Turn with me now to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, as we have been reading
and seeing Here in chapter 28, some women
who were followers and disciples of the Lord, they came to see
the Lord. And verse nine tells us they
saw him. It says, as they went to tell
his disciples, Behold, Jesus met them. Any soul who truly comes to Christ
will see him. I'm more convinced of that now
than I ever have been in my life. And I'm not just talking about
polling people. Do you want to go to heaven or
do you want to go to hell? Well, I think I'd rather go to heaven.
No, I'm talking about if a man or a woman ever truly seeks Christ. I mean, ever really seeks Christ. If a man or a woman is ever truly
given eyes of faith to see who Christ is and what he did for
sinners. If a man or a woman ever really
sees the place where the Lord laid and sees that he laid there
for me. And if a man or a woman falls
in love with him for that. And those of you who have fallen
in love with him know what I'm talking about. I mean, either,
either this is how it is with love. Either you're in love or
you're not. And it's not something you turn
on and turn off. You didn't turn on true love
in the first place. But if a man or a woman ever
really falls in love with Jesus Christ for what he did for me
to the point that that man or woman needs Christ more than
life itself. And if that need draws a sinner
to come to Christ, number one, we know that it's the father
who's doing the drawing. And number two, we know that
it is the spirit who gave those eyes of faith to see in that
heart of faith to believe. And therefore we know that if
a center truly sees and needs Christ, that's God's work in
that center doing that. That's God's work on that center. And if God has been willing to
perform a work in and on a center, that center is going to be received. It means the center has already
been received. That's what it means. So this is one thing we can be
absolutely certain of. All that the father has given
to Christ shall come to Christ and him or her that cometh to
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ will in no wise cast out. He will in no wise turn them
away. They will in no wise leave empty handed. I believe in my
soul that any person who has truly come to Christ in need
has never left empty handed. These women came to Christ to
see the Lord Jesus Christ and they got what they came for. Isaiah said, seek the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy on him. And to our God for he will abundantly
pardon. Seek him while he may be found. Our Lord said through the prophet
Jeremiah, You shall seek me and find me when you shall search
for me with all your heart and I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. That's a wonderful promise. Wonderful
promise. And it's because he said to David,
you're going to seek me after I tell you to seek me. That's
how it works. David said, when you said seek
my face, that's when my heart cried, thy face, Lord, will I
seek? So this whole thing is of the
Lord. And if you have a heart for Christ,
that's of the Lord. And I'm being very serious right
here. I'm being very serious right here. Okay. If you need
Christ. The Lord put that need in you. And if you don't need Christ. All right, I'm being very serious.
If you need Christ, the Lord put that need in you. And if
you're a person who does not need Christ and you know, I don't
need Christ. But if something in you realizes
that you need to need Christ, then seek the Lord. Seek the
Lord and ask him to put that need in you. You won't be turned
away empty-handed. Because if something in you knows
that you need to need Christ, God did that. God started that
realization. Now, with that being said, I
have a message for you that is very near and dear to my heart. This is something that I can
very much relate to. We looked at verse six this morning,
and we're gonna look at verses seven and eight tonight. Let's
begin in verse six, Matthew 28, verse six. It says, he is not
here, For he is risen, as he said, come see the place where
the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples
that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee. There shall you see him. Lo, I have told you. And they
departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did
run to bring his disciples word. That right there is a picture.
It's a type, an illustration of the call into the ministry. Go and tell your brethren. That's what the work of the ministry
is. Go and tell your brethren, verse
seven, go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from
the dead and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him. That's the message. That is the
gospel message. That's our message right now.
Go quickly and tell his disciples. Number one, that he is risen
from the dead. Number two, that he has gone
before you into Galilee. And that was the physical place
he went at that moment. But the physical place that he
is right now is glory. He went to Galilee to go to glory. And that's the true message of
this picture. He has gone before you into glory. heaven itself, go quickly and
tell his disciples, number one, that he's risen from the dead,
and number two, behold, he has gone before you into glory. Number
three, there shall you see him. There shall you see him. We have
such a good message to tell, such a good gospel to deliver. The end of verse seven, the angel
said, lo, I have told you. Now you go tell the rest of the
disciples. The angel was a messenger and he passed the message of
good news along to the next messenger. That's how our Lord has been
pleased to send the declaration of his gospel generation to generation,
believer to believer. Turn with me to Psalm 145. Psalm 145 verse one, David said,
I will extol thee my God, O King, and I will bless thy name forever
and ever. Every day will I bless thee and
I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. Do you have a center margin in
your Bible? It says, and of His greatness,
there is no surge. It's like saying there is no
end. Of His greatness, there's no end. Verse four says, one
generation shall praise thy works to another. and shall declare
thy mighty acts. One generation shall praise the
Lord to the next. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works, and men shall
speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy
greatness. They shall abundantly utter the
memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord
is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak
of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty
of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. After
our Lord healed and saved that Gadarean lunatic, you know, he
was living in the tombs and cutting himself and just a wild man,
the Lord clothed him, calmed him, sat him down, put him in
his right mind. But after the Lord did all that,
the man wanted to follow the Lord. The Lord got back into
a ship to go back over the sea, and that man wanted to follow
the Lord. And the Lord said to him, no, you go home to your
family and friends, and you tell them how great things the Lord
has done for you. He said, you pass that message
along. And that's what we gladly do.
It's what we're gladly saying to men and women. Look with me
at John 17. John 17 verse nine. Our Lord said, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are
mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I'm no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word. I have given them thy word. Our
Lord Jesus Christ was the father's messenger. He brought the word
of the father to us. Verse 14, I have given them thy
word and the world hath hated them because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes, I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word."
Through that message that they just repeat forward. What a blessing, what a glorious
blessing and privilege of being a repeater of this word. The glorious message of God concerning
Christ. What a blessing. Look with me
at Luke 1. Luke 1 verse 1 says, For as much as many have taken
in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered
them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding, mature understanding, of all things from the very first
to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou
hast been instructed. Oh, the blessing and the privilege.
What a privilege. I thank God for letting us as
a congregation do this. Just enter into what we're doing
right now. You know what we're doing here? We're repeating God's
word. We are repeating God's message. We are getting to do this. We are being allowed to do this. We are being included in this.
And what a blessing, what a privilege. Go back to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 verse seven says,
go quickly. Why quickly? Why quickly? It's because this is urgent.
This is urgent. This message is urgent. Let's
not ever lose sight of that. Let's not ever view the declaration
of this message as not being urgent. You know, we, we think, well,
it's not that big a deal. Hopefully we don't think that
some people think, well, it's not that big of a deal. It doesn't matter much either
way. You know, we'll take it some, leave it some. What if the Lord comes back tonight? What if the Lord comes back tonight? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are our kids ready? Have we heard this message enough? What if the Lord comes back tonight? Have we heard this message enough? Have our kids heard this message
enough? Do we believe it? Do they believe
it? What's the only safe thing to
do? Tell it again. Hear it again, press the fact
that this is life and death urgent. He said, go quickly. That means run, run. Verse seven, go quickly and tell
his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he
goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him. Lo, I have told you. He said,
my conscience is clear. I have not shunned to tell you
everything I was told to tell you. Woe is unto me had I not
told you that. Go quickly and tell his disciples
that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee. There shall you see him. Lo,
I have told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy. Oh, the fear that goes into
doing this. I cannot describe to you the
fear that goes into doing this. I can't describe it to you. The
fear of standing before God, speaking on his behalf, speaking
to his prized possessions, his darling, precious people. I can't begin to describe the
fear that goes into doing this. But oh, the joy. Oh, the joy. I honestly, literally
cannot begin to describe the joy. The joy of receiving a word from
the Lord, feeling like the Lord has spoken something to your
heart to say, and a sense of deep urgency to run and tell
it to God's people. There are times that I want to
go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere. Jesus
Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ, it never comes
out like it goes in. When it comes in, I'm on cloud
nine. My feet are not even touching
the ground. And I try to get it out and it's
just, it's just pitiful. But this is not by man's might,
this is by God's spirit. And God's spirit will take God's
word and he will run with it. Even if I feel like I'm crawling
in mud, He will run to God's people with it. He will run to
the heart of God's people with it. And He will tell them, Jesus
Christ is Lord. He is risen from the dead and
He's Lord. Lift up thy voice with strength. Because all flesh is grass. Every knee is going to bow. Every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You know,
that's so. in that day every tongue is going
to confess Jesus Christ is Lord lifted up was he to die it is
finished was his cry now in heaven exalted high hallelujah what
a savior Verse 7 says, Go quickly and
tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold,
he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him. Lo, I have told you, and they
departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and
did run to bring his disciples word. Can you can you picture
them running back to the other disciples, hollering as soon
as they saw them far off running as fast as they could run, hollering,
he is risen. He's risen. He's alive, he's
alive. And he has gone before you. And
you're about to see him. He entered into that veil, the
holiest of all, he made intercession on your behalf. He made you acceptable
and accepted. And he's waiting for you there. He has a reserved place for you
there. You go quickly, you run to your
brethren and you tell him he's waiting for you there. There's a reserved place for
you, reserved in the heavens for you. A long time ago, a man
named Roland Hill said he dreamed a dream one time that he entered
into glory. And he said when he got there,
he heard the most beautiful choir singing. And he followed the sound and
came upon this huge choir. And he was listening to that
and he thought, oh, if I could just sing with that choir, And
he said he looked up to the very, very top. There was one empty
seat way up in the very top. And he started climbing the stairs
and he made his way all the way to the very top to that seat.
And when he got there on that seat was a plaque. It said reserved
for Roland Hill. The scripture says reserved in
heaven for you. Turn with me to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 verse 1, For this
cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you, how that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was
made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in
God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith
of him. Wherefore, I desire that you
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being
rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and
to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end,
amen. This right here, preaching is
the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. This is the greatest
thing that's ever happened to me. This is the highest honor.
It is the greatest privilege that I've ever known in this
life. The next closest thing to this is being a husband to
her, a father to them, and a brother to all of you. But this is it. This is it. And I pray that God
will raise up more men to take in hand as so many have before us. I pray he will raise up more
brethren to hear and believe as he has so many brethren before
us. I pray that he will bless the
work of the ministry. I pray he'll send forth laborers
into the harvest, and I pray that the harvest will be plentiful.
For Christ's sake, I pray that we will go quickly and preach
this glorious message of Christ. Verse 21 says, unto him be glory
in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen.