Waiting for my body that will
never see. Looking for a city that will
never end. Waiting for the one that's my
hope within. My Savior, my Lord. The one that bought me with his
precious blood Only one that could ever be good The one that
in my place stood On Calvary's tree He's the lily of the valley He's
altogether lovely to me now He is the rose of Sharon The dew of youth is on his brow
The one that found me when I was lost The one who paid the terrible
cost The one that hung on Calvary's cross, my sin debt to pay. He loves me with an everlasting
love. Within the veil, he's my priest
above. The one that calls me undefiled,
his dove, my bridegroom, my love. He's familiar. He's altogether lovely to me
now. He is the rose of Sharon. The dew of youth is on his brow. The one that taught me how to
beg at His feet. At the table of grace, He gave
me a seat. And in Him, salvation so complete. My Redeemer, my Lord. And one of these days he's coming
for me And all of those bought at Calvary Then forever he will
be He will be heaven for me. It has been our sincere honor
to be here. I am so thankful to you, Brother
David, for asking me to come. So thankful to Austin and Sarah
for their hospitality. They have just gone above and
beyond. They've just been so kind and
generous to the point that they bought me some Texas socks. I'm
wearing them right now. I got my Texas socks on in honor
of all of you. We love you here and love your
state. It's just been our privilege. I sincerely thank the congregation
for having a conference. It's so much work. It is so much
work. And thank you, men and you, ladies,
for all the food. Friday night, I was calling that
Solomon's table, and everybody said, wait till Sunday. So I'm
excited. But we just thank you so much. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
28. Matthew chapter 28. I have always loved this chapter. I have always loved this chapter. I've always loved hearing this
account, and I've always loved what the angel said to these
women who came to our Lord's tomb to anoint his body with
spices. I've just always loved this.
I pray the Lord will open it up to us. Show us the truth of
salvation through this. Verse one, Matthew 28, verse
one, it says, in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, what we call Sunday morning. 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. It's so precious to
me how much emphasis the Holy Spirit placed on Mary Magdalene
right here. It's so precious to me. There
were other women with them. Mark's account tells us that
Salome was there, who was the mother of James and John. Luke's
account says certain others, were with them, there were other
women there. But Mary Magdalene was the only
one with a bad report. The only one. She had seven devils
inside of her when the Lord came to her where she was. She came
from a city called Magdala, which was known for its whoredom. That's what the city was known
for, whoredom. If you came from that city, you
had a bad reputation. If you came from Magdala, you
had a bad reputation. But of all the women who came,
the Spirit of God opened this chapter and this precious event
by saying, Mary Magdalene was there. Mary Magdalene was there. It
says, and the other Mary was there too. I just love that. The first thing I want us to
notice about salvation is salvation is for sinners. Salvation is for sinners. Everybody naturally thinks that
salvation is for people who are not sinners, and that's not so. Salvation is for sinners. Now these women were coming to
anoint the Lord's body with spices. And you think about that, all
right? Think about the depth of the love and the respect and
the reverence that these women had for their
Lord. They weren't coming to just lay
flowers on the headstone. They wanted to go into that grave.
You talk about commitment and zeal. Turn with me, if you would,
over to Mark chapter 16. This is Mark's account of this
same event. Mark 16. Verse one says, and when the
Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James
and Salome had brought sweet spices that they might come and
anoint him. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the
rising of the sun, And they said among themselves, who shall roll
us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? They did not
want to just anoint the grave. They wanted to anoint his body
with spices. And the reason they wanted to
do that is because they thought he was seeing corruption. The Lord had died on you know,
what we call Friday, and this was now the beginning of Sunday. And just like when the Lord commanded
them to roll the stone away from Lazarus' tomb, and Martha said,
Lord, he stinks already. I'm sure these women had it in
their minds that our Lord was seeing corruption, and they needed
to do their part And they needed to bring their good things, the
things that they could offer, to make his sacrifice more pleasing
and more pleasant. But when they got there, they
realized he doesn't need our spices. Verse four right here says, and
when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away for
it was very great. They immediately realized there's
nothing we can do. We should have left our spices
at home. There's nothing for us to add
them to. There's no death here. There's
no stench here. We have these spices, but there's
no stench here. All that's here. is a messenger
with some good news. Verse five says, and entering
into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. The first thing they saw when
they got there, it struck fear into them. It struck fear into
them. When they came to the truth of
what happened in the tomb, it struck fear into them. That's
what happens every time someone is confronted with the truth
of what happened in the tomb of Jesus Christ. It strikes fear
into them. Look with me, if you would, at
Luke 24. This is Luke's account. Luke chapter 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, And as they were afraid and bowed down their
faces to the earth, they said unto them, why seek ye the living
among the dead? Those messengers said, what are
you doing? What are you doing? Fear struck them. It bowed them
down. What are you doing? What are you doing? Fear struck
them. It bowed them down. They said,
why did you come expecting death in a place where only life is? Why did you come thinking that
you could and that you needed to add anything to the sweet
smelling savor of Christ crucified? This sweet savor of life that's
already here. No corruption was ever in that
tomb. No corruption was ever in that tomb. Our Lord went into that tomb
marred more than any man. but he was not suffered to seek
corruption. And by the third day, the only
thing that was pouring out of that tomb was life. Life poured
out of that tomb. The life of God himself poured
out of that tomb. It was such a sweet smelling
savor to God. It was so sweet to God. And it
is so sweet to us, isn't it? God's people. It is so sweet. I was thinking about that. I
would venture to say that no place in Jerusalem smelled as
sweet as the inside of that tomb. Life, life poured from it. When
our Lord arose, life poured through the ground. Many of the saints
arose. Life poured out of it. My center
margin in my Bible says, why seek ye him that liveth? among the dead. Why are you viewing
him in your heart as being helpless and dead? Isn't that how man
views Jesus Christ? Helpless and dead. They won't
admit to that, but that's how they see him. They said, don't you know this
is the living God? Why are you viewing him as needing
you to do something for him, needing you to help him? Don't
you realize he just did something for you? These women came to the Lord
Jesus, as many people do, bringing the works of their hands with
them. The things they had prepared,
they came bringing their own part, their own offering. That is false religion. That
is works religion. And that's what mankind naturally
thinks he needs to do in regard to the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what everybody thinks
they need to do. Man thinks that he can add his
good fragrance to the work that Christ has done. But if a sinner
who comes to Christ is ever met with the truth, If a sinner is
ever met with the true message of Christ crucified, that sinner
will hear the same thing that these ladies heard. You're too
late. You're too late. The work is
done. God is already satisfied. Death
has already been conquered. Life has already been accomplished.
Christ crucified is our only hope of glory, but don't come
to the tomb looking for the king. He's not still trying to accomplish
that sacrifice. That sacrifice is finished, and
the king is now seated on his throne. That's the message of the tomb.
That's the message from the tomb. It is finished. The battle is
over. It is finished, there'll be no
more war. It's finished, the end of all
conflict. It's finished, and Jesus Christ
is Lord. I love when the Queen of Sheba
came to see Solomon, Solomon being a picture of Christ. You
know, she brought all her stuff with her. But don't you love
the moment she saw Solomon in all of his glory and saw his
table? and saw his attendance, and when
he ascended the throne, there was no more spirit in her. You
know what that means? She thought, I should have left
all my stuff at home. He doesn't need my stuff. She
gave it to him anyway, didn't she? Please take it anyway. Everything
I have, everything I am. But that's Christ. That's Christ. He doesn't need our stuff. These
women came to a sacrifice thinking there was work to be done. But
when they got to the place where they thought they could help
Him, they were confronted with the message of His greatness
and His glory in His accomplishment. I wish more men and women would
be confronted with His greatness and His glory in His accomplishment. At that moment, their helpless
Savior became their living Lord. Look with me back at Matthew
28. Verse one 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 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. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment whitest 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. What a message. Don't you know they were excited
to go deliver that message? Fear not ye. Now, they need to
fear, those keepers that passed out, they need to fear, but fear
not ye. They went on to say, for I know
that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He said, I know who
you are. I know you're a seeker. Listen to this glorious verse
of scripture, 2 Timothy 2.19. It says, the foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He knows who they are. He chose
them. He knows who every single one
of them are. In John 6, verse 44, the Lord Jesus Christ said,
No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. But he said in John 6, verse
37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Every sinner who
comes to Christ has been given a heart to come to Christ. Every
sinner who comes to Christ has been drawn to Christ. And every
sinner who comes to Christ will in no wise be cast out. To every sinner that Christ died
for, once he reveals the holy finished work of the tomb, the
God alone finished work of the tomb, God alone The death, the
burial, the resurrection of the Christ, once God reveals to a
sinner that the one who they thought was a struggling Savior
is actually the conquering, victorious King of Kings, Lord of Lords,
God seated on His throne. I love it when men who talk about
Jesus and Jesus this and Jesus that, all of a sudden see God
seated on a throne. Jesus wants to, Jesus is trying
to. Now you better stop messing up
his plan. Don't you love it when fear strikes
men and women and they hit the earth? And they see a sovereign God
seated on his throne, risen with the eternal redemption that he
secured for all of his people. Once God reveals that to one
of his sinful people, the message from the tomb cries, fear not. Once God reveals that, he cries,
fear not. Fear not ye, fear not you, you
fear not. You fear not. Christ accomplished
this death for you. For me? Yes, you. This was your
death because this was your sin. Why did Jesus Christ die? Why
did Jesus Christ die? He died your death because of
your sin. He accomplished it. He finished
it for you. Why did Christ die? For you. Why was he buried? Why did he
rise again? It was for you. It was for you. He did all that for you. Did
he do it for everybody? No, but he did it for you. The child of God says, I mentioned
this to you yesterday, and I say it to you again today, this is
something that for me personally, I've said many times that I really
struggled with this for a long time. My dad came to know the
truth. I remember he was a Southern
Baptist pastor, and I have a few very vague memories, but he came
to know the truth when I was very, very young. and I only
grew up listening to the truth. And my parents told me that all
men and women were totally depraved, and God unconditionally elected
a people, and Christ particularly, limitedly, that's not a word,
but you know what I mean, died for those people, and the Spirit
will call all those people, and they're gonna make it to glory.
And I believed them, because they're my parents. And I believed God elected a
people. I just for the longest time could not figure out if
I was one of them. I knew if God sent me to hell,
he was just and right in doing so. I just didn't know if he
was gonna send me to hell or not. And God's people hear this
word. He did this for you. He did it
for you. And all of God's people want
to know, how can I really know it's me? How can I know it's
me? If he didn't do it for everybody,
how can I know he did it for me? The message from the tomb
cries this, are you a sinner? More accurately, the message
cries, you are a sinner. That message will go out, and
God will give faith to some to cry, amen. And he won't give
faith to others, and they will say, don't you call me a sinner.
You heard that story? I don't know, I keep saying,
y'all have heard all these stories, and everybody's saying, I've
never heard any of those stories. So y'all have never heard the story
of this dear precious brother who had a lot of things happen
to him in his life. And he lost his family, he lost
his job, and he lost his health. He ended up in a wheelchair in
an empty apartment. And he was mad at the world and
mad at everything. And he turned on the TV back
in the 70s or very early 80s. And there was a man named Henry
Mahan. When the tube came on, you used
to turn the TV on. And it took a second. And, vroom,
and he had his finger pointed right at him. And he sat there in his wheelchair
watching TV. And Henry said, now, you and
I are different in a lot of ways. He said, we have different backgrounds.
You come from one place, I come from another. You this, you that,
I whatever. But he said, we have one thing
in common. I'm a sinner and you're a sinner. And he got mad and
he turned that TV off and he said, don't you call me a sinner. He sat there for a minute and
he said, well, maybe I am a sinner. And he turned the TV back on.
And after he watched a few times, he showed up at the service,
and he was there for a long time. God saved his soul. God will
give faith and speak to the heart and say, you are the sinner. How can I know if I'm one of
them? God will say, thou art the man. And you will say, you're
right, I am the man. Christ did this for sinners,
and that's what you are. Vile, wretched sinners. That's you, and that's me. And
all of God's people cry, amen. Amen. If we are not sinners,
we cannot have any hope that Christ did this for us. If someone
here A sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost has to make him
so. They're so hard to find. We don't have very many sinners
in Kingsport, and y'all know what I mean. All have sinned,
but nobody knows it, nobody realizes it, nobody admits it. But if you ever find a sinner,
This is for sinners. The Apostle Paul said, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. That means
you can believe this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, sinners of whom I am chief. Don't you love those
two letters? A-M, M, not was. How many times have you heard
people say, boy, you don't know what I used to be. Let me tell
you what I used to be. Sinners, he died for sinners. That's what I am. I love what Brother Todd Nybert
says about this, the verse I just quoted to you. He says, I am so glad, 1 Timothy
1.15 does not say, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Todd Nybert. He
said, I'm so glad it doesn't say that. Because if it said
that, I would convince myself that there's another Todd Nyberg
in the world and he's not talking about me. But it says, Christ Jesus came
to save sinners. And he said, I know he's talking
about me. That's what I am. Are you a sinner? More accurately, you are a sinner. You are a sinner. I'm a sinner. We are vile, wretched, miserable,
hopeless, helpless sinners. And if you can agree with that
and say amen, fear not ye. Fear not ye. Take comfort in this right here,
okay? Look at verse six. It says, he is not here. He is not in that tomb anymore. Why is he not in that tomb? They
said, for he is risen. Why is he risen? It's because he put away the
sin of his people. They said, as he said. It's because
he did what he said. He is not here, for he is risen,
as he said. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. You were supposed to lay there.
But come see the place where the Lord lay. He did what he
said he would do. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. You know, for generations now,
we've been repeating these phrases. Not try to save his people, save
his people. That needs to be repeated. That
still needs to be repeated, not try to save his people, save
his people. He didn't come to make salvation
possible for his people. He came to save his people. He
didn't come to start the work so his people could then finish
the work. He finished the work. He shall
save his people from their sins. And that's exactly what he did.
That's why God the Father raised him from the dead. Why did Christ
resurrect from the dead when nobody else does? People go in
the ground and then they don't come back out. It's because they
can't make the payment for eternity. They'll never be able to make
that payment. They'll never be able to satisfy God. Never. But
Christ satisfied God. He put away sin and he put away
death and he accomplished life. And with that taking place, it
was not possible for death to hold him any longer. One day
the grave could conceal him no longer. It had to let him go.
One day the stone rolled away from the door. Then he arose,
over death he had conquered. Now is ascended my Lord evermore. My Lord and my God, as Thomas
put it. Rabboni, which is to say master,
as Mary Magdalene put it. And I'm gonna stop, but I don't
want to. I hear them talking back there. I think about these angels, you
know, they do the bidding of the Father. Oh, can you imagine the glory
in their hearts the moment they saw Jesus Christ walk out of
that tomb? Can't you see Him standing there?
Master, well done. Well done. In heaven He robs. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus
lives today. And I'm, you know, I was gonna
read the rest of the chapter to you, but you know what it
says. He said, I'm with you always, even until the end of the world.
And then he was with them for 40 days after this, and he said
many things to them, and he blessed them. And as he was blessing
them, he ascended up, and you just see him standing there like
this. And as, you know, the clouds
take him out of their sight, and then Psalm 24 says, Heaven realizes, here it comes.
Open the gates! The king of glory's coming back
in. Who is this king? Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. Open the gates. And they said,
why are you standing there gazing into heaven? I love these three
words. This same Jesus. The same ones the apostles saw.
The same ones that had no scars. The same body, the one he said,
touch me, here, handle me. This same Jesus is going to come
back down like you have watched him go up into heaven. Living he loved us. Dying, He
saved us. Buried, He carried our sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious
day. It's almost here. In just a minute, He'll be here.
In just a minute, He'll be here. And all this is going to be over.
We're going to be happy. I pray everybody here is a sinner.
I hope all of you are sinners like I'm a sinner. If you are,
fear not. He's coming back. He's going
to come back and get us. Thank you, Brother David. Thank
you. Very encouraging, clear message
about our Lord and Savior. Let's take just a few