And John chapter 20, and as I
say, I don't know why I'm bringing this message tonight, but I believe
that God will reveal His purpose in it. Maybe not tonight, but
maybe in the very near future. But I felt impressed. I don't
have a royal telephone. I don't have a red line to glory.
God never really told me to do anything. I felt impressed of
God's Spirit. I felt the leadership of God's
Spirit. I felt after it was over, it
was His will after all. But I've never known ahead of
time. Just do whatever the Word tells us to do, whatever we feel
motivated and led by God's Spirit to do. But I hear these preachers
saying, God told me to tell you this, and God told me to tell
you that. Well, I sought his leadership, and I sought his
will, and I sought his message, and he gave me this message,
I believe. So I'm going to preach it. And whatever God does with
it, I trust it will be for our good and his glory. It says in
John 20, the first day of the week, Sunday morning, cometh
Mary Magdalene early. It wasn't even daylight yet. But she came to the tomb. came
to the place where they had buried the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then,
thirty-five years ago, thirty-five years ago in 1948, the Lord blessed
our home with a baby boy, our firstborn son, Robert. And he grew up to be a very fine
young man whom we loved very dearly and very much. And then
when he was 21 years of age, God was pleased to abruptly,
quite suddenly, end his life on this earth. And after a few
days had passed, they shipped his body back to this country
from Vietnam, where he was killed. And we went through a funeral
service here, and then with many of you, and then we formed a
processional. We went out to Rose Hill Cemetery. And we buried that body in a
grave that had been prepared for it on the hillside in Rose
Hill Cemetery. Now the Word of God teaches me,
and I feel that I believe it, I feel that I believe it, that
to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord.
I feel that I believe that. That when we leave this earth,
our bodies remain here and they're buried, but our souls go to be
with God. Our Lord said to the thief, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. Today. Paul said to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. I believe that.
I do believe that. And I have a good hope that my
son knew Christ. He gave evidence that he knew
Christ, knew the Gospel, loved the Master, and that he's with
the Lord. But occasionally I still go out
to the cemetery. I go out to the grave, buried
out there alongside my mother and father, and every once in
a while I'll get in the car and I'll drive out there and park
my car and I'll go and sit or walk And every once in a while,
Doris will go out there and plant some flowers. They took her pictures
on the front page of the paper recently. Quiet visit. Very meaningful
picture. Very precious picture. And she
cares for the plot. Now, whether right or wrong,
I just don't know. I know he's not there. I'm certain
of that, Cecil. He's not there. He's just not
there. I'm certain of that. There's
what's left of a body there. When we buried him, he had no
arms or legs. They'd been blown off. And then
the body, they tell me, decays from the inside. That's what
I'm told. And you can seal up the body
and all kind of things, you know, and you can't preserve it. There's
only one way to preserve a body, and that's to keep it and keep
shooting embalming fluid to it and keep that that inner whatever
it is, suppressed. But the body decays from the
inside. I'm sure out there in that tomb, in that grave, there's
nothing to amount to anything. Just a rotting, corrupt, decaying
pile of dust or bones or something. And you don't go out to a grave
to pay tribute to a bunch of bones, you know. But I still
go out. I don't go as often as I did
at first. At first, after he was killed and was buried, I
went pretty regularly. But time has a way of taking
care of things. And that's a blessing. That's
a blessing. I hear people when some tragedy
occurs in the home and they're just torn all to pieces. And
by experience, I can say to them now, God's grace will care for
this and God will mercifully use time. You say, I'll never
get over it. Yeah, you'll get over it. You'll
get over it by His grace and then He uses time to heal the
wounds. But I say whether right or wrong,
whether pagan or not pagan, it's hard to ignore that place. You
know what I'm saying, Bob? It's just hard to ignore that
particular place. Now here I believe, and the freshness
of it especially, right after it happens, some of you have
gone through this and you take your loved one out And you bury
the loved one. You say, I feel guilty. I don't
go to the cemetery like I used to. No. No, that's normal. I
don't either. That's normal. See, time heals
these things. And I just don't go like I ought
to. Well, maybe we ought not to go
at all. Now, maybe if we believe what
we believe, and we believe what we say, maybe we ought not to
go at all. Maybe we're paying tribute to the flesh. And that's what this message
I'm talking about this evening. But it just happened. Our Lord
had been crucified and buried on Friday, they say, Wednesday.
They got an awful argument about that, but it doesn't matter.
This is Sunday morning. And I doubt not that Mary and the others,
these others that came to the tomb, that they were drawn in
the same manner in which I at first was drawn strongly toward
that tomb out there on the side of the hill in Rose Hill Cemetery. Our Lord had died. They had watched
Him die on the cross and they took up His body and anointed
it and put the napkins and the winding sheet or whatever about
Him and then they took Him to this grave and they put Him in
the grave and they all stood around like we did when we buried
our loved ones. They stood around and they wept.
They watched them put that body in the grave and then they rolled
a stone in front of it. And a day had passed, the Sabbath
day had passed, and early Sunday morning on the first day of the
week, Mary got some flowers. Mary got some flowers and she
got some spices. And she was going to the grave. That's where she was going, to
the grave to pay tribute, to honor her Lord, whom she loved
so dearly, so deeply. She was going out to the grave.
And so she went out there, and when she got there, the Scripture
says that the stone was gone. She came to that grave, and she
stood in front of it, and there was the open tomb, and the stone
was rolled away. And she ran, she turned like
we all would, and she ran down to somebody's house where she
knew the disciples were staying, and she ran in and told Peter
and John that they had taken away the Lord's body. She didn't
run and tell him the Lord had risen. The Lord, as He promised,
has risen. He's not there. No, this is us,
you see. And she ran and told him, she
said, they've stolen his body. They've stolen his body, verse
2. I don't know where they've laid him. They've taken him away.
And Peter jumped up, you know, and he ran out the door, and
the other disciple right behind him, and Peter must have been
a little older and a little slower, but the other fellow, John, just
ran right by him. And he ran to the grave, went
to the tomb, and John, characteristic of John, the loving disciple,
the humble disciple, the timid disciple, he just ran there and
stopped, and I can see he put his hand up here on the side
of the tomb and looked in, just looked in there. Not Peter. Everything
he did, he did like I do, you know. He just ran right in. Just
right on past John, right smack into the sepulcher, and looked
around, and when he ran in, the other disciple came in behind
him. And the Scripture says in verse 7, that verse 6, the linen
clothes were there, and the napkin, carefully folded. Somebody said,
Our Lord didn't leave there in any hurry. He just arose. This was what he came to do.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as our representative.
He came here as our substitute. He came here as our redeemer.
And He fulfilled what the Father gave Him to do. Spoke the words,
did the works, obeyed the law, went to the cross, died under
the wrath of God. He fulfilled all that God required. They killed Him on the cross.
He was buried. And when it came time in God's
eternal purpose for Him to rise from the grave, He sat up on
the grave and took the napkin off. and folded it carefully
and laid it down. Took the other grave clothes
off and carefully folded it and laid it down and walked out of
that sepulchre. And walked out. Well, Peter and
John went home. After they saw he was not there,
they went home. But Mary, Mary stayed there. And she stayed there at the sepulchre
and it says she wept. And again she went over there.
She's just troubled about this. It's just difficult for all of
this to take place in her heart and in her soul, in her inner
being. She's still troubled, and she
goes over there and looks down again into that sepulchre, and
this time when she looked in, there was an angel sitting where
his head had lain, and an angel down at the foot. And as she
looked in, the angel said to her in verse 13, Why weepest
thou? And again she said, They have
taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned around and there was someone
standing behind her. Someone asked me one time, why
didn't she recognize the Lord Jesus? She'd seen him enough.
She'd been around him for three and a half years. She'd heard
him preach. She'd sat at his feet. Well,
the last time she saw the Master, you know, you see these crucifixes
in pictures of the cross. But the last time she saw the
Master, not only was he in that body that was a body of sorrow,
a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, with lines of grief
and trouble and sorrow and the weight of our sins upon him.
But the last time she saw him on the cross, he didn't even
look like a man. His visage was so marred. They
couldn't paint a picture of that scene at Calvary and sell it.
It wouldn't sell. Our Lord's beard was plucked
out. They had hit him with their fist and they opened his palm.
They had pressed the crown of thorns in his brow. They had
lacerated his back. His body was swollen. and purple
and black and blue and bloody, and they took him down from that
cross and put him in the tomb. It was a terrible sight to see.
He had hung for six hours beneath that burning sun, his lips and
mouth cracked open, dried out, his tongue swollen, his eyes
swollen shut. And they put him in that tomb,
and here spans a man in a glorified body, a glorified body, with
the very glory of God upon his face. She didn't recognize him,
thought it was the gardener or somebody else, and he said, Why
weepest thou, verse 15, she supposing him to be the gardener, said,
Sir, if you've borne him away, if you've taken away the body
of the Lord, tell me where you've laid him, and I'll take him away.
And Jesus saith unto her, Mary, Mary. And she turned to herself
and said unto him, Master. And then, I'm not sure, but I
believe she just reached out and embraced his feet. I believe
she fell at his feet and just embraced him. She was so overcome. She was so happy to see him.
She was so filled with joy. And she didn't want him to leave.
And she just reached out and wrapped her arms around his legs
and kissed his feet. And he said to her, don't cling
to me. Don't try to hold me. Don't try to hold me. I'm not
yet gone. I'm not yet ascended to my Father.
We know the Lord stayed here for several days and appeared
to the disciples and appeared to many people. But he said,
I'm not yet ascended. But go to my brethren. Go to
my brethren and say unto them. Now watch this. This is what
I want to talk about. I ascend unto my Father. and your Father to my God and
your God. I'll sing. Now, brethren, first
of all, let me lay this aside, talk about this a moment, and
then lay it aside and get into something that I want to present
to you this evening. The first thing is this, and
it must be first, it must be the foundation laid, because
it's the very hope of our hope. Now, the importance of Christ's
resurrection, the importance of His resurrection. Turn to
1 Corinthians 15. the importance of Christ's resurrection. Now, I tell you this, the early
disciples were persecuted and imprisoned more for preaching
the resurrection than any other subject. Did you know that? Look
through sometime the book of Acts and you'll find this is
true. The disciples, see everybody had religion, everybody believed
in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and everybody had
all of these ceremonies and rituals and everything. They argued scripture
and sat around and argued it. But the disciples preached the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And they were
persecuted more for that than any other single doctrine. The
resurrection, he says, yes, the resurrection of Christ from the
dead. And if you look and see the importance of his resurrection,
you'll see why the people persecuted them. If Christ, if he's risen
from the tomb, it's saying he is the one he claimed to be. He is that prophet. He is the
Christ. He is the Messiah. He is all
that he claimed. Now, look at chapter 15 of 1
Corinthians. Verse 12, even this prevailed in the church at Corinth.
Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say
some among you there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, if the dead rise not, then is
Christ not raised? Now, if Christ be not risen,
here's what we're talking about, if He be not risen, if our preaching
is vain, what I'm doing tonight is foolishness, utter, complete
foolishness. Our preaching is vain. I'll tell
you something else. You who believe in God, you who believe the Bible,
you who believe in Christ, you who believe in forgiveness of
sin through Christ's death, you who believe that there's hope
of eternal life, your faith is totally, completely foolish.
It's all in the everything we're doing here, everything that we
claim is foolishness. Not only that, verse 15, but
we have found false witnesses of God. We've lied on God. Because
we've testified of God that He raised up Christ. Whom He raised
not up, if so be that the dead rise not. Now, if the dead rise
not, then is Christ not raised, and if Christ is not raised,
your faith is vain, you're yet in your sins. You know what His
resurrection says? His resurrection says this. Now
watch this. When the Lord Jesus Christ left
glory, Over there in Isaiah 9, verse 6, it says, Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God. Unto us a child is born,
a human being that never lived on this earth before. A human
being, a body, is born into this world, a little baby's body,
that never was before, was formed in a woman's womb, nine months,
and then born, that baby grew and was nourished, milked from
the mother, grew up to be a... that child, that child is born. But unto us a son is given, not
born, but given, the eternal Son of God, the second person
of the Divine Trinity, inhabited that body. A child is born, but
a son's not born. This Son of God is the eternal
Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, the well-beloved
Son of God, who inhabited that body. And when He came to this
earth, the Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth in human
flesh. He is eternal God, buried God
of buried God, no less God than if He hadn't been a man at all.
He's God Almighty. He said, He that hath seen me
hath seen my Father. I and my Father are one. If you
don't know me, you don't know the Father. No man has seen the
Father at any time save the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal
Him. And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ, I can't explain it, I
just know it so, was a man, limited by a human body. That's right,
limited to a human body. He had a body that knew what
it was to hurt. The other day I cut my thumb
pretty deeply, and it hurt. It hurt, and the blood just ran.
And I'll tell you this, my Savior, my Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty
in human flesh, working in the carpentry shop, when He cut His
thumb, it bled, and it hurt. Our Lord was a man. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was a man, and He bled, He wept, He knew what it
was to be disappointed. I can't explain this, I just
know it so. I know our Lord Jesus Christ
thirsted, He hungered, He was tested and tempted and tried
in every point as we are yet without sin. He was a real representative. He was a real substitute. Our
Lord Jesus Christ endured every trial and temptation that you
can endure yet without sin. He did that to perfect for us
a holiness which God requires of every man who shall stand
before God and see the Lord. And Christ fulfilled it. And
then our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross of Calvary, and
I can't explain this, but I just know it's so. He went to the
cross of Calvary in that human body, and there, as our substitute,
He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him by His stripes. The stripes laid on Him. His
hands were pierced. His feet were pierced. His head
was pierced with thorn. His sight was riven. Blood and
water came out. And Jesus Christ died. He died
on that cross. You say, God can't die. Well,
you figure that out. He died on that cross. He died
on the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ died just
like my son died, just like your husband died, just like your
wife died, just like you're going to die. He died. He died just
like I'm going to die, maybe tomorrow, but He died and He
took His body and put it in a tomb. Now then, if that's the end,
if that's the end, if that's all, He is the biggest liar that
walked on this earth because He dealt with the weightiest
matters. He lied about the weightiest
matter. If that's all, if his body is still in Jerusalem, his
soul is in hell. That's how serious this is. If
Jesus Christ is still in the tomb, if he did not on the third
day walk out of that tomb, according to the Scripture, then we are
idolaters, our faith is vain, we're yet in our sin, we have
no hope of eternal life, no hope of forgiveness, no hope of part,
no hope of anything. That's how important is the resurrection. And it ought to be preached not
just on Easter Sunday, whenever that occurs. It ought to be preached
all the time. Declared on. And that's what
these Pharisees knew. If they could keep Him in the
tomb, they could keep anybody from having any hope in Him because
there's no hope in a dead Savior. Got to be a risen Savior, got
to be a living Savior. Turn to Romans chapter 1. This
is so vital, this is so important. Now listen, Romans chapter 1.
When he arose from the grave, God the Father says this. God
the Father says this, I accept, I accept everything that he did. In His birth, in His life, in
His obedience, in His death, I accept everything He did on
behalf of everyone for whom He did it. I now raise Him from
the grave, declare Him to be accepted, and declare all those
whom He represented to be accepted and received in Him. That's what
the resurrection says. Alright, look at Romans 1, verse
1. Paul, a servant, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, called him an
apostle, separated to the gospel of God. It's no new gospel, it's
the old gospel which he promised the four best prophets in the
Holy Scripture. And this gospel is concerning his son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, and declared, and declared, and declared to be
the Son of God with effectual power, with redeeming power according
to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead."
That's when God announced. God announced victory. God announced
that everything is fulfilled. God announced that His people
are accepted. When Jesus Christ walked out
of that tomb, I know we usually think because He lives, we shall
live, because He arose, we will arise, and so forth, that's so.
But my friends, when Christ came out of the tomb, God Almighty
announced to heaven, earth, and hell that everything that Christ
came to do was accepted. His righteousness, His obedience,
His holiness, His atonement, His reconciliation, the Father
said, I accept it. That's so. That's so. Turn to Romans 8. That's what
the Father is saying for the resurrection. I accept it. Romans
chapter 8. Listen to this. Apostle Paul
in Romans chapter 8 says this. Verse 32. He spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with
him, with Christ, also freely give us all things that Christ
purchased, that Christ our Lord purchase. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now
watch this verse. Who is he that condemneth? Who
is he that condemneth? And he gives this reason. He
doesn't say you can't condemn me because I've accepted Jesus.
You can't condemn me because I'm an apostle. You can't condemn
me because I'm a preacher. You can't condemn me because
I'm the first missionary. You can't condemn me because
I've given my life to establishing churches and ordaining elders
and building up the saints of God. You can't condemn me because
I've lived a righteous life." He said, who can condemn? Now
what's the reason? Fourfold. It is Christ that died. Christ that died. And he rises
to a higher note and he said, yea rather. Not only died, but
here's the good news, yea rather is risen again. And his death
is useless without his resurrection. Yea rather, not only died, but
yea rather is risen again. Now watch this, he rises a step
higher and says, he is even. He is even. I tell you, let me
tell you something. It's one thing to have an influential
friend in the local courtroom. It'd be another thing to have
an influential friend in the White House. It'd be even better
to have a very influential friend in the Supreme Court. But let
me tell you something. What would it be like to have
your brother who loves you, who adores you, who seeks your welfare
and your well-being, to have him at the right hand of God. And that's what we have. That's
what we have. He says, let me tell you something,
who can condemn me? Who can lay anything to my charge?
Who can separate me from the love of God? Who can condemn
me? Who can destroy me? Who can cut me off? Christ died. Not only that, but God raised
Him. And not only that, but God Almighty caused him to ascend
and seated him at his right hand. That's high as you can get. Not only that, let me tell you
something. Paul said, he called my name. Now that's it. That's the foundation
of hope. And that's the reason I say the
importance of his resurrection. It's all the way through the
Scripture. And I'm just saying today, I regret this. I regret
it very much. I wish everybody was preaching
the gospel. The gospel. I wish men were declaring
the gospel. And you say, well, they're saying
Christ died. Let me tell you something. Yes,
and that's essential. And I hope you understand what
I'm saying. That's not all the gospel. Is that clear what I'm
saying? That's not all the gospel. This
thing of comprehending and entering into and understanding what we
call the gospel, the gospel. Somebody says, well, just believe
Christ died. That's not enough. It's just not enough. The devil
was there when he died, and he believed it. You see, my friend,
God is holy. He showed Isaiah that God is
holy, immaculately, infinitely, eternally holy. You can't even
use the word like it ought to be used. Holy! He's called the
Holy Bible. He's called the Holy God of Israel.
He says, the Seraphim says, Holy, Holy, Holy. The Spirit's called
the Holy Spirit. The tabernacle, the holy tabernacle,
the holy place, the holy of holies. God's holy! Holy. And we, we're to pray like Tom
prayed a while ago. There's no way that you can express
so that human ear can hear and human heart can comprehend without
throwing up the condition of this flesh by birth, nature,
choice, and practice. We are corrupt. God said, stinking,
wiggling maggots. There's no way to describe so
that we can understand the holiness of God. Paul said, I went to
the third heaven and I saw things folks can't even talk about.
It's not even lawful to utter. Paul, tell us what you saw. I
can't tell you and you couldn't understand it. You can't put
it in human words. The holiness of God cannot be
brought down to words. Unfortunately. How holy. You can't look on Him and live.
Moses came away from His presence and had to veil His face, and
He'd just been in the presence of the Lord. And then our defilement. Oh, I can't describe that. Our defilement. And God has been
pleased to send down here to this earth His Son. He's only
begotten well-beloved Son. And God's holiness requires satisfaction. God's holiness and His justice
require honoring and satisfying. It must be honored. It must be
satisfied. Who shall stand in His presence? He that hath clean
hands and a pure heart, who has never lifted up his soul to banish.
God's requirements are the same. They won't change. God's not
going to change, and we can't change. And God sent the representative,
that prophet, that Christ, that Messiah, that Redeemer down here,
in human flesh. And Jesus Christ, our Lord, walked
on this earth in human flesh, born just like we were of a woman
without a human father, that He might be the Son of God, that
He might not partake of the sin of Adam, that He might not have
original sin, that He might not have a sinful nature. He's God
in human flesh. But He, our Lord, was a human
being, God in human flesh. That's just so. And everything
that God's holy law required, He met. He fulfilled it in every
jot and tittle. This is my son in whom I'm pleased. Even God can't find any fault
with him. The devil came, he said, and
found nothing in me agreeable to him. Nothing in me. He came
and he tried and tried and tested and tempted and connived and
everything else. He found nothing in me. Nothing. That's my substitute. That's
my Redeemer. And the devil can't find nothing
in me because I'm in Christ. Nothing! Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? And our Lord perfectly obeyed
God's law, perfectly worked out, they hate it today, but imputed
righteousness for every believer. Everyone's holy in Him. And he
went to that cross and said, God's gonna be just. He said,
the soul that sinneth will die and we're gonna die. Sin is finished,
it brings forth death, and God's justice said they're going to
die, and He killed Christ. Everything I am, and have, and
know, and hope to be is in that substitute. That's the only substitute. Everything prior to this pictures
Him, and prophesies Him, and typifies Him, and shadows Him,
but here He is. Simeon said, here He is. Here
He is. John the Baptist said, here He
is. Father said, here he is. Lord, I've put all my eggs in
one basket. I've bested everything I have
in one person. There he is. And he's on this
earth. And he walks this earth and fulfills the law, obeys God's
law, goes to cross and dies. He dies! And they bring him down
from that tree, limp, no life, no voice, no words, no movement,
put him in a tomb, put a rock in front of it, and put the Roman
seal on him. Uh-oh. My hope's dead and buried. And that's what the disciples
thought on the road to Emmaus. They were dejected, and they
were sad, and they were broken-hearted. And the Lord Jesus came and said,
What's this so sad about? They said, Well, our hope's a
dash to pieces. Our hope's lying a tomb in Jerusalem. That's why we're sad. We had
hoped that He was the One who would redeem us. And He's dead
and buried. Brother, let me tell you something.
When he walked out of that grave, I'm telling you, now that's time
to shout. He walked out of the grave. Not
when some preacher lays hands on some poor lady that's got
something wrong, and she says, whoopee, I'm healed. That's not
time to shout, because she's going to die anyhow. Not when
some preacher straightens out a crippled leg, and everybody
says, well, God still lives. That's no proof of it. The devil
could have just left that person's body and straightened his leg
out. But when he walked out of that tomb, that's the time to
cry out. Because God Almighty says, Accepted! Accepted! Accepted! Forgiven! Pardoned! Cleansed! Accepted! Everybody
who believes on Him. Everybody. And I'll tell you
more than that. He told me, He said, You go tell
them, I'm not only risen, But I'm going back to my Father.
I'm going to sin. I've sinned. Now, what's the
importance of the ascension? Well, watch this. Turn to 1 John
2. 1 John 2. Here it is, 1 John 2, verse 1.
It says here, my little children, He sings right unto you that
you sin not. I wish we didn't. I wish we didn't,
don't you? And if any man sins, we have
an advocate. We have a lawyer. we have one
who intercedes with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. But if
he didn't have sinned, we don't have an advocate. That's just
it. And not only that, Hebrews 9,
look at this, if he didn't have sinned, if he didn't have sinned
to glory, we don't have a high priest. Now, it's always been
so, that no man is going to approach God except through a suitable
priest with a suitable atonement. That's pictured all the way through
the Old Testament. And right now, we have a high priest. Don't
you fool yourself. I know we're all priests. We
all offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and so forth
to God. But all of our offerings and
prayers and our coming to God is through that perfect great
high priest of whom Abram was only a type and the sons of Levi
only a type. Christ is our High Priest after
the order of Melchizedek. And it says in Hebrews 9.24,
listen to this, Christ is not entered into the holy place made
with hands on this earth, which is but a figure of the truth,
but into heaven itself, now as our High Priest, now as our Advocate,
now as our Mediator, and He's the only Mediator to appear in
the presence of God for us. That's good news. I'll tell you
something else. If he did not ascend, the Holy Spirit didn't
come. John 16, look at this. That's right, the Holy Spirit
didn't come. We have some kind of false spirit if Christ didn't
ascend. He says here in verse 7 of John
16, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for
you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. The Comforter will not come.
Tell you something else, if Christ did not ascend, we have no place
prepared for us. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. You know what He said? I go to
prepare a place for you. And I tell you something else,
Luke 24, 26, if He did not ascend, then He's not the Christ that
the prophets spoke of. That's right. Now listen, he's
talking himself here in Luke 24, verses 25 and 26. Listen,
he said, these are the fellows that he's talking to on the road
to Emmaus. He said, O fool, slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken, what they speak,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory. See that? Oh, I tell you, we're
such earthbound Christians. We're like Maverick. coming to
the sepulchre, you know, coming to the tomb. We're so bound to
this earth. We cling to what we see and what
we hear rather than what we're taught by the Word of God. Ours
is the victory. Our hearts, we just, somebody
called me not long ago and said, All these things, I need a scripture
to turn to, something to help me, to comfort me. And I know
we need the scripture. I know it's a comfort and all
these things. But brethren, the victory is ours in Christ. Our
Lord has risen. Our Lord has died and He's buried
and He's risen and He's ascended to the right hand of God and
He's seated and we're seated in Him. And we're accepted in
the Beloved. And watch Colossians chapter
3 a minute. Turn to Colossians 3. I won't
keep you much longer. Colossians chapter 3. Now listen
to this. Colossians 3, verse 1 and 2. Now then, if you be
risen with Christ, and Christ is a substitute. He's a substitute. He's a representative
person. He's a federal head. In Adam,
I died. In Christ, I live. And as I born
the image of the earthy, I bear the image of the heavenly. In
Adam, I sinned and fell. In Christ, I'm perfect and I'm
raised and I'm accepted by the Father in Christ. Now that has
happened. That's my assurance. And He arose
and He said He raised us up together with Christ and made us sit together
with Christ in the heavenly. that in the ages to come he might
gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and earth, and that he might show forth eternally the riches
of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus." Now then, if you're risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above. Turn loose of
this materialistic world, this flesh. Hold it with a loose hand. Set your affection. Look at verse
2, and that's not plural, that's singular. Set your affection,
that's your mind. That's the general trend of your
thinking. I know a fellow's got to make
a living, I know he's got to build a house, I know he's got
to support his family, I know folks have got to enforce laws,
they've got to do all these different things, but our general trend
and biz of our wills and affections, the general feeling of my heart,
Let it be set on things above, not on things of this earth.
Not on things of this earth. Because, listen, let me give
you this, John 20, before I quit, and now this is what I want to
get to. He said to his, to Mary, he said, Mary, go and tell my
disciples that I sinned. I sinned. I sinned to my father. But that's not where he stopped.
He said, I'll send to my Father and your Father, and I'll send
to my God and your God. I believe this is what he's saying.
Now, this is what he's saying. The man Jesus Christ, born of
woman, lived on this earth, a man just like me and you, tempted
as we are yet without sin. He died as I shall die. And he
arose from the grave, and this man, Ascended to God, to the
Father. Ascended. Now, I'm going to die.
I don't know when. I'm telling somebody today, my
brother died at 48. That's, I'm 9 years older than
that nearly now. I may die tonight. It's reality. You may die tonight. Somebody
here may die this evening. We're going to die. It's appointed
unto men who want to die. That's just, that's the most
certain thing. God is sure, this is the Word
of God, Christ died, but that's just to say, you're going to
die. We're going to die. And He's
going to bury us. But brother, let me tell you
something. I'm going to rise and I'm going to sin. That's
what Christ is saying. I sinned. Who is this? Turn to
Ephesians 4, let me show you something. Ephesians chapter
4. Listen to this. Who is this that's ascending
to the Father? In Ephesians 4 and 9. Now, he
that ascended, what is it? But that he also descended. This one who's going to the Father
is the very one who came down here, none other than Christ
himself. You know what Job said? He said, the worms destroy this
body and my skin, yet I'm going to see the Lord myself. Not another.
These eyes are going to look on God. I'm going to say the
Lord. So the first thing I'm saying
that Christ said to Mary, He said, Mary, go tell my brethren
that I have sinned. I have sinned. Somebody's not
going to pardon me, I'm going to sin. I'm going to sin. The
very one who loved you, the very one who embraced you, the very
one who died for you, I personally am going to sin to the Father.
And I know it's the most difficult thing for us to grasp or lay
hold of, but one day, and it's just, when I say it, it's just,
I can't say it like I ought to say it. One day, this person,
that's hard to understand, is going to go to the very presence
of God. I'm going to walk in the presence
of God. Something in me. And that's what
Christ said, I ascend unto my Father as your Father. See, so?
I know we shall meet in heaven. If I don't see any more on this
earth, I'll see it. You know what we're saying? Do you know
what you're saying? If I don't see any more on this
earth, I'll see you in heaven. Oh, listen, brother, we're talking
about the third heaven, paradise. The very presence of God. He
ascended back where he was before. Think of it. That place that
Paul visited and came back and said, it's not lawful to tell
you what I saw. You think about that. That's what Christ is saying
here. Wouldn't it be good to die tonight? Now, you think about
that. I kind of said this at one of
my dear friends' funeral, that I had such a strong hope for
him. I said, I envy him. I really do. I envy him. I envy him. For here's the second
thing. From where did he ascend? Turn to John 16, from where did
he ascend? Now you think about this, John
16, 28. He said, in John 16, 28, I came forth from the Father,
I came forth from the Father and come into this world. I'm
going to leave this world and go to my Father. I'm going to
leave this world and go to my Father. I see the Lord Jesus
walking on this earth, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief and laboring in a carpenter's shop. I see Him over there in
the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood,
burdened down, broken under the trial of our sins and the presence
of our sin. And He's going from this veil
of tears and sorrow darkness and disease and death and satanic
influence. He's going from here to the very
presence of the Father. Why, the suffering of this world
is not worthy to be compared with that glory. If you grab
hold of that one day, one day, when God decrees it, I'm going
to go from here, from here. I'm not going some roundabout
way to get purified. I've been purified. I'm not going
some roundabout way to get purged. I've been purged. I've been purged. I'm not going somewhere and stay
for 2,000 years while they try to get me straightened out. When
Christ died, He straightened me out. Positionally, legally,
I am accepted. Just as holy with His spotless
garments on, I'm as holy as His Son. Now think about it. Near, so near to God, near I
cannot be in the person of Christ, I'm as near as He. God is justified. God is satisfied. God is reconciled. I'm accepted. And when I shut
my eyes, right here, from here, He said, I'm going from here,
there. And that's what I'm going to
do one day. I'm going from here, there. from here. That's what
sometimes I think we're so, we just don't really grab a hold
of what's there. I know folks want to raise memorials
on this earth. You know, somebody dies and they
leave a bunch of money so their name will live on. That's like
writing your name on the wall of a cesspool compared to where
you're going. Going to glory. I'm going to
walk with Jesus. I'm going to live in the presence
of God. But I want to make sure my name is written down there
in all that mess and all that corruption. I want to be sure
that they built a school in my honor or built a monument in
my honor or named a church for me, you know, or put my name
on the pew. You think about it. Write your
name on the pew or put it on the stained glass windows over
there. Folks, I tell you, this is our problem. And Lord, I heard
one lady said one time to me, she said, I want you to fix it
up so I can leave my money, so I can kind of oversee it after
I'm gone. You know, fix it up so that I
can still have control over it. Here I am walking in the riches
of God's grace, and I'm interested in ten cents down here on this
old sin, curse, blasphemous, God-hating world. Our Lord said,
I'm going from here to there. And I guarantee you this, while
he's interested in the people here because he redeemed them,
and while the saints of God may be interested in what God's doing
here, that's all they're interested in. Because this place is going
to be burnt up. This place is going to be destroyed.
What a day that'll be when the Savior I shall see, I'll look
into his face, the one who saved me by his grace. He'll take me
by the hand. He'll lead me to the promised
land. What a day! What a day! What a glorious day! That's going to be. I ascend
to my Father. My Father. Now watch this. Who
could be more loving? Who could be more devoted? Who
could care more? In whose hand can you be safer
than a father? Now you think, I'm going to my
father. And I'll tell you this, I'm his heir. And everything
he has is mine. That's what I feel about that
son of mine right there. Whatever I have is his. He's
me. Whatever he wants is his. That's
just so. Whatever my father has, whatever
his purpose, whatever he's designed, whatever he has planned in Christ,
it's mine. I'm an heir, there's reserved
for me an inheritance, and why in the world I want to hang on
to this world and build monuments and names and all these junk
and care about this cesspool when I'm going from here to there?
Let me show you the last thing, and
I'll turn to Hebrews 6. This is what's beautiful right
here. Now then, now then, let me tell you this. The fellow
that's always saying, if you're sure for heaven, you've made
your decision, you've been saying you're sure for heaven, as if
you were already there, raise your hand. He means one thing,
and Paul means something else here. Paul is saying here, now
understand what I'm saying, Paul is saying here, Bob, that we
are already there. Now watch this, in Hebrews 6,
it says in verse 19, which hope we have, as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil." You know where within the veil is? The veil
down here in the tabernacle was just a picture of the Shekinah
glory of God. That's where God dwelt. But he's
talking about within the veil. He's talking about the heaven
of heavens. He's talking about the throne
room of glory. He's talking about the immutable,
infinite, immaculate, holy presence of God. And somewhere there,
listen, the forerunner, the forerunner is for us, past tense, already
entered. Already entered. He's gone to
announce our coming. He's gone to possess it for us. He's gone to establish throne
rights. He's gone to speak our claims. That's what He said. And He's
already there. And my name's already written
down. That's what I'm saying, already there. And He's a high
priest forever, not only that way, but that way forever after
the order of Melchizedek. And that old high priest yonder
in the tabernacle, different ones that go in different times,
you know, and they come out and have to do the same thing.