Matthew chapter 27, starting
in verse 62, and we're going to go to 66. Now the next day
that followed, the day of the preparation, the chief priests
and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember
that the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three
days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the
sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is
risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the
first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have
a watch, Go your way and make it sure as you can. So they went
and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. My oh my. You know, we have all seen this
in our lives and we've seen it through the scriptures that God
can make the devices of wicked men glorify him. glorify him. We've seen it with
Joseph being thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery and
then becoming the second in command in Egypt. We've seen it with
David, Saul seeking to kill him. Seeking to wipe him off the face
of the earth and then him later becoming king. And we've seen
it with our Lord where wicked man took Him and crucified Him. But that which man meant for
evil, God had already ordained it for good. And that's for our
good, isn't it? We're redeemed because of what
He did on Calvary's cross. And we're justified because He
rose again from the grave. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. So He can make the devices of
wicked man glorify Him. And He does. He does. Again,
we're taught this by the conduct of the priests and Pharisees
after he was buried. They were afraid that he was
gonna rise again. Look what it says here in verse
63, saying, Sir, we remember that deceiver. What blasphemy.
The only one who's ever told the truth. The only man who's
never lied. And they're calling him a deceiver.
We see there the depravity of our own hearts, don't we? Because
we were all there in unbelief. That deceiver, while he was yet
alive, after three days I will rise again. Command therefore
that the sepulchre be made sure. That's sealed with a Roman seal. My oh my. These unhappy religious
men remembered that he said, I'm going to rise again. And they thought, we're going
to make that impossible. Now, could you imagine? Could
you imagine? Brother Tom, say we're the Roman guards. Could
you imagine? We're sitting there going, they're paying us to guard
a dead man. This is great duty. Just stand
there and, right? Wouldn't that, as soldiers, we'd
think, you're paying me to guard a dead man's tomb. Well, I'll
take that. I'll volunteer for that. No problem
at all. Sure. Right? See how natural man thinks? Right? They didn't have any clue
who he was. They just thought he was a Jewish
dead, a dead Jewish man. They may have heard about him.
Didn't think anything of it. Oh, who is that in there? Oh,
that's that Jesus guy. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I heard
about him a little bit, but I just brushed it off. Those Jews are
always getting worked up. Right? Isn't that wild? So we don't think of it in light
of those two, those guards either. A whole watch, too. I don't know
how many men a watch is, but I imagine it was quite a few
men. So they'd gladly be like, yeah, we'll take that shift.
No problem at all. That's easy money. My, oh, my. They didn't know
who they were guarding, did they? They didn't know whose tomb they
were guarding. So these Jewish men, they go to Padat, and they
obtain the guard of Roman soldiers. And these are Roman soldiers.
These are not just palace guards. These are Roman soldiers. These
are, as Tom said one time, the first professional army. These are men who are hardened
legionaries. On their body, they bear scars
of the battles they've been involved in. And they have no clue who
they're guarding. They have no clue that they're
going to be spoken about in light of the very one who we speak
about, rising from the grave. Because as we read that text,
and anyone who reads that text, you see it right there. They're
mentioned, aren't they? But they're just mentioned as
a watch, just a guard. So we're not going to follow.
They're not who we focus upon, are they? No, we focus on the
risen one. We focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So man did everything they could to stop him from rising from
the grave. Rolled a huge stone, so big that the lady said, who
are we gonna get to roll the stone away? That hindrance is
gone, isn't it? The angel rolled it away. My
oh my. So here they're asking, OK, we'll
get a guard from Pilate. We'll seal it up. We'll get the
guard. We'll have him seal the tomb.
He not going nowhere. What did they call him? A deceiver. Oh, my gosh. That's blasphemy. This is the word of God. This
is God incarnated in the flesh laying there in that tomb. Up
from the grave he rose, right? With a mighty triumph over his
foes. Do you know his foes? Were our sins, too? And Satan? His foes became our, or our foes
became his foes. He bore our sin, didn't he? He's
sinless and yet he bores the sin. He bears the penalty for
our sin. Fully satisfying God's law that
it has absolutely, so much so that it has no claim upon us. It can't find any fault in us,
beloved. Isn't that wonderful? And we're
full of fault, aren't we? And yet God says, we saw it on
Wednesday night, unapprovable and blameless in God's sight,
in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? This is the best news a sinner's
ever heard. Isn't it? It's wonderful. So man thought they'd stop the
resurrection. We got him. We sealed that tomb
up. We rolled a huge stone. Probably
took two, three men to roll that stone over. I don't know. I know
that one angel killed 100,000 men, so a stone is like a pebble
for an angel probably. But we know he did roll it away.
And I'm not even going to talk about the angels. They're just
servants of God like you and I. Right? Willing servants. Elect angels, they're called.
Isn't that amazing? They're called elect angels,
just like God's people are called the elect. A third of the angels
fell, but those elect angels didn't fall, did they? See, people
have no problem with God choosing a nation. People have no problem
with God choosing angels. But when it gets down to God
choosing whom he'll give his salvation to, that's when the
rubber hits the road for man. You know why? Because it offends
our pride. Because we want to do something to be saved, and
there's nothing we can do to be saved. Nothing. It strips us down to nothing.
God's grace, and praise God it does. My. So in verse 66 we see they made
the sepulcher, sure. But they really thought little
about what they were doing. Do you know what they were actually
doing? They were actually providing the most complete evidence of
the resurrection. Do you know there's been people
People who said, I'm going to talk to you from the grave. Some
false leader in some religion, I think it might have been Seventh-day
Adventism, was buried with a telephone. Said, I'm going to call. I'm
going to call you all. The phone never rang. It still haven't rang, beloved.
Can you hear me? That would have been the opposite
commercial, right? Nope. But isn't that wild? Buried with a telephone, and
the cord ran up, connected to a phone, and that phone still
never rang. And you know that Christianity is the only religion,
I don't believe what we have is religion, I believe we have
faith in Christ, but the only so-called religion in the world
where the tomb's empty. Muhammad's still in his grave.
Buddha's in his grave. The Indian gods are just figments
of people's imaginations, right? But all these gods that people
make out of men and out of women, they're all in the grave. Joseph
Smith, the leader of Mormonism, he's still in the grave. Mary
Baker Etter, her body's still in the grave. Russell, the guy
with Jehovah's Witnesses, he's still in the grave. Christ is
risen. So they actually gave more evidence
for the resurrection and didn't even know it. By rolling the
big stone there, by putting the seal of the Roman soldiers on
there, by setting a watch of rugged
Roman soldiers, professional soldiers as Tom said, who if
they were found out to have The person who arrives from the grave
would be killed. But we found out later on they
weren't killed, they were paid off, weren't they? My oh my. So they were making it possible
to prove that there was no deception. Or they were making it impossible
to prove that there was deception. I'm sorry. That there was deception. And these precautions all became
witnesses to the fact that Christ had risen from the grave. Turn
if you would to Matthew chapter... Matthew chapter 28. One chapter
over from where we read. My oh my. Matthew chapter 28. Look at verses 1 1 to 10. In the end of the Sabbath,
as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold,
there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. You ever, when you were a kid,
you ever sit on a bench or something, a concrete bench, you're sitting
there, you're just sitting there and, you know. That's why I picture
the saints just sitting on top of this rock. Just sitting on a rock. Oh my. For the angel, Lord, descended
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white
as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake. Now, those guards are still standing there. And they became as dead men.
Look at that. These are professional soldiers. And they're standing there like
dead men, trembling. And I'll tell you what, that's
a trembling that went from head to the bottom of their feet. They are terrified. Oh my. Could you imagine that? Tom, you and I are standing guard
there and Dave too and Jim. We're all standing there and
all of a sudden you hear this big earthquake. You're like dead man. You see
this angel rolling by. That would terrify us, wouldn't
it? If we did not know Christ. We think, what are we seeing
here? And we'd all be witnesses to
it too. You think they went back and
told those Jews what happened? Uh-huh. That's why they pay them
the money. Better keep them quiet. Don't
want word of this getting around. My oh my. And you know, them
guards wouldn't talk about it too, because they didn't want
to lose their lives either, did they? My, oh my. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, look at this, fear not ye. Now that, that's
what God says to us in Christ, beloved. Fear not. All your sins are forgiven. What did David say to Mephibosheth?
Remember Mephibosheth, the only heir left of Saul's lineage?
David looked to him and said, fear not. Mephibosheth, what
do you have to do with me, a dead dog like me? Fear not, Mephibosheth. I made a covenant with your dad.
Who made a covenant in eternity? The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. That covenant was made by Jonathan
David before Mephibosheth was even born. God made a covenant with the
Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father made a covenant with God
the Son and God the Holy Spirit that the people of his chosen
in Christ shall be saved, shall be born again, shall have faith. And here we are. Isn't that amazing? And there's
a people of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Oh my. It's wonderful. And God's not, God doesn't say
good people, does he? I said, I told you I'm going
to say it again. I heard DJ say this. I loved it. He said, heaven
ain't full of good people. You're full of a bunch of sinners.
I gotta keep saying that because I love that. It's so true. Hell's
full of good people, but heaven's full of a bunch of sinners. Dead
dog sinners like us. Oh, praise his mighty name. Isn't
it wonderful? I'll tell you what. Oh, I'll
tell you what. He's not here. Fear not ye, for
I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified. Now they saw him
crucified. They saw him buried. And so now they're going to prepare
his body with ointment. By now he should have stunk,
right? Remember Lazarus came out of that tomb and he said,
oh Lord, he stinketh. Nope. I'm the resurrection and the
life, Christ said. My oh my, look at this. He's
not here. I like in the part where it says,
why seek ye the living among the dead? Do you know we're more
alive when we're in heaven than we are when we're here on this
earth? My oh my. He's not here. For he is risen. That's a fact. That fact hasn't changed, has
it? This was proclaimed 2,000 years ago. This is a fact. And
he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly
and tell his disciples that he is risen. He repeats it again. He's risen from the dead. And
behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see
him, lo, I've told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy. They've got fear and joy
mixed together. Fear is a reverence. And joy
comes from the Holy Spirit of God. Fear is a reverence of God,
who he is. He's risen. No one's ever done
this. And joy. that the king is rise,
the king is alive. My, he said destroy this temple
in three days I'll rise it up, raise it up again. He's talking
about his body, wasn't he? And there he is. Oh my. And they ran. to bring his disciples
word. And when they told his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. And they came and held
him by the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus, now look
at these three words. Isn't this wonderful? This is
what God says to all those people, be not afraid. We don't have to fear God, he's
our king. Now we fear him in reverence and awe, don't we?
But that's not a slavish fear, that's a fear of who God is. But we also rejoice in our great
King, don't we? Be not afraid. He's saying that to his people,
beloved. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and
there shall they see me. And I love the fact again where
it says he's going to go before them. Always ask God when you're making
any kind of decision, ask God to go before you. Pray, Lord,
go. Don't let me go anywhere where
you don't go before me. Because we do not want to take
a step where he doesn't go before us. My, oh my. My, oh my. Hmm. So we praise him. We praise him when persecution
arises. And what does persecution do?
What does trials do? What does suffering do for the
believer? Drives us right to Christ, doesn't it? And he makes
us strong, yeah. In our weakness, he is strong. My oh my. And persecution will
come, suffering will come. But the born-again blood-washed
saints are to seek refuge in Christ Jesus our Lord. He's our
city of refuge, isn't he? He's the only one we hope in. And these situations always drive
us nearer to Christ. Why? To seek grace to help in
time of need. I mentioned this on Wednesday
that I was listening to a DJ Ward message, and he said he
went and visited this lady that was in the hospital. And he said,
well, I hear you've got a lot of cancer in your church right
now, people having cancer and stuff like that. And he said,
yeah. And she said, well, how are the people doing? She said,
well, some are getting better and some aren't, but some are
going through things. And she said, well, praise be
to God. And he looked at her and he thought, she knows something. And he says, because she said,
is your church praying for one another, praying for those folks?
And he said, yeah. He said, it'll bring your church
closer together. That'll bring you all closer.
We have proof of that, don't we? It does, doesn't it? It does. My oh my. I'll tell you what, folks receive
those cards we write, it's so encouraging to them. The prayer
chain that we have to go pray for each other, that's so encouraging
to me as your pastor, I'll tell you what, I count it great joy
to be able to pray. pray for you and pray for your
needs and what you're going through. It's an honor to lift one another
up, isn't it, to the throne of grace, to remember one another.
It's an honor. And we have genuine love for
one another, too. So we desire God's will to be
done. It's like Vicki was saying about
her dad. She said, I'm so thankful that the folks at church prayed. And she said, I was resolved
whether he was healed or not, whether it went good or not.
God's good. God's good. And she said, I thank
God for the folks over there praying for him. It's just wonderful.
See, that's the type of things that we don't, that's our hearts
being knit together in love. It's bearing one another's burdens,
isn't it? But only born-again believers really know what that's
all about. People often say, I'll pray for
you. Well, they don't even know Christ. Right? But I know when you guys say
we're praying for you, that's a blessing. My oh my. So when persecution
comes, what's that do? When we're praying for each other,
that's drawing each of us closer to Christ, isn't it? Because
who are we praying to? We're not praying to the wall
or the ceiling. We're praying to our King, aren't we? For one
another, too. Isn't it amazing how God works?
It's absolutely incredible, absolutely amazing. So we take courage by
these things which occur in our lives. One dear Saint of old was in
prison for heresy and his body was thrown to a pack of wild
dogs who ate him completely. But beloved, where did his soul
go? Right up to glory. Right up to glory. To be absent
from the body, be present with the Lord, right? See, our Lord
just went home, didn't He? When He rose from the grave,
He just went home. In that prayer in John 17, where
He asked the Father to glorify Him again. Back to where He was
before. Remember, He's King of kings
and Lord of lords. Even before He comes to this
world. Our king died for a bunch of unprofitable servants. Why? Because he loves us with
an eternal, everlasting, unchanging love. Unchanging love even based
upon what we do. You know you can't mess up your
salvation. Do you know there's an inheritance waiting for you
in heaven? Do you know why we keep on keeping on? Because God
keeps us. Otherwise, we'd be gone. It's the grace of God that keeps
us. He that had begun a good work in you. We're going to be
looking at that in Philippians soon. He's going to finish it. Because he's the author of our
salvation, and he's the finisher of our salvation. Now that's
comforting, isn't it? And where's our king? He's in
glory, right? He's risen. So where are we going to be?
We're going to be risen too. When we die, our soul goes to
God, and our bodies go to the ground. But one day, that body's
going to rise, and we're going to have a new body, beloved.
You got aches and pains? You don't have them anymore.
No. No more sickness, no more cancer,
no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more crying. My. Peace, joy, love in the presence
of our crucified one, the risen Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man, the second person of the Trinity, who shed
his precious blood to redeem our eternal souls. And then rose again on the third
day. Out from the grave, I love this,
out from the grave he rose with a mighty triumph over his foes. My, we serve a victorious God. He's a risen savior. Do you know
death couldn't hold him? Death could hold us. But it can't
now, because the power of death's been broken, isn't it? We don't
even have to fear death anymore. You know what death is like?
And I know we all wonder how we're going to leave this world.
But you know what death is like? You know when you walk out that
door and that door shuts behind you? Just like that. Just like that. Yeah, even faster
than that. Isn't that amazing? Right away
with the Lord. My, oh my. It's incredible. So we have set before us in this
text that we just read the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead. My oh my. And so important is it, this
resurrection, it's this great seal of the redemption brought
out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what did he come to do?
He came to save his people. from their sins. And God said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And scripture says he's raised
for our justification, brother Tom, that we might be justified
and be able to stand in the presence of God, unblameable, unreprovable,
and God don't remember our sins anymore. I mean, there's nothing
left. They are washed in the precious
blood, brother. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
the resurrection is the crowning proof that the work is finished.
It's the crowning proof that he has paid the debt that we
owed in full. He won the battle. He delivered us from our sins. He delivered us from hell. He
delivered us from the wrath of God. He delivered us from the
wrath of God. He delivered us from ourselves. One day we're going to be totally
delivered from the presence of sin, but we've been delivered
from the power of sin. Now we hate it. Now we struggle,
don't we? You struggle every day like me?
Oh, yeah. Oh, my. Sometimes the worst thoughts
come in this noodle here. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Aren't you thankful
God saved us from all our sins, whether they be thought, word,
or deed, omission and commission, sins even when we sleep? They're
all under the blood, and there ain't one left to condemn us.
Not one. Who can bring any charge against
God's elect? It's God that justifies. And
God prayers, right? He's raised for what? Our justification.
So by the resurrection, God's proven that we're justified. My, oh my. How can it be that
a sinner from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet,
how can it be? How can it be that we can be
forgiven of all the sins that we've ever committed or will
ever commit? The precious blood of the Passover Lamb of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ hath redeemed us. We've been dipped in that
fountain filled with blood, beloved. Oh my, and you know how that
angel had, I'm thinking of this too, you know how the angel had
raiment that was white snow? That's a picture of the righteousness
of Christ for us, beloved. White as snow. White. Pure white. No stains
in that righteousness. And that's an alien righteousness,
isn't it? The old timers used to call it an alien righteousness.
Because it's not our righteousness. It's the righteousness of Christ.
And we're clothed in that, beloved. That's the wedding garment. That's
the best role when the father said, bring forth the best role
for my prodigal son. My son didn't even call him my
prodigal. Bring forth the best role for my son. He was dead
and now he's alive. Oh my, isn't it wonderful? We
were dead and now we're alive spiritually. Oh, our God is so good. So it's
the crowning proof that Christ has paid all our debt. that God
has accepted him as our surety, as our substitute, that his blood
has ransomed our eternal souls, paying all that God demanded
for our souls, and the Father in heaven is satisfied. Satisfied. Is there anything we ought to
do? Nothing. Look and live. We look all the time all over. Look to Christ and live. And
this is free grace. You don't have to pay for it.
You can't earn it. We can't merit it. It's free. Free from the hand of our great
God. He can save to the othermost all those who come to God through
him. through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only Savior. He's the
only Redeemer. He's the only mediator between
God and man. No one else. And think of this, if Christ
hadn't risen from the grave, how could our ransom be paid?
It couldn't be, could it? Praise God. Paid in full. And with a red stamp, right?
Blood red. Paid in full. Like that papyrus you were talking
about, brother. Taking a pen. Blood of the lamb, paid in full. Nothing left. And that gets right
into that stuff, doesn't it? Soaks right in. were washed in
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's risen. Praise his mighty name. My, oh my. Think of this, if
he hadn't arisen, then our conflict with the last enemy, which is
death, we would have no confidence. We would perish in our sins,
but praise God he rose. He rose. We don't have to fear
death, beloved. Again, it's just a doorway. A
doorway into glory. A doorway, think of this, a doorway
into the presence of our great God. Just like that. They melt even faster. The minute we breathe our last
breath, we're in the presence of the Lord. I'll tell you. Isn't that wonderful? my oh my and think of this if christ hadn't
arisen then that would have brought forth that god wasn't satisfied
with his sacrifice but praise god he is says he shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied God's satisfied with the work
of Christ, not the work of any other man, but by the work of
the God-man, by the perfect sin-atoning work of the God-man in his life,
and then die, and bleed, and shed his precious blood to ransom
our souls. God's absolutely satisfied. This
is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Oh my, those are
great, those are wonderful words for the believer. My, He overcame our sin, He overcame
the law of God, He overcame the justice of God, He overcame the
wrath of God, and He's overcome death. And think of this, death is just
again a doorway for us to enter into eternity. We will no longer
be constrained by time. No longer. We'll be worshiping the Lord.
I don't know what we're going to do in heaven. I know we're
going to serve him, but it's going to be glorious. Just to
be in his presence and to know one another. The love that we
have here will be magnified so much more that we can't even
measure it. That we have for Christ and that we have for one
another. My, I'll tell you what. Let us consider this, the glory
and majesty with which Christ rose from the dead. Look at verses,
look at verse 2 of Matthew 28. Look at this, the glory and majesty. Look at this. Behold, there was
a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it. And notice there, we've got a great earthquake, we've got
the angel of the Lord, and we got he descended from heaven. And our Lord and Savior, God
in the flesh, he did not need the help of any angel. He rose again by God's almighty
power. And his resurrection was followed
by signs and wonders. It seemed good that the earth
should shake and a glorious angel shall appear. When he arose,
conquer over... Think of this too. When he arose...
Think of the implications for us. He arose as a conqueror over
all our enemies. He conquered our enemies, beloved.
We were terrified by death before we were saved. I know I was. Weren't you, Dave? I was terrified. So much so, I didn't even like
going to funerals, but I went. but didn't like him. My oh my. But here, our king, he rises in triumph over all
our enemies. The conqueror. Scripture says
he bruised his heel, that's his humanity, and he crushed the
serpent's head. He crushed Satan at the cross,
beloved. You know, people give Satan so
much power. He don't have no power unless God allows him to
do anything. Henry Mahan used to say, he's
on the leash. My oh my. Remember, God's for
us. Who can be against us? The risen
King is for us. This one who rose from the grave
is for us. This one who rose from the grave
watches over us. This one who rose from the grave
is our great shepherd, and we're his sheep. He protects us and
takes care of our daily needs, even when we don't even realize
he's doing it. My, it's amazing. So what comforts
found for his people in the resurrection? He is risen. He's risen for our
justification. The grave couldn't hold him.
He said, Satan cometh and hath nothing in me. Meaning he couldn't find anything
in him, no sin, he's sinless. He'd find a lot in us, wouldn't
he? But he couldn't find nothing
in Christ. Nothing. The sinless, spotless Lamb of
God. And think of this, a glorious
angel is a witness of his rising. And he rose with a renewed body,
yet a body real, true, and material. So also his people shall have
a new body. Real, true, and material. Let us take comfort in this thought.
Trial, sorrow, weariness, pain, often hurt, and wear these earthly
tabernacles, right? Wear them down. But soon we'll
be in glory with our great God and King, and we will be like
Him, with a new body. No more pain. Can you imagine
that? Do you find the older you get,
you wake up and you got pain where you didn't think you could
ever have pain? You didn't even know it was possible that pain
was going to be there? My, oh my. Where did all that
come from? But there'd be no pain in heaven. There'd be no sorrow. My oh my. We're begotten again to a lively
hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. This is a wonderful truth that's
clearly and fully proved. No fact of earthly ministry is
so established as Christ rising from the grave. He rose by his
almighty power. My oh my. Turn, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 51 to 58. How shall we
rise again? You know what kind of funeral
we have when we die don't really matter, does it? Don't really
matter. Matters little, the great question
is, how shall we rise again? Look at this. Behold, I show
you a mystery, verse 51. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be changed. Look at that little word, shall,
showing up again, isn't it? Oh my, we know this is by God's
almighty power. And here's what you were mentioning,
Dave, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. A twinkling of an
eye, that's a twinkle. Yeah. Oh my. At the last trumpet, for the
trumpet shall sound. So this is going to happen. There's that
word shall again. And the dead shall be raised. The dead will
be raised, no matter what people think. The Sanhedrin didn't believe
in the resurrection. Well, it's going to happen, because
God's word says it's going to happen. Right? Shall be raised
incorruptible. Look at that. And we shall be
changed. For this corruptible, that's
our bodies now, must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, again, this is going to happen. Listen
to the verbiage here. And this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be bought the pass, the saying that
is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death. Well, because of all that, oh,
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. It's bought and paid for, isn't
it? And the strength of sin is the law. The law is fulfilled
in Christ for his people. But thanks be to God what's given
us what? The victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, Divinely loved ones, ye shall be standfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as
much as we know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Nothing
we do for him is in vain, beloved. Again, we're here for the furtherance
of the gospel. And then next thing I'd like
us to consider in this text here, look at verses, let's read verses
two to four, is the terror which Christ's enemies felt. Look at
this. And behold, there was a great
earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat
upon it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake, and became as dead men. They shook. They became as dead men. Turn,
if you would, to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6. Now these, again, these Roman
soldiers were professional soldiers. They were used to dreadful sights.
They were seasoned soldiers. And they saw a sight here that
made their courage melt like wax, burning in a blast furnace. The appearance of one angel took all the courage out of them,
and they were filled with dread and trembled. What will they do when they see
all the dead coming from their graves and assemble around the
great white throne? What fears and terrors will possess
those outside of Christ? when they must at least, at last,
face the Almighty face to face. The one who they said, I don't
believe in him. The one who they mocked. Saints, the sheep and the goats
will be gathered at that great white throne, won't they? Mm. Look at Revelation 6, verses
15 to 17. And the kings of the earth, and
the great men, and the rich men, and the chief priests, or chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains. You've all seen mountains, right? Go out to Colorado, you see the
Rocky Mountains. Look at this. And said to the
mountains and the rocks, fall upon us. Why? And hide us from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne. They are in such fear and such
dread that they're crying that mountains would cover them. To
hide them from the face of Christ. That's Christ on the throne.
He has all power. He has all power. Look at this. and from the wrath
of the Lamb. Do you know he came he came he
came as a lamb the first time didn't he? He's coming as the
Lion of the tribe of Judah the second time and he the Lord's
a mighty warrior. He appeared to, we know that,
when he appeared to Joshua, in chapter five of Joshua, he appeared
as a captain of the Lord's host. He's a warrior. And do you notice
something? I remember here reading Hachra on this, and I thought
it was interesting. To Abraham, he appeared as a sojourner. To
Joshua, he appeared as a warrior. To others, he appeared to them
in things that they could understand. Isn't that amazing? Those are
Christophanies in the Old Testament. My, oh my. Things they could
relate to. But he is the captain of the
Lord's host, I'll tell you. Every angel bows down to him.
Everything in heaven and everything in earth bows down to our King.
My, oh my. Look at this. For the great day
of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? No one. Only those in Christ Right? And then look at the words of
comfort that the angel addressed to the friends of Christ, which
are his people. Look at verse 5. We'll read verses
5 to 8. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, Fear not, fear not ye, for I know that you seek
Jesus, which was crucified. He's not here, for he's risen.
And he said, Come and 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, I love that, into Galilee, and
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. So beloved, let us rejoice
today. Our sins are all forgiven. Our
sins are all washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we see that he's risen for our justification. These are
words of comfort for us, aren't they? Words of cheer. You know these
words have warmed the hearts of believers through all the
ages? Just like they warm our hearts. Isn't that amazing? God's Word is timeless. It's not affected by civilizations. It's not affected by time. It's
unchanging. The message is to God's people,
whatever age we're in. And the scripture says there's
nothing new under the sun, right? So just as the followers of Christ
in old got great comfort from reading these scriptures, right? When the New Testament was written.
So we today get great comfort from these words too. And so
will the saints, if the Lord tarries, so will the saints to
come. It's timeless. It surpasses empires,
civilizations. They come and go. And here's
the word of God. Sure. Unchanging. Comforting for God's people.
It tells us about our Savior. My oh my. And these scriptures remind us
that to have no cause for alarm no matter what will come. God's going to take care of his
people. We'll be aware of the situations. But don't let him
cause you alarm. He said there's gonna be wars
and rumors of wars. We're seeing it, right? We see
it all over. And also we know that God uses
that which man creates for sometimes for evil, he uses it for good.
Look at the internet. The gospel's just flooding out
all over the world. And soon they're going to harness
AI to make the sermons on sermon audio into languages of people
in the countries they live in. That's absolutely incredible.
So they can hear in their own language. That's amazing. All according to God's will and
providence. So let us not be afraid of what's
to come. God will keep us from falling.
We may go through some things, but God will keep us. His eyes
are ever upon us. He's ever watching over us. And the Lord's words will be
fulfilled. And when you, when these things begin to come to
pass and look up, look up, lift up your head for
your redemption draws nigh. That's our hope. We still, you
know, we're looking for Christ's return, aren't we? Let us keep our eyes upon Him,
waiting for His return. He may come in our lifetime.
He may not, but He may. But I know this, He's gonna come
for me when I die. And it's so for you too. Right? Is His eye upon us right now?
Oh, praise God. My, I just think I'm just a little
sheep running around and he just ever watch over me. And when
I start to wander a little bit, puts that crook of that staff
around my neck and just draws me closer to him. Come back over
here, Wayne. You're getting a little too far
over there. Isn't that wonderful? And he does it with love. You
know, I used to think, when I was in religion, I used to think
that he was, oh, you did that? I'm going to get you. God chastens
us in love, doesn't he? He chastens us. He never chastens
us in anger. Never. You ever think of that?
God's not angry with his people. His wrath's been appeased. So when he chastens us, he chastens
us in love. Because it's finished. And he's
satisfied with that sacrifice that Christ made. It is finished,
like our dear sister sang. It's finished. It's finished. It's absolutely
wonderful. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans. Turn over here to Romans chapter
8. Oh, my. Look at this. Romans chapter 8. We're closed
with this. I'm going to read a little bit
here though. Let's start in verse 28. Romans chapter 8, verse 28. And
we know, we've been taught this, that all things, good and bad
in our lives, times of joy, times of sorrow,
all things, That's the cake mix Dave talks about, right there.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did... Now notice this is all past tense.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God before us, who can be against us? Amen,
brother. He that spared not his own son. God the Father didn't spare his
son. but deliver them up for us, for our sins. For us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. See,
no charge can be bought against us because Christ paid it all
and he's risen and God is satisfied. Oh my. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
that rather than is, what? Risen again, there it is. Who
is even at the right hand of the Father and also maketh intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Can anything or anything, any
person separate us from the love of Christ? No, because Christ
has got us in his grip, doesn't he? And his love is eternal,
his love is unchanging, beloved. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ till tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Now that's pretty much
anything that can happen to man, isn't it? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Through who? Through him that
loved us. For I am persuaded. Now this
is something Paul being persuaded about. That neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall, shall be able, look at that,
not all things shall be able, they can't, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. I'm going to stop right there
and I'm not going to say anything except praise be to God. Oh my
brother Dave can