesus Christ called his men. And the Bible says in verse 16, then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted him. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, going therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. You know, Jesus doesn't sit down with his men and say the cross was awful, let me tell you about the loneliness, let me tell you about the isolation, and look back at the cross. The cross was finished. Jesus Christ looked ahead at the race that was before his men and said, men, now that I've accomplished my mission, you accomplish yours. Take the gospel to the world. It's an awesome refocus of his men and getting them out, getting them focused upon the gospel. Katie and I, reading through the book of Acts and our devotions as a couple, we just got to the story of Cornelius. And Cornelius is a Gentile that wants to worship God correctly, doesn't know how to worship God, so he's praying and saying, God, how do I properly relate to you? And God says, go sin for Peter. He's in Joppa. He'll come and he'll tell you everything that you're supposed to do. And he's going to come and show you the gospel of what Christ did on the cross. But I said to my wife, isn't that interesting? God could have said, Cornelius, the gospel is Jesus Christ crucified for your sin. Jesus Christ not staying in the grave, but risen from the dead. This is the gospel, get saved. He didn't. He said it's in for people. Why? Because the gospel is always carried by God's men to those that will get saved. at Mount Marble, and God says, Jesus says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And Peter says, Lord, I like to fish. Matthew says, boy, I'd kind of like to go back to being a rich tax collector. Luke goes, well, you know, I've got a lot of people been asking me to heal them recently. Luke was a physician. You know, I got to get back into my medical practice before I can. You know, we understand tonight that those men looked at what the Lord said, and they looked at the Christ that went to the cross, and they said that, for the Christ that went to the cross, I will go and I will tell. But they had already forsaken all and followed him, the Bible says. And let me ask us tonight, in light of the commission that Christ gave, what are we doing with the gospel? Why? Because Cornelius can't hear unless Peter goes to him. You know, we look around and we say, our world needs Christ, and our neighbors need Christ, and our family needs, you know, our people need Christ. And I think it could almost be like this. God sends somebody from a foreign nation that is full-time called to give the gospel. God sent them to tell me. Or we could say tonight, God, why can't I tonight? Why can't I be on FaceTime, or with them, or Facebook with them, with them, giving them gospel. Why can't I be at their door, speaking to them about Christ? Why can't I be the one that hands the cashier the track that tells them how they can accept Jesus Christ as their Savior? We ought to look at it tonight and say, you know what? As soon as it was done, Christ said, go and tell. Because his mission was accomplished. And then eighth, you need to believe your ears. Okay, this is an application point again tonight. You need to believe your ears. As you hear about the resurrection, believe what you've heard, because the angel said this at the end of verse seven, lo, I have told you. Those women could have looked at him and said, nobody can rise from the dead. They could have looked at him and said, I don't believe he could have risen from the dead. I don't believe you. I don't believe you're an angel. I don't believe you're a messenger from God. But that angel just said this, lo, I have told you. He's a messenger from God. And the point is this tonight, when the messenger of God says something with the authority of God to your heart, through your ears, you ought to, by the grace of God, say, I'm gonna listen to what is being said. proven that Christ was risen but at this point it wasn't. At this point it was just Jesus has risen from the dead, boy I've told you. The women took that and they ran with that and said I believe that and then Christ was revealed to them later on in the garden even as we breath. But more than that, 1 Corinthians 15 verse six says, after that he was seen among 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. And Paul says, Paul wrote, Paul said, over 500 people saw Jesus Christ after he rose from the dead. All the apostles saw Jesus Christ after he rose from the dead. But remember this, any one of the apostles struggled to believe. The Bible says about that man whom we call Doubting Thomas, that Doubting Thomas said, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, he put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And I would just say this to somebody today that might find in their heart that they're like Doubting Thomas. They say, I just can't quite believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. I would just say this to you tonight, don't go there. Because Jesus Christ isn't gonna do for you what he did for Thomas, where he showed up and he said, put your fingers into my hands and thrust your hand into my side. And Thomas said this, my Lord and my God. And Jesus looked at him and said, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen me and have believed. It's a greater thing. Now I'll tell you this, Thomas didn't have this. We've got the whole New Testament testifying to the truth of the resurrected Lord. We have an abundance of information, far more than Thomas had, and far greater than what Thomas possessed. And I just say to you tonight, if in your heart you just go, man, I don't know if I can believe that, about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is you're missing it. Listen to what God said. Lo, I have told you this. Ask God by his grace. Say what the man said. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Why? And then lastly, fall at the feet of your resurrected Lord. Fall at the feet of your resurrected Lord. It says in verse eight, and they departed quickly from the sepulcher 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 you can almost see that they're like, they lost him once before through the cross, he died, he's alive, they don't want to let him go, they grab hold of him, they worship him. And tonight as you think about those women in that response of worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ, remember they responded by faith, but that faith went to experience. And tonight, if you'll respond by faith, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, the experience will follow, even as the song says, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever man may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer. In just the time I need Him, He's always near. He lives. He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. narrow way he lives he lives salvation to impart you ask me how I know he lives he lives within my heart and for us that are saved tonight we say amen I get it I understand that I have the truth with which passive knowledge and that is experience And again, to that person, in their heart, they're saying, you know, I just can't believe it. I would say this, believe it, accept it, obey it, and then, by the grace of God, you'll experience it. Just like these women, they trusted what the angel said, then they got the experience of, oh wow, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. If you'll accept Jesus Christ as your savior tonight, you'll have that very experience. And so tonight, as we conclude, What is the Lord speaking to your heart about? He's risen, praise God. But our world needs to know that. Easter is not about Easter bunny. It's not about Easter eggs. It's about Jesus Christ walking out of a tomb. And he lives. And because he lives, they can live. Tonight, we just say to God, God, by your grace, I may not have been a faithful witness in the past, but by the grace of God, I'm gonna be a faithful witness now. I need to carry that message. Jesus, you stood at Mount Arbol, and you said that the commission is yours. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It might be a young man or a young woman tonight. The Spirit of God is speaking to you about full-time service. Many of the service where the Spirit of God spoke to a young person's heart and said, you know what? It's a full-time call for you. It might be that tonight. It could be tonight that in your heart you just think, I'm not saying. on the cross, and tonight I need to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and as my Savior. I want you to do this tonight, and if you just bow your heads, please, and we'll just have a quiet moment here in our hearts. Put everyone's eyes closed, please, and heads bowed. And I just want to ask you, do you know 100% for sure that you're saved? In other words, that you have personally put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you can say that tonight, Pastor Ben, I have put my faith in Jesus Christ. I know for sure that I'm saved. Would you signify that by just raising your hand? All right, I'm the only one looking around just now. Everyone else has their eyes closed. All right? If you can't put your hand up tonight, you can put your hands down. But if you can't put your hands up tonight, but you want to be saved, and you'd say, Pastor Ben, I want to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior tonight. If that's you, would you raise your hand tonight? Anybody like that tonight? All right, then just one last question. Is there anybody tonight that Spirit of God is speaking your heart about maybe surrendering to full-time ministry? And you say, you know, Pastor Ben, Spirit of God is speaking my heart about surrendering God full-time. But you don't have to make that decision tonight. You can wait, but if the Spirit of God is speaking to your heart, it'd be a great time to respond to that. Is there anybody like that tonight? Amen, let's just bow our heads and pray. Father, we praise you for the grace that you gave. And Father, whatever the case tonight, we rejoice that those that are saved, they know for sure that they're saved. But Father, I pray for those that couldn't raise their hand. Father, that tonight they would obey the gospel, and get saved, and put their faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus. And Father, I pray that we live our life for the cause of Christ and carrying the gospel. And Father, I asked a very specific question tonight about full-time service. We desire, Lord of the harvest, that you send forth laborers into the harvest field. And God, that you do that through our church. And so I pray, Spirit of God, if there's somebody that you're working their heart about it, they may not be convinced yet. I pray, God, make it abundantly clear. Father, regardless, by the grace of God, help us all to be faithful to carry this message to the world.