That's good. And he will, as
he said, he said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go,
I will come again and receive you unto myself. But where I
am, you may be also. You believe in God, believe also
in me. He said, Lo, the last thing he
said, Hello, I'm with you, always, even on the end of the world.
Alright, go back to Matthew's gospel with me. And today, it is called today,
we will be with him in paradise. Our story this morning is of
some women who came looking for something, looking for someone. And they looked into the place
where they thought he should be and found it empty. They looked into an empty place
and went away filled. The story of our Lord's resurrection. John wrote this in the Revelation. He wrote what he heard and saw. John said, When I saw him, I
fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. So that is our subject. He is our subject, a risen Lord. All the hopes, all the hope,
all the peace, all the comfort, all the assurance of saints,
of believers, depends on this. that he who was crucified and
died arose, and now he ever lives. And he said, and because he said,
because I live, ye shall live also. You see, all our hope depends
on this one, that he does indeed live, the first and last Alpha
and Omega This is why the Apostle Paul preached. The Apostle Paul
brought this up nearly every single recorded public message
in the book of Acts. If you'll read his preaching
throughout the book of Acts, nearly every time he opened his
mouth, he talked about Christ who arose, the risen Christ. This was what Peter preached
at Pentecost, didn't it? Lord. Now look at it with me,
this story, verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, that just really struck me the
first time. We just looked at how he laid
in the grave on the Sabbath day, and now here it plainly says,
end of the Sabbath. In the end of the Sabbath, As
it began to dawn, or he is about to dawn, toward
the first day of the week, the first, it was the last, now he's
first, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. to see the sepulcher. Brother Gabe pointed this out
to me last week. We read this. He said, did you
notice how the Lord, how God's Word mentions Mary Magdalene? It keeps mentioning Mary Magdalene
first. And it says, and the other Mary. The other Mary. You know, one
of the other Marys was the Virgin Mary. Used to be the Virgin Mary.
But the Lord mentions Mary Magdalene first. The merciful Lord and Savior
of sinners. You see, that's why He came.
He said, I am come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The well don't need a physician, but they that are sick. He makes
first mention. And the one he first appeared
to was a chief of sinners. That's good news right there,
isn't it? Mary Magdalene. Proving to us, once again, that
this man received sinners. He's a friend of sinners. Savior
of sinners. Well, they came to see the sepulcher. They came to view the grave.
That's what we do. And there's nothing wrong with
that. They loved the Lord. My pastor, I heard him preach
my brother's funeral and heard it again on tape recently. And
he reminded us all that though this body we live in is not really
us, it's not really us. It's a tabernacle. However, It's
all we ever know, isn't it? And so that's why we don't desecrate
the bodies of our loved ones, and that's why there's nothing
wrong with visiting the grave. And they're not there, but that's
the body that we held and held us, that we spoke to. That's the one we saw. We're
flesh. The Lord knows our frame. He
knows our frame. And that body, we're going to
get back in it. That same body. Yeah. Only changed. Changed. So that's a good reminder. They
came to view at least the sepulcher. They had no hopes of viewing
the body. And they came to see the sepulcher
as we do. We are prone to do. View the
grave. And verse 2, it says, Behold, there was, or had been,
before they came, there was a great earthquake. For this is what caused the earthquake. The angel of the Lord. This is
Gabriel. This is the one who came to announce
to Mary and to Zechariah and Elizabeth. of the birth of the
Christ child and His forerunner. This is the one God sent first,
and now He's come in the last, at the last. He announced the
birth of the Christ, now He's announcing the rebirth, if you
will, or the resurrection of the Christ. The angel of the
Lord. Not the only one, This is the one the Lord sent, a chief
messenger. And His coming, His very coming,
this angel of the Lord, His descent from heaven was so great, was
so powerful that His near coming and to roll back that door, His
landing upon earth, and that door it took, it was a great
door, a big stone. It would take a dozen of us men
to roll this stone over that door. That's what it took. Ten
or twelve men. And Pilate was wanting to make
that sure. He didn't just put two men there.
If there was going to be a bunch of disciples come get that body
and take it away, They're going to have to be at least a bunch
of soldiers to keep them from doing it. So he sent at least
10 or 12, Kevin, 10 or 12 strong men. And it took at least that
many to roll this door, this stone over the door and cover
it and seal it with whatever. Well, when one angel, the angel
of the Lord, Gabriel, came and hit this planet and took by himself
one angel, mind you, took by himself, rolled that stone away
from that door, and pooh, it hit the ground. Pooh. And he
sat on it. And there he sat. There had been
a great earthquake. One angel had set foot on the
earth. Just one. It says His countenance, it describes
this angel, verse 3. His countenance was like lightning. It's like lightning. Just blinding in its brilliance
and its power. Lightning hit a tree right in
front of our house, about 50 feet from our house. Big old
poplar tree. And I was in the house. I wish
I'd have seen it. I was looking out the back door.
And it happened out the front door. Maybe it had blinded me,
I don't know. But I thought it hit the house. And sure enough, it was so powerful,
it just shredded that tree and it ran underground into my garage
and bursted the concrete in my garage. Boom! Big hole out of
the floor in my garage. Lightning. I says, this angel,
His very countenance, everything about him was like lightning.
God's not given to figures of speech. This heavenly celestial,
this heavenly being was that brilliant and amazing. His raiment,
white as snow, pristine white, whiter than a fuller could make
it. And it says in verse 4, for fear
of him, All ten or twelve of those men, those keepers, those
big strong Roman soldiers, all twelve or however many there
were, it may have been more, were trembling all over, violently
trembling, and were lying on the ground like dead men. Their faces had turned as white
as the angels' clothing, just like dead men, shaking violently
on the ground. Now, this is just an angel. You see, that little petty prince
pilot had sent his biggest and best men, remember, to guard
the tomb. He set a watch. He made sure,
all right. Nobody's getting in. Oh, but
somebody's coming out. That no one would come and steal
the body of Jesus. My, my, you just don't know,
do you? You just don't have a clue. And he that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. Send your best men to guard this.
I'm going to send one angel. In the end of the earth, the
Lord talks about sending four angels to the four corners of
the earth to wipe it up. Just four. Well, he that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. Pilate sent his Watch there to
make it sure. Make it sure, sure as you can.
And they tried. And when it was time, in the
fullness of time, just like the first time Christ came, when
it was time after three days according to Scripture, the dawn
of the first day, the end of the Sabbath, the dawn of the
first day, a new beginning, the same One who spoke thousands
of years before and said, Let there be light. The same God,
are you listening, the same God thousands of years before, before
there was anything, when darkness covered the face of the deep,
the same God who said, let there be light, and that glorious orb
went into the sky, the sun, to lighten and brighten and illuminate
all things, the same God spoke again concerning this same darkness
that had covered the face of this earth. The same God said
to his angel, roll back the door, the sun is about to shine. The
sun of righteousness has arisen with healing in his wings. The earth has never seen anything
like this, that holy thing. And so the angel of the Lord,
that chief messenger, came with a mighty condescension. And we
tried our best to describe him, his countenance, his powerful
person and his presence struck fear in the mightiest men known
to man. Struck absolute fear. Now as
I said, this is just an angel. What of his Lord? I guarantee you people. See,
he rolled back the stone, this angel. He has come. He's the
forerunner of the one coming out. Like John. John was the greatest man born
of woman. He said, I'm not worthy to tie
his shoes. There cometh one mightier than
I. And that angel would have said
the same thing, Nancy. There cometh one. I look like lightning. His countenance is as the sun
shineth in its strength. I know this happened, it doesn't
say it, but I know it, that that angel, when he rolled back that
door and out came his Lord, he hit the dirt. That angel, whose
countenance was as lightning, he hit the dirt before this one
mightier than him. Well, these men just trembled
in the presence of this angel. What of the Lord Himself? And this angel, you see what
the Lord did, he set this angel down. The Lord came out of the
tomb, I don't know where he went, he went somewhere. And he had
this angel sitting, what's he done? The Lord set his watch. The Lord set his watch. Do you
know the scripture says, he giveth his angels charge over you? I want you to listen to this.
I want you to listen to this, okay? This one angel, the Lord
sent him to set watch over that tomb. Nobody's getting in now.
Robin, nobody's getting in now except by divine permission,
right? And the Scripture says he's given
his angels charge over you, set watch over you. The Lord said,
make it as sure as I can. Make them as sure. I want you
to turn with me. I hadn't planned this, but 2
Kings 6. Maybe somebody hadn't seen this
before. 2 Kings 6. This is a wonderful
story. Yeah, there it is. 2 Kings 6. Elisha was a prophet. And the king of Syria was out
to get him. The king of Syria knew that Elisha
was the reason. The Lord using Elisha was the
reason why Israel was safe. Anyway, the king of Syria sent
his men on chariots and horses to get Elisha. One man, mind
you. Look at it. And he said in verse
13, go find out where he is, spy where he is, and that I may
send and fetch him. Go get him and bring him here. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dotha. So he sent horses and chariots
and a great host. How many? A great host. A thousand soldiers maybe. Huh? Look at it. He said they
came by night and encompassed the city of Bath. And the servant
of the man of God, Elisha's servant, his house servant, a butler or
whatever, whoever he was. It says, he came out early in
the morning, servant rose early and gone forth, went outside
to gather some wood or some water, and it says, behold, a host compassed
the city, both with chariots, horses and chariots, and his
servant, you know, he ran back into the house. Oh, master, alas! It means he was scared to death. Alas, my master, what are we
going to do? Kind of like the Israelites of
old, wasn't it, when they were up against the sea and bound
in and the chariots behind them? What shall we do? And Elisha,
like Moses, said, stand still. Look at it. Verse 16. Here's
what he said. Fear not. They that be with us
are more than they that be with them. But I don't see him. Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray thee,
open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw, and look, behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire, round about one man. One man. Fear not. Stan, don't you wish we could
get a hold of this? Fear not. What gives us fear? What causes
us fear? The slightest thing. Oh, my. One angel. One angel. Well, the angel back in our tent. The angel answered. You know,
this is the way God's Word speaks. He answered. Well, nobody asked
him anything. Well, he knew what they were thinking. God looketh on the heart. They
were fearful. The angel answered and said unto
the women. These women. Now look at this. He said unto the women. He spoke
to the women. Fear not ye. Fear not ye, for I know But ye
seek Jesus, which was crucified. Fear not ye. The Lord is leaving
no doubt that he's talking to these women. You. I'm talking
to you. The angel of the Lord had these strong
men, these mighty men, these noble soldiers and all that,
held at bay. Had them on the ground, trembling, shaking, fearful,
like dead men. And he held out his hand to those
poor women, those poor little old women, and says, you, you, I'm talking to you. Fear
not, you. I'm talking to you, not them. They need to be afraid. Not you. Fear not ye. I know. I know you. That you
seek Him, this One who was crucified. I know you. Why do I know you?
Because the foundation of the Lord stands assured. The Lord
has a people. And He sent me to you. Are you
getting the hold of this? Grab me. Fear not. That little
word, Jeanette, ye. Who, me? Yes, ye. Not them. You. Who are you looking for? Who
did you come to see? Christ crucified. DNA, this is
for you. Huh? Who did you come to see
this morning? I thought about our music program,
you know. It's pretty good. We sing pretty, you know, songs.
We don't have a choir and all. I thought if people come here,
they've got to come for one reason. It's not for the music. Gabe,
you know, no reflection on you, but we just don't major on music,
do we? What are we major on? What do
we do here? We preach Christ, Paul said. Christ and Him crucified. I know you. You seek Him, don't
you? This is why you came. Yes, you. Fear not. Who? Me? Yes, you. Nancy. Mary. The other Mary. Yeah, you. The
other Mary. Fear not ye. Is this why you came here? Then
fear not. Fear not. You have nothing and
no one to fear. Would you listen to this? We
have nothing and no one to fear. Lord, let me listen to this.
We have nothing, nothing and no one to fear. Nothing, nothing. I shall not be afraid for the
pestilence by day, the arrow by night, the terror by night. Our Lord kept saying this, Barbara,
more than anything else to his disciples. Fear not. Why are
you so fearful? I am the Lord. Fear not. Fear not him which
killeth the body, and after that he hath no more that he can do.
Besides, he didn't kill you anyway. I am the Lord. I kill. I make
alive. I wound. Oh, I fear AIDS. Why? Are you living a lascivious
life? Then fear it. But if not, don't fear those
things. Huh? I wound, he said. I heal. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Fear me. Fear me. And if you fear me,
there's nothing in the world you need to fear. And if you
do fear me, you'll find out that I love you. And this perfect
love, you say, my love's perfect. It'll cast out all fear. I thought
about our grandbaby. Don't think of her often, you
know. But I thought about her. Honestly, I think of her by every
waking moment. I mean, I wake up and I say,
what are you thinking? You say, you know what I'm thinking
about. But I thought about her, and
I thought about my own daughter this way, but when you get older,
you just get more mature, and you understand things a little
more, what's valuable. Anyway, I thought about her,
and I thought, and Gabe can concur, If I could do anything for her,
anything, I would. If I could relieve all
of her suffering, wouldn't you? It grieves me when she cries.
Not because it's getting on my nerve, but because I grieve for
her. I don't want her to suffer. I hate that she's suffering.
If I could eliminate that. If I could relieve that. If I
could make her safe from all harm, I would. Wouldn't you? Jeanette, how about your grandbabies?
Wouldn't you? If you could, but you can't. God can. And He does. Fear not. What if somebody was out to harm
your child? Would you not lay down your life?
Would you not do everything within your power to protect that child?
Certainly you would. Christ, and we're going to see
this, He said, All power. This is the last. He said this
in the beginning, and He's going to say this in the end. All power
is given unto Me in heaven and earth. And lo, I'm with you always. I'll never leave you. That's
our Lord. Living, reigning, ruling Lord.
Fear not. Fear not. I know. I know you. You seek Christ and Him crucified.
The Lord sends His gospel angel to all that look for Christ crucified.
You know that? He sends His messenger. Oh, yeah,
he is an angel. The Lord wrote to the preachers
in the churches in the Revelation, he called every one of them an
angel, didn't he? To the angel of the church at
Ephesus. An angel of mercy. An angel, a messenger of God. No less than Gabriel himself.
What's his message? If he's an angel from God, he's
got one message, hasn't he? He's risen. Fear not ye. And I say ye. The Lord said,
ye, you who seek Christ and Him crucified, the Lord says, fear
not ye the law. Fear not ye the law. Oh, but
I break it. But it's been kept. Don't fear
it. You need not fear something that's
been fulfilled. Right? Have you ever feared,
you ever worried about whether or not you're breaking the law? Oh my, there have been times,
I'm trying to think of an illustration, but, well, we're building our
house, you know. The building, Franklin County
building inspector is one of the most powerful men on earth,
you know. Right, Sam? And when he's coming to inspect, I'm getting on a bad subject
here, hon. When he's coming to inspect this little Hitler, Buddy,
if he doesn't like it, you've got to please him, don't you?
Every jot and tittle, every nail. And you fear, is everything right? Is everything right? What about
the law of God? The law of God looks on the heart. demands it shall be perfect to
be accepted. Christ said, John, fear not. The angel of the Lord, the true
preacher of the gospel says, fear not. You fear the law? Don't
need to. It's been fulfilled. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone. Oh, but I'm broken.
I'm the worst. You're at the top of the list.
He came for the chief of sinners, the chief lawbreaker. He's the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. All manner of sin shall be forgiven.
That's good news, isn't it? Fear not. Don't fear the law.
Don't fear God's wrath. Oh, I believe He's going to cast
me out because I'm such a sinner. I'm such a poor excuse for a
believer. What do you reckon Simon Peter
thought? Let's call up old Simon Peter as a witness to this. Okay? Simon? Are you a good example
of a faithful, believing Christian? I deny the Lord. I absolutely
shame myself. What's your hope, Simon? That
he said, I will in no wise cast out. Him that cometh to me, Christ
said, I will in no wise. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me. That's why you're here. You wouldn't have come.
You wouldn't have come if the Father hadn't given you to Christ.
You wouldn't have come. You wouldn't be here. You wouldn't
be here to see Christ and Him crucified had not the Father
drawn you with cords of love, had not the Father loved you
and sent you here to see Christ crucified. That's who He sent
you here to see. Have you seen Him? Have you heard
His voice? Yeah, but He's going to catch
me out. Well, listen again. He said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Have you come
to Christ? Yes. Yes, I have. How? Sinner. Is that how you came in the beginning?
Yes, it is. But now what? Hold the beginning
of your confidence. Steadfast in. Come the same way. How? A sinner. To whom coming
all the days of your sinful life. Come to Christ. And say, here
I am, just as I am. Without one plea. But when you
died, you died for me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise, under no circumstances, for any reason whatsoever cast
him out." And if I was Pentecost, I'd say,
somebody say, Amen. Oh, my. God's wrath. Don't fear, it's been poured
out. It's been expended. The rod has been broken. across
the back of my Savior. Look, there is no more rod for
the back of God's people. You fear your sins. You know,
sin is going to find you out. No, sir. It says the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought and it won't be found. If you're
more fit than that man that took that scapegoat out to put it
away, then you can find your sin. But I don't reckon you are.
Christ is that man, that fit man. He is that scapegoat. You
see, my sins, your sins have been laid on the head of your
scapegoat, and God Himself led him as far as the east is from
the west with our sins and put them away. And they're not going
to find you now. There is therefore now no condemnation. Is this the best message you've
ever heard or what? It's the same message you've always heard.
No different. No different. Don't fear angels.
Don't fear devils. You know this angel, have you
ever thought about this? This was just an angel. And John
on the Isle of Patmos fell at the feet of an angel. Do you
remember that? John fell at the feet of this
glorious another angel, who apparently his countenance was like lightning.
His garment as the snow. And who was that angel? Do you remember what was said?
The angel said, don't worship me. Didn't he? Don't worship
me. He said, I'm of your brethren,
your fellow brethren. Who was it? It may have been
Stephen. He didn't recognize him. He was
a glorious being, but not to be worshipped. Don't fear angels.
And some do, you know, they worship angels more than Christ Himself.
And don't fear devils. Don't fear devils. They're on
a chain. They're on a chain. You know,
God gives them a little season. The Scripture says a little season,
doesn't it? Just a little season. He's got them in this earth.
They're God's devils, though. Man, do you ask me if I'm conscious
of people listening to this on sermon audio? That's a good question. I told her, no, I'm not. I rarely
think of it because I'm preaching to you. And I don't adjust anything
I say accordingly at all. But every now and then it comes
up. I think about it. Who's going to listen to it?
And I hope they do. I hope they do. But devils are
God's devils. Somebody's going to take that
and run with it. Somebody's going to abuse that. But I don't care. Those that seem it to be something,
but what they are, no matter to me, they're going to take
this and abuse it. But they're God's devils. I'm
not charging him with sin. I'm just simply saying what Scripture
says. They must give an account. They must answer to the Lord
of angels and devils. They can only do what He allows
them to do to fulfill His purpose. No more. No more. And they're
on a chain. They're on a chain. I love that
story, don't you, of Pilgrim Bunyan's Pilgrim in Pilgrim's
Progress, where he's walking down that road and he sees ahead
of him two lions, two roaring lions. Satan, as a roaring lion,
seeketh whom he may devour. It's not possible for him to
devour God's people. It's not possible. But old Pilgrim,
he was getting ready to go down that straight and narrow way.
It was straight and narrow. And on either side was a roaring
lion just all scaring him to death. And the closer he got,
Mac, the closer he got, he looked, and they were on chains. They
could only come so far. No further. And he squeezed on
by. And they didn't touch him. And
he thought, what was I worried about? God's devilish. Some people are more afraid of
the devil than they are. Well, they ought to be. Their
God's not as powerful as the devil. Mine is. The devil is a created being.
Well, I've got to go on. Got to go on. So the angel said,
fear not ye. Certainly don't fear men. Don't
fear me. Fear not ye. Fear not. Look at verse 6 now. He said,
I know you seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for
he is risen as he said. Oh, how often does the scripture
say, according to the scripture. How that Christ died according
to the Scripture, or that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
How often does it say that? Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. When God Almighty wrote all this
down, before it ever happened, it was as good as done. Dictum,
factum. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
do it. Write it down. So let it be written,
so let it be done. Good as done. It was so certain
and sure God wrote it all down, the end from the beginning, He
declared it, wrote it all down in a book, closed it, wrapped
it up and sealed it to the end of time. And then they're going
to open it, and every jot and tittle has, is, and shall come
back. That's how certain it is. God's
spoken and written Word. As He said, As Scripture said,
Scripture said a thousand years before this happened, thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one
to seek corruption. This is what Peter preached at
Pentecost. He quoted that, Psalm 1610. He
said, David's in the tomb. You go looking for bones of David,
you'll find them. You go looking for the bones
of the son of David, you won't find them. This is He of whom
the Scripture said that He will not see corruption. And as the
Lord said over and over and over to His disciples, didn't He?
Over and over and over for three and a half years, He kept telling
them, the Son of Man must suffer. The Son of Man ought not Christ
to suffer. Yes, the Son of Man must suffer.
And He will go, I'm going to Jerusalem, and be delivered in
the hands of sinful men and will be crucified. and bear him, but
the third day I will rise again." He kept saying this to him, as
he said. And the angel said, ìHe is not here.î This is all
angels do, is repeat what the Lord has said. He is not here. He is risen, just like he said. Can you count on the Lord? Can
you rest your soul? Can you rest your family? Can
you rest everything, all of your future, all of your hopes, all
of your fears, on the Lord Jesus Christ as your foundation? Yes!
He cannot lie. It's as He said. Every time. And He is not here. And I thought
about this. I want to tell all that truly
seek Him, I want to tell all those religious people out in
the world, and try to. That he is not here. He's not here. The living. The
angel in another gospel said, why seek ye the living among
the dead? Remember that? Don't come to
this tomb, the grave, looking for a living person. He's not
here. He's not here. The living Lord
is not here. Don't look for the living Lord
in dead ceremonies. You know why we don't go through
all these ceremonies? I don't dress up like an old,
old, old priest years ago and go through all these ceremonies
and chant a language that's dead Latin. Nobody speaks Latin anymore.
Nobody speaks that. You know why we don't go through
an old Latin liturgy? You know, throw water all over
you and go through all this stuff that's a bunch of dead. And they
don't have this old, old. Everything needs to be old, I
guess, to be right. An old stone building, you know,
it was cold and dark and dead. Don't you love that story of
Martin Luther? He's crawling up those steps, kissing those
steps of what are supposed to be blood spots where the Lord
walked up a step. Story has it, Martin Luther,
a monk, Roman Catholic monk, in those old damp, dark dungeons,
stone buildings, going through all that old ceremony, traditions,
and darkness in darkness even as others. He's kissing those
blood spots, trying to appease the Lord, trying to make the
Lord pleased with him. Look at me, I'm sacrificing. Look at what I'm doing. He's
kissing those blood spots. And bless God. But God. Rich in mercy. God is going to use this one
little monk to turn the world upside down. God Almighty sent
a sunlight, sunlight, ray of light into the heart of that
fellow who had been reading this book for years. Martin Luther
had been reading it for years, could quote it. Read verses like
in Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. The just shall live
by faith. He read that and didn't have a clue what it meant. And he's kissing those blood
spots, trying to appease God. And God Almighty came like turning
the, he said it like this, bright light coming on. And spoke to
his mind and heart, the just shall live by faith. Not kissing
blood spots. Look into the One who shed that
blood. Faith in a living Lord. And the story goes, Martin Luther
tells it, that he jumped up, right there, and ran out of that
dark, dead stone temple into the glorious sunlight, justified
by faith. And from that day forward, look
to Christ. Oh, he's not here. He's not here. He's not in all this dead religion
today, folks. I know it looks good and sounds
good and all that, but he's not here. He's not in that stuff.
He's risen. He's ascended. He's seated. He's
exalted. He's reigning and ruling and expecting his enemy, a living
Lord among living saints. Not dead saints, living saints. And look at this, this angel
grants permission to these poor women to see proof. He said,
he's not here, he's risen. As he said, come, see the place
where the Lord lay. Come see. And as we said, they
went in. They went in the tomb and looked. A little while later, you know,
Peter comes running. Running in. And it doesn't tell us here,
but it says that his grave clothes were laid to one side, and the
napkin about his head folded over to the side. As someone
who is in no hurry, calmly, in control of himself, lays down
these old garments, laid it down, got up, walked out. And they went into that tomb.
And what did they see? They went in that tomb, and what
did they see? They went in an old, dark, damp
tomb. Used to be. What did they see? Nothing. Nothing. Just as he said. They looked in, and it was empty.
They looked into that tomb. Now listen to this. You'll get
a blessing. I'm not going to quit until you're blessed." Alright,
they looked into that tomb, a grave. It was a grave they were looking
into, wasn't it? And that place was meant to be morbid. It was
meant to be dark. I thought, how could they see
what was in there? I know. The Lord illuminated it. They
could see clearly. It was meant to be sad. It was supposed to
be sad, dark, morbid. damp, and it was empty. I believe it was light. They
could see everything clearly. I believe it smelled sweet. Somebody
didn't smell like death, mind you. It smelled sweet, a sweet-smelling
savor, not death. You reckon? And it was gloriously Marvelously
empty. Nothing there. There's just nothing
there. There's nobody there. Nothing
and nobody in that old place of death. And here's what I'm trying to
say. Is that the Lord said, and He says it better than I can
try. He says, the Lord came to deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. How did he do it? An empty tomb. You need not fear it. He's not
here. And whoever you put in that tomb, whoever you put in
that tomb, we've put a few in, haven't we? We've put a few in
there that you love, people you love. We've put them in there. Those that trusted Christ, those
that came believing and died in the faith, we've put them
in the tomb. But they're not there. It's not sad. No, no. We're going
to miss them. That's sad. But they're not there. They're risen, as he said. He
that liveth and believeth in me will never die. Can you believe
this? Who said that? He who cannot lie. They're not
there. They're not there. They're risen.
And I love, you know, J.B. loved that, where it says they're
coming with him. When he comes back, final, full
proof that everybody that trusted in Christ is safe in Christ,
because they're all coming with him. Everyone, Joel, Lyndon,
Becky, and Ellen, Virgin, just all of them, they're coming with
him. And we'll know them. So he says, go quickly, go. They
went in and looked and said, no, don't hang around here. No
point in it. He didn't say this, but go quickly. Leave here. Go quickly. Tell
his disciples, tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. Go tell his disciples. Go quickly.
And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, and there shall
you see him. Glo, I told you. Everything he said up to that
point was true, wasn't it? God's angels can't lie. Now, if God's got his hand on
them or sent them, right? Glo, I told you. Just told you
what the Lord told me to tell you. Is He really going to be
there? And we're going to look at this
Wednesday night. Wednesday night, we're going
to look at how He's going to go before us to Galilee, and
we're going to see Him. We're going to see Him. What's
the significance of Galilee? He said that three times. Well,
we'll see. You want to see? Alright, you came seeking Christ
crucified. I hope you saw Him. Do you want
to see a living Lord and hear Him hail you? and come with us
tonight.