Good morning. It's an honor to be here. I was looking
forward to this. I appreciate Brother Don calling
me. It's wonderful to see you. Last time I was here, I told
you it had been almost 20 years since I've been here. I'm glad
to say it's almost been one year. So we're doing better. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 28. I'd like to have a word of prayer
before we begin. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you this
morning sinners. We are weak and helpless sinners, Lord. And we come, we have come begging
for food. And Lord, we know that if you
don't give us our daily bread, there is no bread to have. So
Lord, we pray, we ask, if it be thy will, would you please
bless us this morning? Lord, would you send your Spirit
into this place? And would you bless your Word?
And would You prepare us right now to enter into the glory of
Your dear Son, our Savior? Lord, would You allow us to see
Him and delight in Him this morning? And Lord, would You comfort our
hearts? Would You speak to us and let us hear Your voice and
let us feel Your touch through this Word? Lord, would You have
mercy on us Help us, Lord, please prepare us. Take our minds out
of this crazy world that we live in. And would you let us, for
just a few minutes, enter into your kingdom, enter into your
presence. Let us sit at your feet. Learn from you. Lord, we pray for Brother Don
this morning. We pray for every man who is standing with your
message. Lord, would you help that man?
and bless that man and bless every brother and sister who
is sitting right now. Lord, would you please help us
and speak to us and be merciful to us, Lord, and forgive us of
our sin. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. When Brother Lindsey started
just a few minutes ago, I thought the first thing that went through
my mind was we could have exchanged notebooks. And then it hit me, we really
do have one message, don't we? I mean, we really do have one
message. I thought, I'm so thankful for that. Aren't you so glad
that we have one message? One message feeds our soul. I don't believe I have anything
new this morning. I believe I have something that
blessed my heart in the study, but there's nothing new to be
told, is there? While our Lord walked this earth,
the New Testament was being written. Right? They had the Old Testament.
And the New Testament was being written. He was saying things
and those men were going and writing that down. And the disciples then, they
did not understand the things that we understand now. Because
we have the New Testament Scriptures. Our Lord told His disciples over
and over in John. Those chapters are one evening. And in that one evening, He told
them over and over, I'm going to be lifted up. I'm going into
that grave. Where I'm going, you cannot come. And their response was, what
is He saying? We can't understand what he's
saying. And then all of a sudden, John
18 takes place. And they watch, that mob, they
watch their Lord become taken. And he's brought before a judge,
he's put on trial. Now this is God, their Lord. The Lord they have come to know
and believe. Can you imagine this from their
point of view? Not knowing what we know now. Not understanding what we have
been given faith to believe now. And so there he goes and they're
standing there and he goes with them. And he stands before that
judge and they hear his conviction. And then they see how he is beaten
and tortured in the back room. They bring him out. And then they watch those soldiers
strip him and humiliate him. And then they nailed him to a
piece of wood. They're watching all this take
place. And then they heard these words
come out of the Lord's own mouth. They heard their Lord say, My
God, why hast thou forsaken me? God forsook him? And then the one that all their
trust was in and all their hope was in bows his head And he gives
up the ghost. And then they pulled the nails
out of his hands and out of his feet and they took his dead body
off of that cross. And then a man from Arimathea
came and took his body and put it in a tomb and they put a rock
in front of it. That happened on a Friday. And His disciples went home and
they were so shocked. Can you imagine? Shocked, sad,
heartbroken, distraught, lost, absolutely lost. And they said, we trusted that
it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. Well, they all stayed home on
Saturday, the next day. Saturday was their Sabbath. And
they were commanded to rest on the Sabbath. So they stayed home. Not realizing that their Sabbath
was laying inside that tomb. Also on that Saturday, Pilate
decided to station guards around that tomb. And he told them,
you make it as sure as you can. So they sealed the stone. Could
it get any worse? Could it get any worse? No hope and without God in the
world. The song says, as poor, wretched
sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed there was no one to
help. Psalm 107 says, their soul is
melted because of trouble. But watch what happens on Sunday
morning, the third day. Matthew 28 verse 1 says, 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 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. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers
did shake, and become as dead men. They passed out. And the
angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I
know that you seek heaven. Like everybody else in religion. That's not what he said. He said,
I know that you seek mansions and golden streets." He said, I know that you have
come here seeking relief from your pain and suffering. He said, I know. Now here's this
angel with the countenance of lightning in white garments And these two
women come up and He said, I know, I know that you seek Jesus which
was crucified. I know you do. I know that you
came for Him. You didn't come to be seen by
anybody. You didn't come out of religious
duty. You didn't come because you thought it would get you
to heaven. You came for Him. I know you seek Jesus which was
crucified. I know you want Him. I know you
need Him. And because of that, the angel
said, I have a message of good news for you. The beginning of
verse 6 says, He is not here. He's not here. That's the gospel. He's not here. He's not here. For He is risen as He said. Could they ever have dreamed
of hearing better news than that? Now, do you think they loved
their Lord? Oh, man! How do we feel when we lose our
loved ones? But this was God. And they come to the place where
they laid Him and heard the most glorious gospel they've ever
heard in their life. He is not here. He's alive. He is risen as He said. Now He was there, they knew that
He was there. Those women who came, they knew
that He was there. Let me show you something in
Luke 23. Go with me over to Luke 23. Luke 23, look at verse 55. And the women also which came
with him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulcher
and how his body was laid. They watched his body go into
that tomb. And they saw how His body was
laid in that tomb. They knew exactly where He was.
Verse 56, And they returned and prepared spices and ointments
and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. They knew
the truth. They knew He was here. I know He was here. I saw Him
go in. Thank God He was there. Thank God He was there. Had He
never been there, there would be no gospel to tell. You know
that? No gospel at all. There would
be no good news for sinners against God had He not been there. He
had to be there or my sin debt would have never been paid. He
was there. But He's not anymore. Not anymore,
for He is risen. He's alive. He is the living
God. You know what that means? It
means judgment has been met. It means the law satisfied. And it means mercy has been born. It means they're all taken away,
away. That's what it means. When they
came and heard, He's not here. My sins are all taken away. It means righteousness and peace
kissed each other. That's what it means. He is not here. For He is risen,
as He said. Everything happens as He said. Every single thing. He cannot
lie. He can't. Every promise that
He has made concerning you and me must come to pass. Every single
one. He cannot lie. He is going to
raise up His chosen people. He's going to. We are going to
inherit Him. We're going to get Him. He said, because I live, you
live also. Here is our gospel. He is not
here. For He is risen, as He said. That's our gospel. It's good
news of a finished work from a sovereign God. He's not here. He is risen, as He said. Now, that's our gospel. Let's
take just a minute to enter into our gospel. Just a minute, let's enter into
our gospel. Let's enter into what Christ
did for us. For just a minute, let's smell
the savor of it. We now know what happened. Let's
smell the savor of it. Let's feel the joy of it. Let's see the beauty of it. Here
is the title of this message. And this is all I want us to
do for the rest of the message. The end of verse 6 in Matthew
28. If you'll look back at Matthew 28, the end of verse 6 says,
Come see the place where the Lord lay. Come see where the
Lord lay. I want us to, just for a few
minutes, with these eyes of faith that the Lord has given us, I
want us to see the place where the Lord lay. It's a precious
place. It is a glorious and a precious
place. We're going to turn to a few
scriptures. First, I want us to see where the Lord lay. Go with me to John 19. John 19
verse 41 says, Now in the place where he was
crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulcher
wherein was never man yet laid. This place was inside a beautiful
garden. That's where his tomb was located.
Inside a beautiful garden. You know, this whole thing started
in a garden, didn't it? The whole thing started in a
garden. God made man in a garden. And God breathed life and man
became a living soul in a garden. And then man sinned against his
holy God in a garden. His good and his kind and his
loving God. Man sinned in the same garden
God breathed life to a man. The Garden of Eden. Man died
in a garden. So God came down and He went
to a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. And
He kneeled down in that garden and He said, Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. And it was not possible. And he sweat great drops of blood
in that garden as the sin of his people was pressed into him.
And then he took that sin over to the cross of Calvary. And
right there at Calvary was a garden. And he laid in that garden for
three days. Three days separated from God
to end the sin that man started in the garden. Man died in the garden, so God
died in the garden. Life was given to man in the
garden, so new life, eternal life, was given in a garden. A beautiful, life-giving garden. You know that our life is because
of that place. That place where he was separated
from God, endured the punishment and the judgment. Thank God for
that garden. John 19 verse 41 says, Now in
the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the
garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. No man had ever laid in this
sepulcher. Our Lord went to a place and
He accomplished a work that no man before Him could ever accomplish. Man has tried, every man who
leaves this world, in his own mind, without God, thinks he
is going to accomplish this work. And he never does. He never does. All he can do is leave his stench. That's all he can do. Leave his
rotten, defiled stench on the place. But there was no stench
there. They made these sepulchers big
enough. It says they went into it. They made them big enough
to get six, about six bodies in there. Well, they don't all
die at the same time. Can you imagine going into that
place and bringing somebody? Oh, the stench in that place.
There was no stench in this place. Not at all. No man had ever laid
there. It was a beautiful place. There
was no stench in that place at all. Look at Luke 24 with me. Luke 24 verse 1 says, Now upon
the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came
unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared
and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found
not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, Behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments. Angels were inside that place. God sent angels inside that place.
And they were shining. Light was inside that place.
Now, He went in in darkness. But light and life sprang forth
from this place. They went in and it was as bright
as the high sun. They took our Lord's body and
they laid it in this place. Now I want to show you something
about His body. Go with me to Psalm 16. Psalm 16, this is our Lord speaking
of those three days in that place. The place where the Lord lay.
Psalm 16 verse 10 says, For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. His body never saw one drop of
corruption decay. Not one drop. In Gethsemane,
that sin was pressed into Him. It was pressed into Him. And all of sin's effects... You know why we have cancer?
Sin. And it produces effects. And
you know why we have wrinkles and why we have spots and why
we decay? Our teeth decay. Everything decays
because of sin. And sin was pressed into him
and all of its effects. And on that cross at Calvary,
his visage was more marred than any man. They had to put a sign
above him telling people who he was. They looked at him and
thought, is that a man? This is Jesus, King of the Jews. I've never seen a man marked
like that before. He was forsaken by God. Wounded, bruised, beaten, stricken,
smitten, afflicted. But in that place where the Lord
lay, Inside that place, let me show you what happened. Go with
me over to Job 33. Job 33, look at verse 21. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and His bones that were not seen stick out.
Yea, His soul draweth near unto the grave, and His life to the
destroyers. If there be a messenger with
Him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show unto man His
uprightness, then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver
him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. Now watch
verse 25. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he
will be favorable unto Him, and he shall see His face with joy,
for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon
men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was
right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from
going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all
these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul
from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. This place where the Lord lay
was a beautiful place that magnified the light and the life of God. And inside this place laid the
body of the incorruptible Holy One. And His flesh was fresher
than a child's. This is the death of every believer. That's the death of every believer. As soon as we leave this earth,
and our Lord, you know, He kept saying, they're just sleeping.
He's not dead. He that lives and believes in
me will never die. But as soon as what we call death
happens, the wrinkles go away, the spots go away. In a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, we're changed. What do we look like? Him. Fresher than child. That's the death of every believer.
It's not a fearful thing. We are more dead now than we're
going to be then. It's a life-giving and beautiful
thing. And if that's not enough, let's
see what else was in that tomb. Go with me to Mark 15. Mark 15, look at verse 46 with
me. And he brought fine linen, and
took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in
a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone
unto the door of the sepulcher. The body of our Lord was wrapped
in fine, beautiful, rich linen. He made His grave with the rich.
Rich linen, the clothing of kings and priests. It was glorious. Those were His grave clothes.
Honor and glory and majesty was in that place. When you go into
that place, you say, this is the place of a king. This is
the place of a high priest. Go back with me to John 19 one
more time. The end of verse 38, John 19, the end of verse 38 says, He came therefore and took the
body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus
which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture
of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight. Then took they
the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices
as the manner of the Jews is. to bury. Inside that beautiful
royal linen was a hundred pounds of sweet-smelling
myrrh and spices. I googled myrrh. And they said,
it smells so sweet. It is sweet-smelling. They brought that to the Lord
when He entered this world and they said, where is He that's
born King? We're bringing Him myrrh. He
died king. And it was so sweet smelling,
the smell of that a hundred pounds of myrrh and spices. It was so
sweet smelling. It poured out of that place.
It was so beautiful with no corruption. with a fragrance that was so
sweet-smelling, even God Himself was satisfied. I am satisfied. This is a glorious place. Look right here at chapter 20,
John 20, verse 6. Then cometh Simon Peter, following
him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
And the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Peter went
into this sepulcher. And there were those linen clothes,
still there. He saw the grave clothes, still
there. Why did the Lord leave the grave
clothes there? They're not needed anymore. Finished. We're finished with these. That
napkin that was about His head, it was wrapped up. And the linen
that was around His body, it was wrapped up. Christ is our
head. We are His body. And the grave
clothes of the head and the grave clothes of the body were left
in the same tomb. Never to be needed again. Oh,
it was a beautiful place. Sweet smelling place. A place
of life. No corruption. Glory and honor
and majesty. Now look at verse 11 in John
20. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. And as
she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre and
seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid Him. And when she had thus said, she
turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it
was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? And I believe
he said it a little differently than he said, Whom seek ye? From
our Bible study. Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. Oh, she turned herself and said
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy, Bound me. Verse 17, Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go
to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your
Father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and
told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had
spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed
unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them, again,
Peace be unto you. As my Father hath sent me, even
so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with
them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put
my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger. and
behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my
side, and be not faithless, but believing.' And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said unto him,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed
are they that have not seen and yet have believed. And many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which
are not written in this book, but these are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing, you might have life through His name.