Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number one. Hymn number one. O worship the King, all glorious
above, and gratefully sing his power and his love. Our shield and defender, the
ancient O tell of His mind, O sing of
His grace, Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy's face is chariots
of wrath, The deep thunderclouds form, And dark is his path on
the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care Water can
recite It breathes in the air It shines in the light It streams
from the hills It descends to the plain And sweetly distills
in the dew and the rain Frilled children of dust And feeble as
frail, In Thee do we trust, Nor find Thee to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, How
firm to Thee end, our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
256. 256. When peace like a river attended
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou hast taught
me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. Praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well With my soul It is
well And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back. as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well ? It is well with
my soul ? Oh, my. Boy, if you sing that good down
here, you imagine how it's gonna be up there. They all sung a
new song, and they sung. They sung. Oh boy, but the song
starts down here. The one you're gonna sing up
there, it has to start here. It has to start here. Turn with
me, John chapter 11. Mr. Spurgeon said, whenever you
got a holiday or a special occasion or something, use it to preach
the gospel. And everybody and their brother,
you know, I said to Jim Friday, no, Wednesday, And the fellow kept running around
there saying, He is risen, He is risen, He is risen. But I will say this, that a cardinal
truth that a person absolutely has to believe in order to be
saved is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a cardinal doctrine. That and the virgin birth, I
think those two are the utmost things that you have to believe. But let me start reading here
in verse 20. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat in the
house. I remember our Lord heard that
Lazarus was sick and he loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He stayed till he died. And Martha
heard that he was coming and then she said in verse 21, Martha
said, Jesus, Lord, if thou has been here, my brother wouldn't
have died, just wouldn't have died. But I know that even now
whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Our Lord
said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and I am the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. Our blessed Lord, our great and
glorious God of heaven and earth. Lord, it's a blessed, blessed
wonder that you'd let us speak to you this morning. And you
let us speak to you because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
of who he is and what he did. Because of where he is now. We can come into your presence
because of him. And you'll hear us because of
him. You'll receive us because of him. You'll answer our prayers
because of him. We have nothing to contribute,
Lord, this morning except our prayers and our offerings and
our thanksgiving. And Lord, we bless you that you
sit right now at the right hand of the majesty on high with all
power vested in you. Power to save, power to keep,
power to come and get us again and take us to where you are.
Oh Lord, blessed be your holy name. None is like a none to
thee in all this universe like you. And Lord, we're grateful
to be able to be able to come in this service today together
here with the people of God to open your blessed, blessed word
and be able to preach about your son and his glory and his power
and his resurrection and his ascension and all the things
that you've taught us from your word. And Lord, we pray and thank
you for everyone that's come and ask you please for the gospel
to run well here today. May the gospel go forth in power.
May it find a lodging and may seed be sown in a heart. May
Christ be formed in a soul. May faith, faith be given. And may Christ be glorified.
And Lord, we pray again for our dear brothers and sisters who
are not here this morning. Through frailty of the body,
because their bodies are weak, because of things that's wrong,
and your providence has kept them from coming. And Lord, as
our preacher brethren and the men we fellowship with in our
sister churches, God bless them today as we all meet to worship
our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you and bless you in
his holy name. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. You. we must glory in the cross who
were once condemned and lost for Christ's blood the crimson
? Has God's justice satisfied ? All for whom the Savior died
? By His blood are justified All for whom He lives above Shall
be conquered by His love. He who vanquished death and hell
Shall in saving grace prevail Chosen sinners, bald by blood,
called by grace, shall come to God. Chosen, ransomed, called by grace,
Robed in perfect righteousness In Christ Jesus, God's heaven
Have no sin and have no death Glory, glory in the cross For
Christ's count, all things but loss By our Savior's death we
live To Him all our praise we give. Be seated. Depth of mercy can there be,
mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear,
me the chief of sinners spare? All right, look with me back
in John chapter 11. You know, Martha told the Lord Jesus Christ there
in verse 24, after He told her her brother
would rise again, she said, I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. She's looking at a time when
there'll be a resurrection. And I'm looking for a time that
there'll be a resurrection for me. But our Lord Jesus said unto
her, I am. Our Lord called himself, I am
seven times. I am the resurrection. The resurrection
is not just a doctrine. The resurrection is a person.
I've already been raised from the dead, you know that? I've already been raised, I've
already been resurrected once, and I got another resurrection
to go to, but resurrection's in a person. It's more than just
a doctrine, it's a person. And it's more than a doctrine
to just believe, learn and believe, it's a person. He said, I am.
Our Lord said, I am the bread of life. I am the water of life. I am He. I am. I am the light of the world. I am. And our Lord, when they
come to get Him, to take Him in the garden of Gethsemane,
they said, well, who are you looking for? Jesus and Athos.
You know what He said? I am. I am. You know, Martha believed in
the resurrection. and yet never saw it as it related
to the Lord Jesus Christ, never saw it that way. And she said,
I know my brother's gonna rise again. And I'll tell you what,
he says, I am the resurrection, and listen to this, and the life. I'm the life. I am the life. And listen to this. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, Yet, yes, shall he live. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believest thou this?
You know, whosoever liveth, let me say something about that.
You can't believe until you have life. He said, whosoever believeth,
whosoever believeth, you can't believe until you have life.
And that's the fact, you can't believe that Jesus Christ is
life until you have life. You can't believe it at all.
And our life comes before faith and believes in me. Not a doctrine,
but believes in me shall never die. And believe us now this,
our life, our life, our spiritual life right now, and our hope
for eternity, is bound up in these words of our Lord Jesus
Christ. They re bound up in them. My
hope for eternity, my spiritual life right now, not the life
that s to come. People say, Well, they ve entered
into life. You know, listen, when Christ
resurrected and the resurrection of Christ is a person, but yet
the resurrection of Christ was an event, was an event, And our
resurrection, when Christ raised us from the dead, that was an
event that took place in our lives. He that believeth in me
shall never die. He that liveth in me believeth
the dead shall believe and live now. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And so we have actually
already experienced the resurrection from the dead. Our Lord Jesus
Christ gave us life from the death of our sins. And oh, our
spiritual life, the words of our Lord is bound up, our eternal
life and our life in the hereafter is bound up in the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ, I am the resurrection. Now, I want you to look with
me in 1 Corinthians 15. Look with me over in 1 Corinthians
15. You know the whole of the Christian
faith The whole of the Christian faith rests upon the fact that
Christ is risen from the dead. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God, first of all, was manifest in the flesh. He was justified
in the spirit. He was seen of angels, believed on in this world, And
the last thing it says, He was received up into glory, received up into glory. And I
tell you, the whole Christian faith, you cannot be saved, you
cannot know Christ unless you know Him as His resurrection,
as He s one who lives right now. Christ is risen from the dead.
Look what He said here in verse 20, But now is Christ risen from
the dead. And listen to this, become the
firstfruits of them that slept. But now in Christ Jesus, for
by sin, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. But as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all live. Now here's the situation is,
it says there, here's the whole of the gospel in this verse 22. For as in Adam all died. What
does that mean? That means that we died in Adam. That means that as Adam brought
sin into this world, we all died in Adam. We was dead in sins. Adam was sinned against God and
we in Adam as natural men, we sinned against God. a relationship
that God views this world in two men, Adam and in Christ,
and right there it is, and Adam all die. If you re here without Christ,
you re dead in sins. You can understand, you know,
you can hear the words that I'm saying. You can understand the
words that I'm saying, but you can't understand spiritual life
without Christ Himself. You know, we died in Adam and
dead men can't hear anything, dead men can't react to anything,
dead men can't believe nothing, dead men can't give themselves
life. But as in we died in Adam, look
what else it says, Now the same ones who died in Adam in Christ
shall be made alive. Ain't that what he said? He that
was dead shall yet live. Now how in the world did Lazarus,
he was a dead man. Here's a dead man. Now I'll tell
you something. You know, if death, if our love
for somebody, and our grief for somebody, and our missing somebody
would give life to somebody, we'd give it back to them. But
we can't. You can talk to a dead person,
they can't hear you. You can speak to a dead person,
look at them, but they can't see you back. And that's the
way Adam was. But what in the world gave him
life? What gave him life? Christ said,
He that was Lazarus, come forth. And the scripture said, He that
was dead, dead, came forth. And that's exactly what we're
talking about right here. Our Lord Jesus said, He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yes, shall he live. Well, how in the world did Lazarus
believe on him and he is dead? Christ had to give him life before
he could come. And that s the way it is now.
Christ has to, if we dine at Him in Christ, shall we be made
alive? And oh my, this is a spiritual resurrection from death of sin
to life which is in Christ. Now I want to go back up here
and start in verse 12. I want you to follow with me
now if you can and will. Look what he says. Now if Christ be priest that
arose from the dead, how say some among you, there is no resurrection
of the dead. You know how many people in this
world believe that there is no resurrection? Almost all East
Indians don t believe it. They believe in reincarnation. They believe in reincarnation.
You know, if you treat people right, you can come back, if
you not treat people right, you come back as a bug or a worm
or something. But I tell you what, here he
says, then there's people that don't believe in the resurrection.
I've met a lot of folks that don't believe in the resurrection.
There's people right now making fun of the resurrection of Christ.
But he said, now, if Christ be preached that He rose from the
dead, that He rose from the dead, How say some among you, there
is no resurrection of the dead. Now listen to this, but if there
be no resurrection of the dead, and listen to this, then Christ
is not risen. Christ is not risen. Well, what
happens if Christ is not risen? If Christ is not risen from the
dead, what happened is, if Christ be not risen, then my preaching
is senseless. There's no reason in the world
for me to get up here and preach. I'm making a vain effort when
it talks about preaching. And I tell you something else,
that I'm preaching to you, and I tell you to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and here it says, your faith is useless too.
If Christ be not raised, your faith absolutely has no meaning
to it. You don't even have any, is what
he said. Your faith is useless. And oh,
this is awful right here. Do you think about this? And
yea, we are found false witnesses of God. What does that mean?
That means I'm up here lying on God right now. If I say that
Christ rose from the dead, and I preach that Christ rose from
the dead, and I preach the reason why He rose from the dead, and
if I preach, and if I do that, I'm lying, if Christ is not risen,
then I'm lying on God Himself. And here's the reason why, because
we have testified of God. We've been testifying to this,
Paul started testifying to that, and Peter started testifying
to that in Acts chapter one, but he says, oh my, because we
have testified of God. This is what we said, God himself
said that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up if the
dead don't rise. Now listen to me, if Christ didn't
raise, nobody else is gonna be raised. That's what he's saying.
If Christ's not resurrected, nobody else is gonna be resurrected.
And if the dead rise not, then Christ is not raised. And oh
my, listen to this. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is useless. And here's the awfulest thing
that could possibly be mentioned to us. We're still in our sins.
Wouldn't that be an awful place to be left? Still in our sins.
Still in our sins. You know what it is to be in
your sins. And here's something else. All the people that we've
loved, all the people that we've went to the graveyard with, all
the people that we've put our tombstones over, all the people
that we've loved and said goodbye to in this world. If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, no life after this, no hope after
this, none whatsoever, if in this life only we have hope in
Christ, We're the most miserably deceived, we're the most miserably
deceived person that could ever, ever possibly be. But in Him
and His resurrection, and it goes on to say, look at what
he says in verse 20, but now, Paul, that's one of his favorite
things. I preached a message on that one time, but now, I
may preach on it again here soon, but now. He paints this awful,
awful dark picture, and then he turns around and says, but
now. Oh, it's dark. Christ not risen. We're in our
sins. We don't believe nothing. We're miserably deceived. Got
a false hope. I'm lying on God. But now, is
Christ risen from the dead? And firstfruits, you know what
firstfruits is? When they get the firstfruits,
everybody goes to their garden and they get the first thing
that comes, and that s the way it was in the Old Testament. The
firstfruits that they got, they took it and gave it to the priest. They offered it to God, the very
firstfruits that they had. First thing they got out of the
field, they took it to God. The first thing they got off
the apple trees, they took them to God. Everything, the firstfruits
went to Him. And you know what Christ is? He's the firstfruits.
He's the first one went to the glory, and first one went to
heaven, and we're, He's the firstfruits, and that means that we're all
gonna go with Him. Of them that slept, them that
slept, and oh my, this most blessed, blessed truth of the resurrection
of our, is the foundation of our faith. there s people who
deny the resurrection, Jehovah Witnesses do, lots and lots of people deny
the resurrection. Now look with me back up here
in verse 3 and 4 of 1 Corinthians 15. Now here s the message, here
s the gospel, this is the message that we all preach, He said,
for I delivered unto you first of all that which I received.
You can't tell something that you don't know. How that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's the key
to it right there. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. According to the Scriptures.
And listen to this now. And that he was seen, that he
was buried, that he rose again the third day, and listen to
this, according to the scriptures. So what we're saying is according
to what Christ says and what God said. And look what, and
then here's, he said, by many infallible proofs, and that he
was seen of Cephas, that's Simon Peter first, then of the 12,
and after that he was seen above 500 brethren of once, of whom
lots of them are still alive. Now let me say a few things about
this as my introduction. If there be no resurrection,
Christ, if Christ be not risen, what in the world is our hope?
What is our hope? What is our hope right now? What
is our hope right now? We don't have any hope. If Christ
be not sitting at the right hand of God right now, didn't come
out of that tomb, then where is our hope? If Christ be not
risen, where is our hope? What is our hope? What hope do
we have? Your faith is vain. My preaching
is vain. I'm a false witness of God. And
you sitting there still yet in your sins and Christ didn't die
to put them away. and those who have claimed to
believe Christ without Christ are already perished. And oh
my, if He didn't rise, we're all just fools and we're all
to be pitied. Our hope is no hope. But it says
there in verse 20, but now, now is Christ risen from the dead.
You know, the resurrection of Christ proves that Christ was
God. Proves that Christ was God. There's no way in the world that
Christ could not be God. It'd be impossible for Him to
not be God, and the resurrection proves that He was God. He was
raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness. The religious leaders
were so afraid that somebody'd come and steal His body one of
these days that they put a guard on the tomb. Look over here at
Matthew chapter 27. Look at Matthew chapter 27. You know, they were so afraid,
that's what I mean, these fellas, there was a whole, the Sadducees
didn't believe in a resurrection, but look what it said they did
over here in Matthew. The religious leaders were so
afraid of somebody stealing the body away, they set a watch on
the tomb. Look what it says down here in verse 62, Matthew 27,
62. Now the next day, that followed
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together under Pilate, saying, Sir, listen to what they said
about Christ. We remember that that deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise
again. They understood clearly that
he said, I'm going to rise again. They understood that, said, Oh
my, they told Him, and after three days I ll rise again. Now
listen to what they said, Command therefore that the grave be made
sure until the third day, and listen to this, lest His disciples
come by night and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He s
risen from the dead, And this is what they knew. They knew
that they'd really messed up. So the last error will be worse
than the first one we did. If they go to that grave and
he's not in it, cause somebody stole him, we really messed up
by having him crucified. And watch what happened. Pilate
saith unto them, you have a watch. You got people to watch the grave.
Go your way and make it as sure as you can. So they went and
made the separate sure, set in the seal in the stone and set
in the watch. They said, watch it, watch it,
watch that grave. We don't want him sneaking him
out of there. Watch that grave, that deceiver
may come up, be resurrected again. But his resurrection proved He
was who He said He was. Proved He is God. Look in Romans
chapter 10. No, excuse me, not Romans, John
chapter 10, I'm sorry. John chapter 10. You need to
see this about the Lord. Look in John chapter 10. His
resurrection proved to us who He said He was. You know, when
Simon Peter, when our Lord told his disciples the first time
that he had to go to Jerusalem, he'd be delivered into the hands
of simple men, that he would die, but that he would rise again
on the third day. You know what the first thing
Simon Peter did to him? He wretched and got ahold of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, Far be it from you,
Lord, that s not going to happen. I m not going to let them do
that to you. And our Lord said, Get thee behind me, Satan. Why
did He say that? He said, Because you like the
things of men. You don t want no suffering.
You don t want no death. You don t want to be identified
with someone that s going to be crucified on a cross and be
delivered in the hands of sinful men. And oh my, he rebuked him. But
look what he said here in John 10, 15. As a father knoweth me, even
so I know the father. Now listen to this. And I lay
down my life for the sheep. That's the first thing I want
you to understand. He said he didn't lay down his life for
everybody. He did not say that, this idea that Christ loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody and there'll be a multitude,
oh my goodness, there'll be a multitude saying that today. But look what
it says. I lay down my life for the sheep.
He didn't say I lay down my life for those who'll exercise their
free will. I didn't lay down my life for folks who are gonna
live right. I didn't lay down my life for folks who are gonna
attend church and be faithful to the church. I didn't lay down
my life so folks could just make a decision and join the church.
I didn't lay down my life, I laid down my life for the sheep, for
the sheep. And he said, I've got some other
sheep I have which are not of this fold. And this talk about
us, them I also, and listen to this now, them I have to bring.
He didn't say, I'm gonna holler at them, say, come on, come on,
come on, come on. I want you to accept me. I want you to accept
me. I want you to open your heart and let me in. No, no. He said,
I got to bring them. There's a big difference there,
you see. He didn't say, would you please come? I'd like for
you to come. If you open your heart, I'll
come. But he said, I must bring. And listen to this, they shall
hear my voice. There'll be one fold. And just one shepherd. That's easy to understand. One,
one, one, one, one. And look what he gets. And he
said, listen to this now. Therefore doeth my father love
me, because I lay down my life. I lay down my life. Our Lord Jesus Christ, I don't
know what y'all think about it, but I tell you what, when it
talks about him laying down his life, Why in the world would
a man like Him, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
sinless, perfect God-man, why would someone so blessed, someone
so holy, someone so perfect, someone with a heart that when
our Lord Jesus Christ, when He shed tears, they were holy tears.
I mean, to say that, lay it down. Lay it down. I know people that
if they could die today, believers, if they could die today, if they
could will themselves to die today, they'd do it to get out
of this world. But our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I lay it down. Why would he lay his life down? His life is not like our life.
Our life's a sinful life. Our life don't amount to much,
but Him, Him, the God-man, Him, the holy man, Him, the sinless
man, Him, the perfect man, Him, the Son of God. And oh my, I lay down my life,
and listen to what He says next. He said that I might take it
up. That I might take it again. What in the world is he talking
about? I lay it down. But he said, you know what? If
I lay it down, I can take it right back up. I can take it
back up. And oh my. And I love this right
here. No man takes it from me. No man
takes it from me. Doc was talking last week. There
was a preacher. He's dead and gone. He's been
gone forever, and he's been in hell for... He just got started,
and he ain't even... But he... No man takes it, you
know, takes it from me. I lay it down. And I have the
power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up
again. I've taken this power and received it from the commandment
of God my Father. Now, let me tell you this. If
I'd have been at the cross, when our Lord said he laid down his
life, when he went to that cross, I have the power to lay it down,
I have power to take it up. This fellow said, if I'd have
been at the cross, I'd have stopped him. I'd have stopped him. I wouldn't have let people do
him that way. This is a famous, famous preacher. Well, I'll tell
you his name, Rex Humbard. And there's people that actually
thought that if I was there, I would have stopped it. I'll
tell you something. I was there. I was there. And I cried as loud as anybody
else, crucifying, crucifying, crucifying. I was there. I was there, because if I wasn't
there, if I did not take part in the death of Christ, I'll
have no part in His resurrection. If I did not take part in my
sins being on Christ, then I'll not have any part of my sins
being put away. And oh, he goes on to say, an
old man takes it from him, verse 18, I lay it down of myself,
bless his holy name. Oh Lord, thank you for laying
down your life for me. And I've got the power, I've
got the authority, I've got the right to lay it down. And I've
got the power, I've got the authority to take it again. How did you
get this at? My father gave me a commandment
to do it. And this is what's happened ever since. There was
a division there among the Jews for these things. Oh my! He proved He was and is God.
And I tell you that our Lord Jesus' Resurrection was for the
glory of His Father. It was the glory for the glory. Father, glorify Thou me with
the life that I had with You before the world ever was, and
the glory of His Word. You know, David said that Our
Lord, and it was about our Lord, thou shalt not suffer his soul to hell and thou shalt not suffer
him to see corruption or leave his soul in hell. Now the minute
you and I die, our bodies start corrupting the minute we die.
Well, if we don't have to die for it to start corrupting, it's
getting pretty bad. It's getting pretty bad. But
anyway, here's the thing. When we die, our bodies start
corrupting quick. But there's no way. You know
why Christ didn't corrupt? His body never corrupted? Because
He had no sin. He had no sin. It'd be impossible
for Him to have corruption because He had no sin. You know why we
corrupt? Because we have sin. Have sin. Oh my, and then it shows the
glory of His power. We was resurrected by the power,
the same power that raised Christ raised us from the dead. And
oh my, let me tell you this about Christ. The justice of God, I
don't know if y'all know anything about the justice of God, was
glorified in Him. Now God, He was justified in
the Spirit. And I'll tell you about the Spirit.
And here's the thing, will God Himself punish sin? Will God
punish sin? Will He punish sin? Will He punish sin? Will God
punish sin? And if He punished sin in Christ,
when God's justice that said the soul that sinneth it must
die. And every soul that's come into this world must die for
their sin. Every soul that comes into this world is gonna die
for their sin. Every one. Everyone in this building is
gonna die for their sin. They are. Now here's two ways
of dying for your sin. You can die in your own sin without
Christ or else you can die with Christ in your sin with Christ.
And how in the world can I die if with Christ because God's
justice says you shall die. Well, God took Christ and made
Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that God might be just and take
those who have sinned, and take those who have sinned, and Christ
died for their sin. And everyone for whom Christ
died, God cannot come and punish them for their sins ever again.
Now when Christ died for my sin, He died for all of them. And
people say, well, you got to believe, you got to have life
before you can believe. And here's the thing, when Christ
died, He died 2,000 years ago, my faith did not make my sins
go away. Christ made my sins go away. And when He made them go away, And that was 2,000 years before
I was born, my sins was already gone. And then God comes along and
He gives me faith to believe what He did. And I understand that God's justice
punished me and I've already died for my sins. I've already
been punished for my sins. I've already suffered for my
sins. We're at in Christ on the cross. And how many sins you reckon
he took care of that day? Every one of them was future.
Every single sin I committed was future. And ever sin I'm gonna commit
from now on is still future. So if he took care of my sins
before I ever was, that means he took care of all of them,
right to the last one I'll commit before I leave this world. Now, is he gonna come back and
get me again for my sins? Can he punish me twice? How just
would that be, to punish me twice? Oh, my. Oh, God's wisdom and
grace, oh my goodness, was so glorified in God, in Christ. God must be just. But oh my,
when you, when God gives you faith to believe on His blessed
Son, He justifies the scripture says the ungodly. And He died
for us when we were yet without strength. God commendeth His
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. And let
me give you this, I'm taking too long, I know I am. Can't
help myself, I just, you know, there's some things I can help,
some things I can't. This is one of them times I can't. His resurrection, and that's
why, you know, you can run around and go on, He's risen, He's risen,
He's risen, He's risen, and make a big deal about it, but I tell
you what, why did He come? Why did He die? and his resurrection
proves everything about why he came and what he did and why
he died and why he was resurrected. And his resurrection proves that
he accomplished his work as a surety of his people. Now you know what
a surety is? A surety is not somebody that just
cosigns for you, you know. Mama, would you go cosign at
the bank for me so I can borrow a thousand dollars? No, a surety
is somebody that stands good for somebody that has nothing. You know, a surety, you're incompetent,
you need a surety. You're ignorant, you need a surety.
You're incapable, you need a surety. You got no means, you need a
surety. You have nothing to offer. Your
name ain't worth nothing. You don't have anything. You
need a surety. Well, he was our surety. Well, God
said, you got a debt that has to be paid. What is that debt?
Sin. All the sins of God's elect come
from east and west, from the future and from the past, and
they all come meet on Christ. And all that debt, just like
a huge mountain, come down on Christ. And you know what he
did? When he raised from the dead,
had proved that the debt was paid. And the only reason you got now
to know your debt's paid, you had a surety that paid it. You
couldn't pay it. You didn't have nothing to pay
with. You was incompetent. You was ignorant. You didn't
have nothing. You didn't even have clothes
to put on. You was naked and he had to dress you. You was
dead, he had to give you life. You was in debt and he had to
pay your debt. Oh my. And oh, and then he done that,
he made an end to sin. He reconciled us to God. He made
us righteous. And oh, bless His holy name,
that law, I don't know why in the world anybody would want
to have the Ten Commandments in their house, on the wall,
or in their yard, I don't understand it, for the life of me. I was here one Wednesday night,
and I was doing, saying something about the law, and I asked if
anybody here had ever fulfilled the law, and there was a woman
here, and she said, I have. I have. And I said, no, no, nobody
has. Nobody has. Love God? Love your neighbors, yourself?
Don't make a falsehood, don't even exaggerate. Oh my. Oh, he fulfilled that law and
he's the end of it. He obtained, he entered into
the holy place, obtained eternal redemption for us. Did everything
required of a surety. Everything that God required
and God said, saw the travail of his soul is satisfied. And
oh my, raised him from the dead to prove it. Raised him from
the dead to prove it. I want you to look with me over
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Just look at this and then I'll
quit. I'll quit. 1 Thessalonians 4. Oh my, you know our ultimate
resurrection is because of His resurrection. He's called our
blessed hope. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, we shall also appear with Him. We're like Job, we
know our Redeemer lives and shall stand on the earth at the last
day. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness. But look what he said here in
verse 13, and I'll wind this thing up. I know I'm wearing
you out, I'm sorry. But I'd not have you to be ignorant,
brethren. He said, that's another thing that Paul talked about.
Don't want people to be ignorant. Concerning them which are asleep.
And you know why they call death a sleep? Because you're just
resting from your labors. That's the first thing he said.
Blessed are they who die in the Lord, who rest from their labors. And look what he says. And I
don't want you to be sorry about it. I don t want you to be sorry
about it. I don t want you weeping about
it, even as others which have no hope. Listen to this, For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. I got a lot
of kinfolks out there at Thomas Springs. You got kinfolks over
at Big League. We got kinfolks And one of these
days we believe that them are laying in that grave, one of
these days that when Christ raised from the dead, they're going
to come with Him, huh? And oh my! And I tell you, God's
going to bring them with Him. For this we say unto you, and
this is what it is, by the Word of the Lord, Word of God itself,
that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord,
we're not going to hinder them which are asleep, them that are
in the grave. for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. Oh
my goodness, what a shout. He's gonna shout so loud that
he's gonna raise the dead. That's gonna be like Lazarus
come forth. He gonna shout so loud that's
gonna raise everybody. People buy these vaults, you
know. They buy a big vault and they put the casket in there
and then put a big thing on it and fasten it down so no water
or anything get in there. Why in the world? I mean, you
know. He gonna bust that thing all
to pieces. Listen to what he says now. Oh
my goodness. For the Lord himself shall come
from heaven. He gonna shout. And you read
over in Revelation about that voice of an archangel standing
on the land and standing on the sea. And there's gonna be a big,
big trumpet sound like they blew the trumpets and the walls of
Jericho fell down. And here's the first, the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Oh, bless the Lord. And then we which are alive and
remain. shall be caught together with
them that Christ raises from the dead. To be caught up together
with them in the clouds. He left in a cloud, we're gonna
go right back up in the clouds again. It has what God says,
to meet the Lord. To meet the Lord. Not just anybody. People say, boy, I sure would
like to meet so and so. Get somebody's autograph. To
meet the Lord? And where are we going to meet
Him at? In the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Oh my! The dead are living right
now. I'm living right now. And I'm
not going to enter into eternal life, I already got it. I'm just
going to enter into glory. Well, boy, that took a while,
didn't it? You got anywhere to go after
this? Well, I tell you, I'd love you to appreciate you. I hope,
I hope I didn't. Well, it's the truth. It's the
truth. Without believing in the resurrection
of Christ, there is no life for anybody. Just no life. No life. You know, when I'm talking
to my family, I'm talking to dead people. I really am. I got to hush. Our Father, oh, our blessed Father,
thank you for your abundant grace and mercy given us in Christ
before the world ever began. Thank you for this great, glorious,
blessed salvation that you gave us, gave it to us. Thank you for laying down your
life for us. Thank you for bearing our sin
in your body on that tree. Thank you for bearing them away.
Blessed be your name that you come again from the grave, left
all of our sins in that grave, left them all behind, put them
away by the sacrifice of yourself, never to be remembered against
us again. Lord, bless these dear saints. Cause the gospel to be
effectual here today for Christ's sake. Thank you for those who
love Christ, believe Christ, and trust Him. We thank you for
them and pray, Lord God, that you'd save your sheep wherever
they are, bring them to yourself for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things birth will grow strangely
dim in the light of His glory and grace. Y'all stay, they're
going to have dinner after the service today. You're at liberty
to go, and they'll open that door and holler at you when it's
time to eat. Ain't no dinner, Bill, just somebody hollering
at us. I didn't have no water. I didn't have no water.