So first of all, I want to just, by way of introduction, say a few things with respect to this day. And we're going to just acknowledge that it is Easter Sunday and that we have, at least in the calendar, the opportunity to remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A few weeks ago, I was involved in the funeral of a lady who used to come and share with us in our services each week. You may remember her name was Annabelle. And I used to say hello to her at the beginning of the service each week because she was one of these people who didn't have access to the chat box and couldn't sign in to say hello with the device that she had. Annabelle was a good age, and when she died a few, well, it's a couple of months ago now, she was a loss to our little fellowship. But we rejoice to remember that she was taken into the presence of the Lord.

Her body was buried in a church cemetery near to where she lived. And mostly, Christians get buried. We get buried in the ground because that's the example that we find in scripture. The Lord's body was buried when he died on the cross and was taken down. His body was buried in a rock tomb. Sometimes people choose to be cremated, which is when a body is burned. whether it's burial or whether it's cremation, either way when someone dies their body begins to decay and over time it is turned to dust or ashes.

Many people think that that is the end of all life. And I sometimes hear people saying things like, when you die, you die, and that's all there is to it. As if when this body dies, there's no soul that continues. And I always wonder, how can they be so sure? I remember when I was at school, and that was a long time ago, but I can remember when I was at school and speaking about life after death. One boy said, there's no life after death. When you die, that's the end. There's nothing after. And I thought, how does he know? How does a 14 year old boy know that? Of course, he's just speculating. And there are lots of people who will give you their ideas about things that they really don't know too much about at all.

All I can tell you is that the Bible does not tell us that. The scriptures are very clear. They teach that there is life after death and that God will hold every man and woman and boy and girl to account on the last day for the things which they have done and said in this life, even for our thoughts. The Bible says in Hebrews 9, verse 27, it is appointed unto men once to die. But after this, after we've died, there will come a time of judgment. And after that judgment, the Lord Jesus will say one of two things to every person.

He will say either, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Or, he'll say, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. That's what the Bible says. Those are the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So forget what other people tell you. I believe this to be true and I hope that you do too. Today, many people are celebrating Easter. We call this Easter Sunday. It's the time of year when the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ took place. Now, let me be quite frank. I don't give much attention to the traditions of Easter, but I do believe that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The Lord had been crucified by Roman soldiers at the instigation, at the urging of his Jewish enemies, the religious leaders of that land at that time. And he had been crucified on the Friday morning, what we call Good Friday. he had been beaten and abused all the previous night and then he was scourged with whips and he was taken After several mock trials, he was taken out at the instruction at the command of Pilate, who was the Roman governor at that time, and he was crucified on a hill called Golgotha or Calvary. His suffering on the cross lasted about six hours. And at about three o'clock in the afternoon, We're told that the Lord dismissed his spirit, or as the Bible calls it, he gave up the ghost.

He died. John tells us that just before he died, he cried out, it is finished. By which he meant not that his life was finished, but his work was finished. His suffering on the cross had come to an end. He had done all, he had accomplished everything that his father required him to do for the redemption and salvation of his people.

And then Luke tells us, Jesus said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. There's that phrase that we spoke about earlier. He gave up the ghost. That's just another way of saying that his spirit departed from his body. Jesus' body then was dead, but his spirit ascended into his father's presence. Jesus' body was placed in its grave by his friends on Friday evening.

It was a new tomb. It belonged to a man called Joseph. It was a new tomb carved out of a rock. It was big enough to stand inside, but it was a hurried job. There was not a lot of time before the sun went down and that would usher in the Sabbath day, which was a day when people worshipped and that there was very little in the way of activity. The body of Jesus was wrapped in linen cloth and it was laid in the tomb with a large stone covering the door. Some of the women who traveled with the Lord Jesus planned to return early the following morning, which would be the Sunday morning in the way we talk about the days of the week. That would be the first day of the week.

And they planned to further tend to Christ's body and do what they hadn't been able to do after he had been first placed there. They would anoint the Lord's body with sweet-smelling spices as a mark of honour. And that's what we're going to read about in Mark chapter 16. So in Mark chapter 16, we read these verses. Verse one, just down to verse eight. This is the word of the Lord, of course, and this is what we're told. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him.

Very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted.

And he said unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, as he said unto you.

And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulchre, for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid. Now we can tell from this passage, it's a lovely passage, it says so much and it's so expressive of the feelings and the attitude and the anxieties of these ladies. You almost feel you can enter into the suspense as they went to the cross so early in the morning and discovered the things that they discovered.

But we can tell from this passage that Jesus rose from the dead very early on the first day of the week after the Jewish Passover. So Passover was an ancient feast of the children of Israel where they celebrated their departure out of slavery in the land of Egypt. That was the occasion, we've spoken about it before, that was the occasion when the death angel passed over the land, but more importantly, when he slew all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, passed over the houses that had blood on the doorposts and lintel. And that pointed to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Passover is calculated, the time of year of Passover is calculated according to the phases of the moon. We're hearing a lot about the moon at the moment because there are some astronauts heading there in a space rocket, but be that as it may, the phases of the moon as it goes around the earth is the way in which Passover is calculated. and it's calculated as being the first full moon after the spring equinox. So it was certainly around this time of year that Jesus died and rose again. And the resurrection of Jesus is a wonderful and significant event in the history of the world and in the history of the church and in the history of believers.

It teaches us many things and it has many applications. As long as time lasts, we will be learning more and more about what the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ means. And even if we've studied our Bibles for many, many years, there is still so much more to learn about what Christ accomplished on the cross and signified by his resurrection.

Today, I want to mention just a couple of the main lessons that we can learn from Christ's resurrection, simply because this is that time of year. And God willing, next week, we'll return to our passages dealing in 2 Kings, dealing with Elisha. But here's the first point that I want to draw to your attention concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the thing.

It teaches us that there is life after death. Now, there are many examples in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, of people coming back from the dead. A few weeks ago, we were thinking about the Shunammite's son and how Elijah raised him from the dead. Sorry, Elisha raised him from the dead. Elijah raised the other woman's son from the dead. So the Shunammite was Elisha, of course. There are other examples in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well.

But these are currencies. pointed to Christ's resurrection. We keep saying that, don't we? That all of these things in the Old Testament, the works of the prophets, the teaching and the preaching of the prophets, all point towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And this was to show us that Christ's resurrection was the important resurrection to teach us that there is life after death. It teaches us that the spirit of a person continues to exist after the body dies. When your body dies or when my body dies, that is not the end of our existence. Jesus' resurrection teaches us that.

I mentioned Annabelle a little earlier. When we laid her body in the ground in her coffin, I was there, I read the verse at her graveside that says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ, and we believe that Annabelle is one of these dead in Christ, the dead in Christ shall rise first. then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That was the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 and 17. So that means that Annabel Though she was an old lady and though she died, Annabelle, as a believer in Christ, will someday come up out of her grave, her body will be changed, and she will rise again to new eternal life with Christ.

Jesus told his disciples when he was going to the cross that they would see him again. He said in John chapter 14 verse 19, because I live, ye shall live also. And because the Lord Jesus Christ rose from his grave, all who trust in him will rise from their graves as well. Christ's resurrection is a promise from God that we who trust in Him will rise as well. Here's another thing that the Lord's resurrection teaches us.

It teaches us that God was satisfied with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another lesson from Christ's resurrection is that his finished work, remember what he said on the cross, it is finished. He said on the cross, it is finished. That finished work satisfied God's justice. Christ paid the ransom price, the sin debt, with his blood for all for whom he died.

Now why can I be confident that the Lord God will forgive my sin and welcome me into heaven? Even although I'm not worthy of being in heaven, even although I don't deserve to be in heaven, how can I be sure that the Lord will forgive my sin and accept me into heaven because the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Christ's resurrection was a statement of his success in achieving the salvation and deliverance and forgiveness of his people. All for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died will live with him where he lives in glory, in his Father's presence.

Now did you notice there that I said, all for whom Christ died? Some people teach that the Lord Jesus died for everyone and rose for everyone and that everyone will go to heaven because the redemption price was paid for everyone, but again that's not what the Bible teaches.

We must centre and found our beliefs on what the Bible teaches. That's why we come together to read the Bible. That's why we study the Bible together. That's why I come and preach each Sunday, each Lord's Day, to those who gather, so that we can understand what the Bible says. And the Bible teaches that God has a chosen people called His elect.

And these people were given into Christ's hands. They were given to Him with the task that He should redeem them from their sins by His death on the cross. So that these people, God's elect, were the people that Christ came to save. and he actually did save them. He suffered for the elect, he died for the elect, and he rose again for the elect of God. And the scriptures have an amazing way of speaking about this great salvation. They tell us that all God's elect were crucified with Christ buried with him and raised again with him when he rose from the dead.

Paul tells the church at Colossae in Colossians chapter 2 verse 12 that we are buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith and operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. So that if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can think of Christ's successful work as us having died with him, having been buried with him and being raised again with him. Our salvation is as certain and sure as the fact that Christ died, was buried and rose again the third day. all who died with Christ, all who are raised to new life with him, will seek his grace, will ask for forgiveness, and will obtain that salvation that God promises to them in Christ. The Apostle Paul tells the Romans in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And then just finally, Christ's resurrection teaches us to trust in the Lord Jesus and not to be afraid of dying. Because Jesus died and rose again, he has power over death and power over the grave. He defeated them both They tried, death and hell and the grave tried to hold him and failed. He was too powerful. He broke their power.

And we need not fear what death can do. These old bodies of ours, they have to die. But a believer's grave is simply where his body is kept safe until he needs it again. There comes a time when all of us must die and our corruptible bodies be laid to rest, buried in a grave, until we take new sinless perfect bodies. but the grave shall not hold us because it didn't hold Christ. Death cannot keep us because it could not keep Christ. We need not fear death. We shall rise again as Christ has risen. We shall have victory over both death and the grave. And we can say with the Apostle Paul, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory over both through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So let us not simply take the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as mere historical events. These were important, significant, momentous events which accomplished much and teach us much. And as we remember them, let us not deal with them casually, but recognize them for the importance and significance that they have. And let us trust the Lord Jesus Christ, who finished his work and was proved to have done so by his resurrection from the dead. Amen.