Once again, it is such a delight
to be here. And it's just good to be able
to fellowship and visit with friends and family. I direct
your attention this morning to the book of Acts chapter 4, Acts
chapter 4 and Acts chapter 4 and verse 33. We're going to spend
our time speaking about that glorious subject that is brought
up here in this verse of scripture and that is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ and the implications and the blessings that come as
a result of that. Mr. Hawker, one of my favorite
writers, said, the resurrection is the keystone in the arch of
the Christian faith. It's without it, we have nothing
else. It's all false. Here in the book
of Acts chapter 4 verse 33, this is after Peter and John have
been arrested. They have been bullied by a council,
authoritative council. They've been released with the
admonition and the shaking of the finger. Don't you bring this
subject of the resurrection of Christ up again. And they go
home with their friends, and they pray, and the place is shaken,
and God sends them this, and with great power, gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace
was upon them all. So it doesn't look like they're
going to follow the instructions of that council very much. because
this is the very capstone of their faith. Now, the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus was a covenant of grace, agreement between the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As we find it in the
Scriptures, there was a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. We also find out that there was a lamb to be resurrected. at the appropriate time. There
was a lamb to be brought out from death. How do we know this? Well, the Old Testament as well
as the New Testament is the Word of God. It was given to us by
the Holy Spirit through inspired people. And as we go to the Old
Testament Scriptures or the New Testament Scriptures, we are
really reading the Word of God It is a revelation of the mind
of God, and the will of God is presented through the preaching
of the Gospel. We have the mind of God in the
Word of God. This is God's mind, His Word
to us. So, would you turn with me to
the book of the Psalms this morning? As we look here with regard to
the resurrection, it was promised in the Council Halls of Eternity.
It was promised in the Covenant of Grace. There was not the slightest
issue that Jesus Christ would come down to the sin-cursed earth
and then not succeed in that final part of his journey. So
here in the book of Psalms, the psalmist was led to write this
in the book of the Psalms, Psalm 16. Would you turn there with
me this morning? Psalm 16, and there beginning with verse 1,
it says, Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.
Now, I had a preacher tell me one time there were about 5 or
6 or 10 or 15 Psalms that were Messianic. And after being saved,
you find out that they're all messianic. Now, they do have
application with David's life, and they have application with
our life, but in reality, before it all, they are messianic. And that's this psalm. My goodness extendeth not to
thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the
excellent in whom is all my delight. Their sorrow shall be multiplied
that hasten after another god. Their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The
Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and my cup, thou maintainest
my lot. The lines are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have goodly heritage.
I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel. My reigns also
instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me, because He is my right hand, and I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and
my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer
thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou shalt show me the paths
of life, and in thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Notice there in
verse 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt
thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Now as we read that,
we may say, I wonder what he's talking about. I wonder what
he's talking about. I am convinced in the original
languages that were written that many more people understood what
that was talking about in its original form than we may because
we have a translation of it. But just to clarify the problem,
When we come to the New Testament, we find that God clarifies the
issue. He just opens up the issue and
shares us the true reality of that verse of Scripture. We find,
and on our way to the book of Acts again, would you go a little
farther into the book of 1 Corinthians 15. Brother Mike read this, but
I want to just go there for just a second. 1 Corinthians 15. And
there in verse 4, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 4, we read these
words about the Old Testament scriptures. The Bible tells us
through the Old Testament, and that's all they had for centuries,
was the Old Testament. All through the Old Testament
era, up through about 100 or 200 AD, was all they had. And then the New Testament was
compiled and brought together, and we enjoy that blessing today.
But here it tells us, here in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter
15 and verse 3 and 4, That he was buried and that he
rose again the third day now We just take that and assume
that that's okay But listen to what God the Holy Spirit gave
to the Apostle Paul with regard to that thought according to
the scriptures Now we may not go be able to go back there and
say well here it is here it is here it is But it's there according
to the scriptures. Now we have several verses in
the Old Testament that declare that. But let's go, if you would
with me, go to the book of Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 verse
20. As we think about the benefits
of the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and particularly the resurrection, because it
is where it is all summed up. We'll read a verse of scripture
that says, if he is not raised, we are yet in our sins. And that
means he's a liar. If we're yet in our sins, if
he is not raised from the dead, we are worshiping a liar. And we'll find out in the scriptures,
that's not the truth. He is the way, the truth, and
the lie. First, the book of Acts, if you
turn there with me, the book of Acts chapter one. Acts 1,
verse 20. Now, Judas was not a sheep. Judas was appointed to his place. Old Testament. He was appointed
to betray the Savior. He was appointed by the great
God of heaven. Now, someone says, I don't understand
that. I don't either, and it's above my pay grade, but I'll
believe it. Because it's written in the book. It's there. So I don't have to completely
understand it, but I certainly can believe it. God gives us
the grace to do that. Now, here we find out there's
going to be a replacement for Judas. And this is one of the
requirements that is imposed by this group of people that
realizes that Peter brings up an Old Testament passage. He
brings up that there must be a replacement for Judas. And here in the book of Acts,
chapter two, chapter 1, verse 20, For it is
written in the book of the Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate,
let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another take. Wherefore of these men which
have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us, so we have those twelve And out
on the fringes, out here, we have many other people that have
continued with the Lord all through His ministry. We don't have them
named. We don't have the list of them,
but we have people that were out there. Now, Brother Mike
read a passage of Scripture about a bunch of Jews that believed,
and as soon as we got down through there, we find out they didn't
believe the gospel. They believed that they were okay by being
children of Abraham, but the scripture says they believed.
Now there's a difference between believing and being given the
belief to believe. All right, here it says, now
this is the requirements. They've had to be around for
quite a while during the ministry of the Lord. In fact, from the
very beginning, they had to be around from the baptism of John
until that same day that he was taken up for us. must one be
ordained to be a witness with us of what? His resurrection. This person cannot just be any
person. This person has to have a knowledge
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He may have been one
of those 500 brethren at once that Jesus revealed himself to.
It doesn't tell us, but there was a requirement imposed upon
him. My friends, if you know of a pastor that doesn't believe
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, stay away, because he
does not know the gospel. I don't care what he says. If
he does not believe the gospel, he will always say, Jesus didn't
raise from the dead. All right. As we move through
here, we find in chapter 2 of the book of Acts, there is a
direct quote that helps us with that passage of scripture over
in Psalm 16. In Psalm 2, Psalm 2 verse 25, we have it
clarified. This is what the Spirit wants
us to understand about that passage over there in the book of the
Psalms about thou shalt not leave my soul in hell. and my body
will not see corruption. And he is used here to quote
that as Peter speaking on the day of Pentecost. It tells us
in the book of Acts 2, verse 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. What's he glad about? The one
that laid down his life for ransom for many is not going to stay
in that grave. He's going to be successful.
He's going to pay the debt. He's going to pay the sin debt
of all his people. And when he paid the sin debt,
it is a successful payment of debt. You know, Jesus said from
the cross, it is finished. Now to a lot of people today,
that doesn't mean a whole lot, but those people that heard him,
he used a word that says the debt is paid. And some understood
what he meant, and some says, what in the world is he talking
about? The debt is paid. What do you mean? A male factor
hanging on a cross, dying as a result of being crucified,
is telling us that the debt is paid? Yes, it is. debt is paid all right therefore
my heart shall rejoice now verse 27 because thou will not leave
my soul in the grave in hell neither wilt thou suffer
thy holy one to see corruption so the Lord Jesus Christ did
not have one decomposing cell in his body in that grave It
doesn't take long for us as natural people to have some decomposition
set in. But with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will my
body see corruption. And He is going to be brought
out of that. In verse 31 of that same chapter, and we find that
that is a direct quote. This is a direct quote, verse
31 of this chapter. is a direct quote from the Old
Testament, Psalm 16. What does it mean? All right,
let's go to the New Testament and find out what the Holy Spirit
told these men what it meant. In verse 31, the scripture says,
He's seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ.
Thou shalt not leave his soul in hell, nor shall he see corruption. What do we have the Holy Spirit
sharing with us? He spoke of the resurrection
of Christ. that his soul was not left in
hell, not left in the grave, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all our witnesses."
Now, there's a number of other places in the book of Acts that
it brings up this very subject, but we are going to move along.
The Lord Jesus Himself, during His public ministry, and it didn't
last very long, Can you imagine having your entire ministry summed
up in three and a half years? About 30 years of age, he goes
to John. And about 33 and a half years
of age, he's in a tomb. Well, I'm sure glad I'm not graded
on my first three and a half years. A ministry of about three and
a half years turned this world upside down. In the book of Matthew,
chapter 20, The Lord Jesus is speaking about this very time
that we're looking at today. He did not keep His disciples
in ignorance about what He was going to do. Now, they did not
completely understand what He had to say. Many of them walked
away and said, well, I wonder what He's talking about, because
most of them had the misconception that He's going to set up an
earthly kingdom, which He never promised. He's gonna set up a
spiritual kingdom, and that kingdom has been from eternity. All right,
here in the book of Matthew, chapter 20, we have the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking to His disciples about what lies ahead
of Him, verse 17. Matthew, chapter 20, verse 17,
we read this. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the 12 disciples apart in the way and said unto them, did
you notice it's all 12? Judas is among them. He didn't
separate him out. We don't separate people out.
The Lord has to take care of that business. I find it a joy
to preach the gospel to every creature and let Him do the work. All right. Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem. And the son of man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes. Now who's that about?
That guy sitting right over there. Now he doesn't know it completely,
but Jesus does. And upon the scribes and they
shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. But he brings out
several times in his public ministry, and the third day he shall rise
again. He gives this information a number
of times. In fact, all four Gospels have
a record of the Lord Jesus Christ talking to his disciples and
saying, we must go to Jerusalem. I must go to Jerusalem. I must
suffer many things in Jerusalem. I will be crucified, but I want
you to know clearly that the third day I shall raise from
the tomb. Now, some of them, they didn't
comprehend it all. But when it was over, and we
get to the book of Acts, and the Lord revealed that he's not
setting up an earthly kingdom, but he has a kingdom of believers,
they said, now I know what he's talking about. And they would
give his life for the successful ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the book of John, would you go over there to John chapter
2? We're going to, if you want the rest of them I'll give them
to you. One's in Luke, one's in Mark. But in the book of John,
John chapter 2 verse 19. John chapter 2 and verse 19 we
read this. He's speaking to them about the
temple. of his body, and they misunderstand
him and say, Well, it's this temple you're talking about.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple. And
in three days I will raise it up. Now who's going to do the
raising? The one that's put in the tomb,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But we also find out that God
the Father had a great interest and raised him from the dead.
And God the Holy Spirit had a great interest and also raised him
from the dead. So the triunity of the Godhead
raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Now in all of
these instances and throughout the scriptures, we find on the
third day that that took place. Have you ever thought about the
third day? What's the third day have to
do with anything? And yet they all have that record,
the third day. She'll raise the third day. Well,
if you travel with me for just a moment over to the book of
Genesis chapter one. In the book of Genesis chapter
one, I'm sitting at my study bench, which is the kitchen table, and I'm wondering, what in the
world? I've read that and read that and read it, and then I
said, well, where's the first third day mentioned? And that's
in the book of Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter one, beginning
with verse nine. And God said, let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let
the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called
the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called
the seas. And God said that it was good. I have to reemphasize
Hebrews chapter 11. By faith, we understand that
God made the heavens and the earth. And I can understand completely
people who do not believe that. I understand. That's a natural
consequence of the fall. I don't believe what God had
to say about anything. Now, we may consent and assent
to it, but we, in our heart, We deny it. So he goes on to
say, verse 11, and God said, let the earth bring forth grass,
herb-yielding seed, the fruit tree-yielding fruit after his
kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, herb-yielding seed after his
kind, the tree-yielding fruit whose seed was after itself after
his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day. Now what
happened on the third day? God produced all of the grasses and
the trees and he promised they will bring forth after their
kind. And what does the Lord Jesus
Christ do for the church? He brings forth after his kind. Every new creation in Christ
Jesus, He brings forth after His kind. He does not leave the
old hollow shell as a redemption, but He gives us the Holy Spirit. He creates in us a new life,
and that's what He did on this day. He created the life that
we see, and everything brings forth after His kind. I've told
this story. We had a neighbor one time that
had a lot of Well, they're really a willow tree, cottonwood, and
he grafted some apple sprigs on there and wondered why they
didn't grow. It's not after their kind. It's
just not. And that's the problem that we
face in religion, that trying to get a decision out of somebody
is not after the kind of spiritual blessings that the Lord gives.
He must do it. All right. So, it happened on
the third day. I'd like to ask this question
that's often asked, what does the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ mean? By what we've read already, we've
found several answers to the question, yet many, may I answer
the question in several ways. Number one, it proved the success
of Jesus' death in putting away sin. It proved the success of
Jesus' death in putting away sin, taking care of the sin issue
that we are born with, that we bring into this world from an
infant, from a conception. We bring that nature into this
world, and yet we find out in the resurrection of Jesus Christ
that the Lord declares that I have taken care of the sin debt for
everyone I went to the cross for. All right, a bunch of people
go to hell. You know, that's a very unpopular subject. You
just have to read the newspaper and find out everybody goes to
heaven. I mean, it doesn't matter what they did in their life,
they go to heaven. Oh, once in a while we run into some Rapscallion
scoundrel that, well, we're not sure about him. But most of the
time, we see that it's portrayed that everybody in the world goes
to heaven. Well, we'll find out that that's
not true because Jesus Christ did not die for everybody. if you had of, everybody would
go to heaven. Alright, turn with me, if you
would, to 1 Corinthians 15 again, if you would. 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 12. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12,
we have the wonderful blessings that come as a result of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning
with verse 12, the Apostle Paul is dealing with some people,
and it's just like going to any congregation of people in a community
that say they all believe the gospel. And there are some in
there that bring up things that they don't even know. You know,
I got a text from a fellow that he wants me to get interested
in the Dalles Ministerial Association, their prayer group. And when
he sent me the last invitation, it says, prayer, prayer, Batman. And I said to myself, I don't
have to ask him a question. He's already revealed where he
stands. He didn't know a thing, or he wouldn't be writing stuff
like that to all of the ministers in town. So I don't go. I told
him one time, only thing we can agree on is bologna sandwiches,
and I don't like bologna. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter
15, verse 12. Now, if Christ would be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection of the dead? And this is in the church of
Corinth. we have some people that are in there that don't
know and don't believe the gospel. And he says, 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 found false witnesses
of God. We be found false witnesses of
God. Because we have testified of God that he raised Christ
whom he raised up not up if so be the dead rise not but if for
if the dead rise not Then is not Christ raised and if Christ
be not raised your faith is in vain and ye are yet in your sins
so it is a serious consequence of if Jesus Christ be not raised
from the dead. It's so serious that we're yet
in our sins. And if we're yet in our sins,
we shall face Almighty God, a just God, we shall meet Him on serious
conditions, and He will say, depart from me, I never knew
you. That's a serious thing, to have
God say that, to bring that up. Now, if He did not raise from
the dead, we're yet in our sins, and that is a serious, serious
consequence. So it is absolutely essential
that Jesus Christ raised from the dead if He said who He is. In Hebrews 9, would you turn
there with me, Hebrews 9? In Hebrews 9, verse 26, we read
this about the Lord Jesus, and it is only unbelievers that will
argue with the Word of God. I heard someone talk today, Brother
Gary Shepherd, he was preaching a message and someone says, I
just don't believe in election. He says, it's too late. It's
already happened. You're not going to change? God's
not going to change because you disagree with it. Here in the
book of Hebrews 9, verse 26, For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. Now, he's comparing the Old Testament
high priest with the Lord Jesus Christ. But now, once in the
end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself, and as a result of His resurrection, He attested
to the fact that that issue was taken care of. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ. By the resurrection, we find
He has declared that He is the Son of God. Romans. Turn with me to the book of Romans.
Chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Romans 1, verses 3 and 4. We
read here, that concerning the Lord Jesus,
the gospel, the very gospel, the very essence of the gospel,
the very word of the gospel, the very truth of the gospel,
we find out because and as a result of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, He has been declared to be who He said He was. He
declares that He is the Son of God. He was almost stoned to
death one time when He brought that subject up. They said, what
good work do you stone me? He says, not for a good work,
but because thou makest thyself as God. Because He said, I and
Father are one. Here in the book of Romans, chapter
one, verse three and four, it says, concerning His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. Long line. from Adam to David and David
to Mary. But it was a very protected line. There is one that can trace his
line back to Adam. Now, my line can go back to about
1600, 1500, and then it bogs down. And most doves. But this is a perfect line because
it is the messianic line. Just follow it through. There's
a long list of it. All right, the book of verse
three or verse four. Now this same Son of concerning
the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by what? by
the resurrection from the dead. He is declared to be the Son
of God by the resurrection from the dead. The Lord Jesus, when
He came, He declared, I am the Son of God. It's no wonder we
have written so often in John 1, verse 1, sums it up. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. And He continuously declared that. He said, I'm also a man,
the perfect man. I didn't have Adam involved in
my birth. I had Mary, the woman, and the
Holy Spirit involved in my birth, so I don't have that characteristic.
You know, a perfect person cannot die if we have no sin. We cannot die. Well, how did
this perfect person die then? Because we read that he laid
down his life, a ransom for many. How did he die? Because his people's
sin was imputed to him. And God punished him to death
for the ransom price of his children. All right, here in John chapter
10, would you turn there with me? John chapter 10. As we find
the Lord Jesus bringing up this very subject, John chapter 10,
verse 30, the resurrection. John chapter 10 verse 30, I and,
and if you notice the word my is in italics, it's put there
for clarification, but in some ways it would be just as well
if it just said I and Father are one. Then the Jews took up
stones again to stone him, and Jesus answered them, Many good
works have I shown to you from my Father. For which of those
works do you stone me? And the Jews answered him, saying,
For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, because
thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the resurrection, was declared to be the Son of God. You know,
as we follow this out, we find that He proved Himself as the
Savior by the resurrection from the dead. He proved that everything
He said about Himself, about sin, about natural man, about
His Father, about heaven, about hell, about everything He ever
spoke of, and He spoke about many things, everything He had
to say is the truth! by the resurrection from the
dead. I am who I said I was. He's declared to be the Son of
God with power by the resurrection from the dead. So everything
that is written about the Lord Jesus Christ is the absolute
truth. And we stand or fall on that
truth. If we don't have the truth, if
the truth be not in us, we do not know Him. Here we find, turn
with me if you would to the book of John, back up here in John
chapter 10 verse 11. And it says here, I am the good
shepherd. This is the truth. I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He is in charge. He has sheep
and he dies for their sin. He said, this is the truth of
the matter. Don't argue with it. Believe
it. Bow. Trust Christ and don't move
a muscle. This is what we have. I am the
good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
He is the only one capable of paying the ransom price for his
sinful sheep and proved by his resurrection. He paid the ransom
price. To many of the resurrection is
like a piece of seasonal decoration. We just got our Christmas decorations
put away. It's just a piece of seasonal
decoration. And yet, to the church, it is life. My whole spiritual
existence is based upon His payment of my sin debt, and it's proved
that He did that by the resurrection from the dead. God is satisfied. The law is satisfied. The Old
Testament prophets are satisfied. Everybody that is concerned about
this is satisfied. And in time, I will cause all
my people to be very satisfied with it. that the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ was an imperative. It must be necessary. He's the only one capable of
paying the sin debt. He declared by the resurrection
that every word, however he ever spoke, was absolute truth. You know, he brought up a subject
that a lot of people don't want to hear about, and that is there's
a broad way and there's a narrow way. And the Lord brings it up
and he says, this is the truth of the matter. I don't want this
to be taken anywhere else but to the truth. He brings up the
subject himself about a broad way and a narrow way. Now we're
born on the broad way. I mean, it is so broad. We've
got from spectrum over here of the people that are really nice
people to the people over here that are like Pharaoh or Hitler.
It's all on the same road. There's no division here. There's
no place here. Oh, we all want to move over
here to the better side of the broad road. We all want to move
over here to the gooder side of the broad road. We want to
be around people like us that are on the broad road. We don't
want to be over here by these people because our works are
going to outweigh our bad deeds, and their works will never outweigh
their bad deeds. So we want to shuffle ourselves
over there, and yet we find ourselves still on the broad road. There
is no way out of it. There is no median between the
broad road and the narrow road. Jesus said, I'm going to tell
you the truth about this and I'll prove that it's the truth
by my resurrection. If I come out of that tomb, he
doesn't say this, it's just implicated. If I come out of that tomb, this
is the truth and believe it. Now, if you don't believe it, turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter 7. There is only
hope in Christ, the resurrected Savior. There is only peace in
Christ, the resurrected Savior. There is only salvation in Christ,
the resurrected Savior. Nowhere else is there any salvation. There is none of the name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, and it is in
the resurrected Savior. All right, Matthew 7, verse 13,
we read this, Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be that go in there at." You know, I've been visiting
with a young preacher for about four years, and he's constantly
telling me, many shall enter into the narrow way. And I said,
you show me in the scripture that. Because Jesus Christ two
or three times says, many there be on the broad way. Let's go
on here, and if this is true, which it is, he proved it by
the resurrection, all the words I spoke, he's not a liar. He is the way, the truth, and
the life, and he proved it by his own resurrection. It says
here, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. How do we find
it? It's Him giving us the revelation
of Jesus Christ. We've mentioned this many times,
but it's still the truth. And proved by the resurrection
that Peter was asked by the Lord Jesus Christ one time, who do
you say that I am? Now, if I asked you that, or
if I was asked that, what would we say? Well, Peter caught there,
said, my heart tells me Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. It's not just something I've
heard. I just didn't learn this. But the Holy Spirit has revealed
this to me. And Jesus says, flesh and blood
did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.
So that's revealed narrow way. He is the narrow door. You know,
I've heard that His door, the keyhole in His door is so narrow
that you have to have only one eye to look through it. And that
eye must be put on Christ. We cannot look at the world and
Christ at the same time and ever expect any spiritual blessings.
We have to look to Christ alone. No other view is given us. Christ and Christ alone. He is
our sufficiency. In the book of Matthew chapter
25, we have read this a number of times, Matthew chapter 25,
let's go over there, the Lord spoke again the truth about the
matter. He said in that great day, that
last day, Matthew chapter 25, In that last day, 31, what's
going to happen here? You know, Nancy and I were talking
the other day, and you got all this stuff going on. Oh, we don't
want Iran to have an atomic bomb, and we don't want this, and we
don't want that, and we're all concerned, and people are in
a dither, and things are going awry, and oh, my goodness, what's
going to happen? And I says, you know, I don't
find any of that in the Bible. I find out in the Bible that as it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming
of the Lord. And what was it like in the days of Noah? They
were married and given in marriage. They were acting like normal
fools that would not hear the gospel. Got a man over here talking
about the gospel, about a deliverance, about a savior, about a boat
that will deliver your life. And eight people got into that
boat. Why? Because nobody else wanted to
get in. There was nobody going like this at the door of the
Ark, stopping them from coming in. They didn't want to come
in. There were eight that came in. There were eight delivered. And out of the masses of people,
that's not a very large number. In fact, few there be that find
it. All right, here it says, in the
book of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 31, when the son of man
shall come in his glory and shall holy angels with him, then shall
he sit up on the throne of glory and before him shall be gathered
all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
the right hand and the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on the right hand, Come ye blessed of my father.
And that's the truth. And he proved it by his resurrection.
What I have to say is the truth. Don't go to this scribe. Don't
go to this lecturer. Don't go to that preacher. Go
to Christ. Go to his word. Go find out what
it says. And it says this, blessed to
those that are on the right hand side for the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now, if you'll drop
down to verse 46 of the same chapter, These the goats the left-hand
side these shall go away into everlasting punishment. That
isn't fair Have you ever heard that that's not fair God would
send anybody to hell he's a just God and Justice will be served
and payment will be made and it's either payment by Jesus
Christ or payment by us and and we'll never get the debt paid.
All right, I have three minutes left. Join me in the book of
Judges chapter 16. We've been in the book of Judges
on Wednesday night and I was reading ahead a little bit and
you just stumble across the neatest things. Do you ever find yourself
reading a verse of scripture and you had to touch the ink
to make sure it was dry because you've never saw that verse before?
Well, it happens here in the book of Judges chapter 16 verse
3 Excuse me 1 through 3. This is about Samson and you
know Samson was quite a critter But he's just like us He set
aside just like every one of God's elect set aside from the
womb before the foundation of the world That they would be
set aside and yet in his life. He is a wreck He is just a wreck
And yet, he is one of the faithful ones of God. That's how God looks
at him. Now, he is in Gaza. Oh, we've just heard about that,
haven't we? Place in the Middle East. And Samson was gazing. He saw there a harlot. Oh, my
goodness. How can we have this in the Word
of God? I'm thankful about a woman by
the name of Rahab who was a harlot, the Lord saved her. But Samson
goes down there and he is running around. with someone that's not
from Israel. And it was told the Gazites,
saying, Samson has come hither. And they come past him and laid
wait for him all night in the gate of the city and were quiet
all night, saying, in the morning, when it is day, we shall kill
him. Next verse. And Samson lay till
midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate
of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar
and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them to
the top of the hill, that is before Hebron. He tore the bars
away. What great strength it took for
Samson just to do that. And he is an emblem of our mighty
Savior, sleeping in the chamber of the grave and being watched
by nefarious people. We're going to keep him in there
because he said he'll come out the third day. So we're going
to set up a watch on him. We're going to keep guard over
him just like those Gazats did. He was watched by the jealous
scribes and Pharisees who vainly imagined to hinder his resurrection. But when the least unexpected,
he arose and burst the gate of death, leading captivity captive. He tore the bars away, resurrected
in all his glory to fulfill, I've paid the debt, I am God,
and all I've ever said is the absolute truth, believe God. Brother Mike.