Arise From The Dead!

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I was reading about bizarre Easter traditions across the world. You know, we think hollow chocolate bunnies are perfectly fine.
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How about this one? In Finland, according to this website, on Easter all the witches fly down to party with the devil in Germany, so the children need to dress in costumes carrying broomsticks and go to people's doorways and ask for candy.
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How about in Russia? Since they believe that Satan cannot take the form of a lamb, they love to make lambs formed of butter and then enjoy a nice lunch.
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I don't think this one will go over well here. Papua New Guinea, you go to the
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Easter service and before the service you've decorated the trees outside with tobacco and cigarettes.
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Then after the service you leave, go out and light up. That's what it says.
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Poland, there's a tradition, the men are not allowed to cook anything or even stand in the kitchen because if they do, their mustaches will turn gray.
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Here's a bizarre one. In Hungary, when men and women are coming home from Sunday Mass, there are some men hidden in the bushes and they jump out and pour buckets of water on the women as a purifying ritual.
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Only Vincent will like this next one. It's my last one. In New Zealand, they put a price, a prize, high money, high
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New Zealand dollars. They give this gift to the person who kills the most bunny rabbits on Easter morning.
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This account says each year as many as 20 ,000 rabbits are killed. As my father would say back in Nebraska, to each his own.
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It's not a tradition, but it's very fascinating to me that in light of resurrection and new life and resuscitation and other things, people know they're going to live forever, whether they think it's evolution telling them it's survival of the fittest or there's
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God in their minds thinking, when I die, I'm going to have to stand before God. So it's not a resurrection
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Sunday tradition, but it's close. Cryronics, low temperature preservation of humans after they die in hopes that you'll be resuscitated one day.
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The tricky part is you've got to have a team ready so the second you die, they begin to freeze you to 77 .15
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Kelvin, which is the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. If they kill you too early, then it's homicide or assisted suicide, so you have to be careful.
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And then they'll hopefully have enough technology, maybe even found in the biomedical engineering departments here in Worcester, Massachusetts, to revive you one day.
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Ask Ted Williams. He did that. If you want your head only preserved, it'll cost you from $12 ,000 to $250 ,000.
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The crazy thing is people use their life insurance policy to do this.
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Hoping to live forever. There's something in every culture almost, I want to live forever, and whether it's
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Nirvana or whether it's Atlantis, almost said Atlantic City, someplace you want to live forever, this concept of heaven.
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And if you're a kid, you don't know much about cryonics and all you have to do is think about Captain America, who, after he stopped being published as a comic book in the 50s, had to have some explanation in 1960 for when he came back to life, and good thing he did because he had been accidentally frozen in the
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Arctic ice and now they revived him. R for you, younger people,
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Han Solo, Frozen, Cryonics, Episode 5, which should be called
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Episode 2. All the geeky kind of WPI people are all smiling at me, winking, very relevant pastor.
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There's something down inside of us all that we want to live. We want to see our kids grow up.
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We want to be grandparents. And then what about after death? Isn't there something in us that wants to live forever?
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For the Christian, you're made in the likeness and image of God and you're born to worship Him forever.
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And death ceases our life physically, but we live on. And so what
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I'd like to do this morning, since it's Resurrection Sunday, is I want to show you some resurrections in the Bible.
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What I say doesn't matter, what tradition says doesn't matter. What does the Bible say about the resurrection?
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Now, it's interesting. There are people running around saying, come see this faith healer, he raises people from the dead, and it's a common experience.
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But there are only about ten resurrections in the Bible. There are three in the Old Testament. Zarephath's widow's son was raised from the dead.
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The Shunammite's woman was raised from the dead. They threw a body into Elisha's tomb and he was raised from the dead.
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Tabitha was raised from the dead in Acts. Eutychus was raised from the dead in Acts. And there are five other resurrections in the
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Bible, not many. And so today I want to give you the survey of the five that are found in the
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Gospels. Five resurrection accounts that you'll see in the Gospels that will serve several purposes.
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One, if you're a Christian, you'll be glad to just see Jesus raise people from the dead again, and you know he has power over life.
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If you're not a Christian, I want you to see who Jesus is. It's hard to believe in the object of your faith when you're biblically illiterate.
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When the Jesus you think is Jesus is the Jesus of culture, Jesus of tradition, Jesus of pop culture.
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What does the Bible say? And then there will be a response at the very end.
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Since the resurrection is a reality, since you'll be dead one day and then the resurrection of your body, then what?
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So five quick summary jet tour Gospel accounts of resurrections, and then kind of a so what.
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If this is true, what about that? All right? Luke chapter 7. If you've got a Bible, turn to Luke 7, otherwise you can just listen.
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There should be a blue Bible in front of you. Luke chapter 7. This is the first passage in the
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Gospel accounts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, those are Gospels. The good news that Jesus Christ, not a sinner, came to save sinners at his own expense.
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And he died on the cross as a sin baron. It was raised literally from the dead. And before Jesus gets to the cross, there's a number of resurrections.
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This is number one in the Gospels. Luke chapter 7. He raises the widow's son.
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Again, survey fashion, just so you can understand how few and far between resurrections are, what the
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Bible actually says about the resurrections, and then what the implications are. Soon afterward,
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Luke 7 .11. He went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
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Of course they did, because he could cast out demons. He taught wonderfully. He could heal people. He could give sight to the blind.
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He was a wonder worker, and they will follow him. Great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out.
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The only son of his mother. And she was a widow. And a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
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And so, it doesn't take you very long to remember back in the biblical day, if you were a woman who was a widow and didn't have a son to help you, protect you, provide for you, no government assistance, sometimes even widows would be resorting to prostitution to provide for themselves.
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Here, she's in desperate straits. And what did Jesus do? Verse 13, and when the
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Lord saw her, he said, Be warmed and be filled. No, he saw her, and this is the humanity of Jesus.
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He's fully God, yes, but fully man. He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep.
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Jesus is going to do something, so you'll say to yourself, Who is this? When Jesus calms the literal sea of Galilee, people say,
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Who is this person? This has to be God is here among us. And Jesus is saying,
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Don't weep, I'm going to do something. Don't weep. Then he came up, verse 14, you notice the text,
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And touched the bier, b -i -e -r. It's like a plank of wood. Maybe today we just use a big piece of plywood.
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And how do you get the dead body over to the tomb? You put the dead body on a big piece of plywood,
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It's almost like a door laying down, And carry it over. It could be put on a couple of wheels, And you just wheel it over with an animal or with people.
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And for the Jews, you wouldn't want to touch a dead body, Because you would be ceremonially defiled. And so, don't touch the dead bodies.
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And here Jesus is going to touch the body, And instead of him being defiled, The power goes out of him, and the guy is raised from the dead.
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He touched the bier, and the bier stood still. Nobody comes and does this.
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And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up, began to speak,
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And Jesus gave him to his mother. Not only kind to the man, but kind to the mother.
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What's the response when you see a dead person raised from the dead? Fear seized them all, and they glorified
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God, Saying, a great prophet has arisen among us, And God has visited his people. What kind of man is this?
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This is God in the flesh. Fear seized them all, and that fear turned into worship.
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I'll never forget, as long as I live, I was in a chaplaincy class, a hospital chaplaincy class,
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And my professor took us back to the crematorium. And you could see what was going on there,
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And they'd have to take the pacemakers out So the thing wouldn't explode inside the body before it burned.
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And then we went over to the little chapel area, And there was a casket there. He took us over here and said,
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Okay, this is where they embalm, And here's Robert Namaguchi's information, And he's the one that did the work on Marilyn Monroe, And John Belushi, and others.
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And he said, I have to just excuse myself, And he went over, and he said, I'll be right back. And we were observing some things, And we came back into the chapel,
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And were taught as seminary students, This is the head of the body at this side of the casket,
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Don't stand over by the feet, and all these things. And so, they're like, okay, just come over and stand, And touch the casket,
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And then you would give your message to the congregation during the funeral. And as we came over to touch the casket, The casket opened up, and our professor sat up and said,
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Hello! He had snuck out the back, come over, got inside, And fear had gripped me!
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Fear had seized me! I thought I was going to die! And I didn't say, a great prophet has risen among us,
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I thought, you dirty rat, that's what I thought. I've been to funerals,
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I've been to my mom's casket with my little tiny kids. Is it okay to touch grandma? Yes, she's not in there.
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And they touch her, and I said, before you touch her, I want you to know she's going to be cold, She's going to be hard.
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But you can touch grandma. And they would touch grandma, and stroke her hair. And when Jesus touches the dead,
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The guy stands up, sits up, he speaks, And he's handed back to his mother. And the report, verse 17 says,
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About him spread through the whole of Judea, You know it did. And all the surrounding country, Jesus has the power to raise the dead,
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The kindness to raise the dead, The will to raise the dead, And the holiness not to be contaminated by the dead.
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That's the first episode. Survey of the Gospels of Resurrections, Number 2,
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Luke chapter 8. It's close by, Luke chapter 8. So first the widow's son, And now
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Jairus' daughter. And you get to see the prophet, priest, and king,
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Jesus, Doing something that no one can do. I defy anyone to raise someone from the dead.
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Verse 40 of chapter 8 in Luke's account of Jesus. Five passages in the
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Gospel, The only five regarding the resurrection. This is the second one. Now when
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Jesus returned, Luke 8 .40, The crowd welcomed Him, For they were all waiting for Him. There's a man named
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Jairus, Who was a ruler of a synagogue. He was a big shot. He didn't really care that he was a big shot,
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Because his daughter was dying. How do you act in a crowd of strangers? I don't think like this desperate man acted.
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Prideless. Falling down at Jesus' feet. He implored Him to come to his house. Why? His daughter's dying.
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And Jesus can raise people from the dead. He can heal sick people. Jairus knew that. For he had an only daughter.
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Luke is a physician. He's very particular. And he writes here, An only daughter.
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Just a little sweetheart, about 12 years of age. That's kind of the Greek language. Just a sweet, kind way to describe her.
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And she was dying. She's just my little girl. My little girl's dying.
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As Jesus went, the people pressed around Him. Now we get a little interruption here. Isn't this interesting? There was a woman, verse 43,
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Who had a discharge of blood for 12 years. Talk about unclean ceremonially.
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Talk about unclean physically. Though she had spent all her living on physicians,
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She could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, Jesus' garment,
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And immediately her discharge of blood ceased. Jesus said, He knew who touched.
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He's the omniscient God of the world, But He wanted her to identify herself. Who was it that touched me?
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When all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said,
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Someone touch me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden,
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She came trembling, falling down before Him, Declared in the presence of all people,
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Of all the people, Why she had touched Him and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.
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Go in peace. I wonder what Jairus was thinking right now. Maybe Jairus was thinking,
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I'm sure what Jesus would get on with it, My daughter's dying. But I don't think that's what he was thinking.
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I think he was thinking this, Jesus, I've heard, can raise people from the dead and heal people.
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And I've just seen it with my very own eyes. Let's get home to take care of my daughter. While he was still speaking,
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Someone, verse 49, from the ruler's house came. He's got servants. He's rich.
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Your daughter's dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. You know, there's some things that Jesus can't even do.
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He's just a teacher. I mean, teachers can give lessons, Examples, ethics, morals, philosophy.
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But teachers don't raise from the dead. So, there's some things beyond even what a teacher can do.
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Don't trouble the teacher anymore. He's just a teacher. Verse 50, But Jesus, on hearing this, answered
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Jairus and said, Do not fear, only believe and she'll be well. Stop fearing for your daughter's life and keep on believing.
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In other words, You were believing me when you came to me, so finish well. You started believing, don't let this death pronouncement stop your believing.
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You start well, finish well, keep on believing. Verse 51, They came to the house.
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He allowed no one to enter with them except his three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John. Or Peter, John, and James.
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It's listed here. The father, that's Jairus, and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her.
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Here in the U .S. and in the West, we mourn quietly. And we're sad, of course.
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And there, they're loud. They hire flute players. It's noisy. Even the poorest people would hire at least two mourners.
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Why? Because if the death is great, the mourning must be great. Hire mourners. And Jesus said to these who were mourning for the girl,
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Jesus just shows up. They're already there. They know she's dead. And now Jesus says, what does the text say? Do not weep, for she's not dead, but she's sleeping.
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Okay. She's sleeping. Jesus, they're clapping their hands.
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The flutes are going. They're singing. They're crying. They're weeping and wailing. And she's going to sleep through that.
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And what all unbelief does, verse 53, They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
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They jeered. They mocked. They scorned. Yeah, right. But taking her by the hand, he called, saying,
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Child, arise. And her spirit returned. She got up at once. It's been a while since she's eaten,
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I suppose. And he directed that something should be given her to eat.
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Get up. No incense. No Latin. No beads. No chanting.
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Get up. I've got authority over death. Her parents were amazed, verse 56.
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He charged them to tell no one what had happened. Jesus, and Jesus alone, raises people from the dead.
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I want to just stop here just for a minute. I wish it wasn't true, but it's true. Every one of you will die.
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Every single one of you. You've got a little tiny baby. You've got a grandpa sitting next to you. Every one of you is going to die.
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And you want to know the person who can raise you from the dead.
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I'm trying to show you from the Bible. What does the Bible say about resurrection? Account number three.
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John chapter 11. Account number three, John 11. And this is Lazarus. This is a fascinating one.
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The little girl, Jairus' daughter, and the son of the widow at Nain, they had died, and they weren't dead for very long.
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And so, it's interesting. Lazarus is noted in John 11. Because this is kind of the pinnacle on the way to the cross for Jesus.
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Lazarus is going to be in the tomb for how many days? He'll have been in the tomb for four days.
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And guess what happens when a body is in the tomb for four days? You think I'm probably strange.
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That's, I know, true. If I gave you my own tradition, I had rabbit one morning on Easter.
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And I figure that's why I'm so psychologically all messed up. Just click on YouTube and say, how to embalm.
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And it'll just show you what they do embalming. What they're going to do to you and how they'll embalm you.
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Type in, cremation. Tutorial for cremation.
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Type in, decay of a human body over time. If I can't get you with weirdness,
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I can get you maybe from this side. They have, for instance, like CSI kind of people, the real
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CSI. They'll do things with bodies. So on my wallet, I've got my
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Massachusetts driver's license in my wallet. And it's got a little heart on there. And it says, you get my body, right?
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And you get to use it for, I don't know, I was wishing it was going to be some kind of eye transplant or something.
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But most of the time, your body's given to medical students. And then they just kind of, you know, chop you up.
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And the other one's interesting. Lots of times they'll bury bodies in the ground. And then they'll say, after a week, the body looks like that.
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After two weeks, you can't see the body, but you can hear it. How can you hear a dead body in the ground? Answer, you can hear all the bugs chewing the body.
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Everybody's awake today. Happy Resurrection Sunday. If you don't believe me today, at least maybe you'll think it's interesting.
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I'll keep you awake. What did she say?
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She said, I believe you. I think a couple of kids said earlier today we were singing. The song would end, special music. All done.
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All done. Lazarus is in the tomb four days. You walk over to the rotting corpse that stinks.
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King James, he stinketh. And then what does Jesus do? Let's take a look. John chapter 11. I love to study about Jesus because who acts like Him?
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Who talks like Him? Who is like Him? I have so many friends, I don't believe the Bible. I just dare you to read the book of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, and you'll say nobody is like Jesus.
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He is either a liar, lunatic, or Lord. Now a certain man was ill. I won't read every verse, but some.
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John 11, our third resurrection account in the Gospels. Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister
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Martha. You remember this Mary. She was the one who anointed, verse 2, the
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Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair. And her brother Lazarus was ill.
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So what do you do? Jesus heals. Jesus can raise from the dead. Go get Jesus.
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Sister sent him, verse 3, Lord, He whom you love is ill. But when
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Jesus heard it, He said, This illness does not lead to death. It's for the glory of God, so that the
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Son of God may be glorified through it. You're going to see this Jesus who can go over to the tomb and say,
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Arise! You've got loved ones who have died. This is the kind of resurrection power you need.
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It's Jesus or nothing. Now, Jesus loved
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Martha and her sister in Lazarus, verse 5. Now, how does this make sense at all?
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Just listen out loud. You're going to go, this is crazy. So when He heard that Lazarus was ill,
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He rushed there. He sprinted there. No, the text says He stayed there two days longer than the place where He was.
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Jesus is going to make sure that everyone realizes Lazarus is stone cold dead.
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Four days, rigor mortis, smells, doesn't matter how much balm you put on, or aloe vera, or myrrh, or incense, or anything else.
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So then when He does come and He does raise Lazarus from the dead, everybody says, He's God.
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And isn't that what John wants you to think in the Gospel of John? He does all these miracles to show you that He is the
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Son of God and that by believing in Him, you might have life eternal. Verse 11, notice at the end,
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Jesus says, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. They didn't get the figure of speech either.
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They didn't get the euphemism for death is sleep. Hey, if He's sleeping,
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Jesus, He's going to wake up sometime. That's what they say in verse 12. But Jesus, verse 13, has spoken of His death.
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And then He says, like only Jesus can, verse 14, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, surely not for Lazarus' sake, because if it was
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Lazarus' sake, who wants to be up in heaven before the face of God and get sent back down in your old grimy body again with a bad back and receding hairline?
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I wouldn't know about those things. It said at the first service, when you look at the mirror every morning, what it should be telling you is, get ready to die.
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You're dying. Gray hairs, remember that first time you got that first gray hair? Some of you haven't gotten it yet, but you will.
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But you know what, it wasn't the first gray hair, because there's like 50 more you just didn't see.
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And Ecclesiastes 12, Solomon says, when you stand before the mirror and you see yourself decaying,
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God is kindly saying, gently saying, prepare to die, consider your ways, you are going to die one day.
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We can't even say death anymore. We can't even say passed away. It's just passed.
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He just passed. It's a grim reality, but it's a reality.
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So I need to know someone who's got power over death. Who does? Benny Hinn? You've got to be kidding me.
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Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. Verse 14,
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Lazarus has died, Jesus says, for your sake I'm glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, so that you'll see me raise him from the dead, and then say, who is this?
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Verse 25, Jesus said to Martha, He corrects her eschatology a little bit.
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He says, I am the resurrection and the life. I personally am. It's embodied in me.
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Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
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Do you believe this? Yes, she said, I do, Lord.
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I believe you're the Christ, the Son of God, who's coming into the world. He goes over, verse 35, and because of sin's tragic effect on people, he wept.
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He loved Lazarus. He wept. He was sad for the suffering. He wept. And the
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Jews even knew it. Verse 36, see how he loved them? Loved him. Verse 39,
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Jesus said, take away the stone. Lord, by this time there'll be an odor, for he has been dead four days.
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And look at Christ's response. Isn't this great? Verse 40, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?
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Jesus praised, thank you, Father, that you hear me. Lazarus, verse 43, come out.
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And as I was taught in Sunday school, good thing he didn't say, come out, because everybody would have come out of the tomb.
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Lazarus, come out. Do I believe in mummies? I believe he looked like a mummy.
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Look at it. His hands and feet were bound with linen strips. His face wrapped with a cloth. Unbind him. Let him go.
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And the account just ends there. So you say to yourself, Jesus alone can raise him from the dead. Wait a second,
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I want to talk to Lazarus. What was heaven like? What was going on there? What were you thinking? All of a sudden, you know, you're breathing those last breaths, and they're few and far between.
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You've counted them with your loved ones. They haven't breathed for 10 seconds. They finally breathe. It's now up to 30 seconds.
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It's now up to 60 seconds. That's the last breath I can begin to weep. And then you take another one, and then it's 90 seconds.
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And then your last breath, Lazarus, you took it, and it exhaled, and then you woke up to the glory of God and angels.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. From death and sickness and pain to glory.
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Lazarus, tell me about that. What was it like to be seeing the Lamb standing as if slain?
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What was going on? Nothing said. Nothing said about Lazarus.
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Because the spotlight is on Jesus. Because He can raise people from the dead. Number four.
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Passage four. Two more to go. Passage four. This is, I want to brace you, this is the crazy one. This is the wild one.
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This is one you said to yourself, I read the Bible a bunch of times, I've never seen this. This is the one you'll say, if it's not in the
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Bible, I would never believe it. Who makes this stuff up? Matthew chapter 27, the fourth account of resurrections in the
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Gospels. And this is of more than one person. So you've got three in the
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Old Testament, two in Acts, and five accounts in the New Testament. Ten accounts.
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Oh, Jesus might have raised more people from the dead, but in the Bible these are the accounts. Matthew 27, and it is a wild one.
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Verse 45 of Matthew 27. Jesus is on the cross.
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Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Well, how do you count time?
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It's not military time, but if it were, 6 a .m. would be zero. Oh, zero hundred.
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And at six hours later, it would be noon. And that's what this is, six hours. They started counting at six in the morning, it's now noon, and it's dark until three.
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Okay, the sun is supposed to be up there, and it's supposed to be high, and it's supposed to be bright, and it's supposed to be light from noon to three.
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Why is it dark from noon to three? Now when you see Jesus on the cross, here's what you could be thinking.
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He's dying on the cross like 30 ,000 other Jews. All these other Jews were crucified.
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The Romans put them up on a skewer and crucified them. What's going on here? Because the author is trying to show you through hermeneutical interpretive helpers what's happening.
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There's invisible things going on, and these are hints to tell you what the invisible things are.
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Because Jesus isn't like those other 30 ,000 Jews, because they were just men. He's a man and He's God, and so what's happening?
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This text is trying to show us that Jesus Christ is absorbing the wrath of God meant for sinners, meant for the bride of Christ, meant for all those who would ever believe.
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How do you show, how could Mel Gibson show it in The Passion of the Christ, the invisible wrath of God poured out on His Son who is an advocate, who intercepts the wrath due for us, who's a substitute?
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How do you show that? You cannot show it. But Matthew shows it this way.
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Darkness over the land until the ninth hour. Wait a second, what do you mean darkness?
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Old Testament, darkness, judgment. Old Testament darkness, curse.
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Jesus is being judged and He's sinless. He's not being judged for His own sins, for the sins of all those who would ever look to Him in faith.
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Curse. Jesus is becoming a curse for us in our place, Galatians 3. That's what this little sign is.
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And then Jesus cries out, look at verse 46, at three o 'clock. My God, My God, why have
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You forsaken Me? Not calling God Father here like He normally does because He's now the sin bearer.
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And it's like the Father can't look. His Son's still holy, He still loves His Son, but He's loving sinners too, and so He punishes the
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Son instead of Christians. That's why Jesus died on a cross.
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Not because He was a moral example, not because He was a martyr, but because He's a sin bearer.
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And by the way, that sin bearer says, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? At what time of day?
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At three o 'clock in the afternoon. What time of day did they kill the lambs for Passover?
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Josephus, the Jewish historian says, three o 'clock. Why have
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You forsaken Me? Being cursed in our place. Verse 47, some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man's calling for Elijah.
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Why? Because he said, Eli, Eli. One of them at once ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.
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You know, you've got to lift it way up there on that reed. Others said, Wait, let's see if whether Elijah will come and save him.
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I want to ask you a question before I read the next verse. Who talks like this? Who does this? And Jesus cried out aloud with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.
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They're blaspheming, they're glad, they're yelling, and Jesus now in authority of His own life, and now death,
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He yields up His spirit. Nobody yields up their spirit. You die. It overtakes you.
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It overcomes you. But Jesus is not a victim of circumstances. He's in authority of His spirit until the very end.
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And He now isn't the blasphemer. He's not a prisoner of circumstances. He dismisses
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His spirit. He releases His spirit exactly when He wants to, at three o 'clock when all the Passover lambs are being killed.
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There are more signs to behold, verse 51, to understand this invisible propitiation and wrath assuaged.
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On a side note, if you don't think God hates sin, then look what Jesus had to do for sins like yours.
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If Jesus could just say, oh, Mike, sins aren't that big a deal. God the Father, no. You look at Calvary, you can realize how big of a deal sin is.
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To think everyone here has sinned, and you've got to pay for your sins. I only sin maybe once in a while. Friends, if you sin once against a thrice holy
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God of the universe, it's damnation. How many times do you have to spit in your boss's face before he fires you?
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How much more for God? We need a substitute. We need a Savior who conquers death.
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Verse 51, and behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. That big curtain that made sure nobody could go into the holy place where the presence of God was made manifest.
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There's no access to God. No trespassing to God. The high priest once a year would go in, and hopefully that wouldn't kill him.
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He'd go in there. But now from top to bottom, not bottom to top because men and women didn't cut the thing or rip the thing.
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From the top to bottom, divinely this thing's ripped. There's access to God because when Jesus made redemption, there's access to God through Jesus the mediator, by what he did.
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What else is happening? And the earth shook. Earthquakes aren't always a sign from God, but they're a sign from God when it happens exactly at this time.
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And when the earth shakes, what happens? Rocks split. And when rocks split, and God is there, and Jesus' death is so powerful, there's a ripple effect.
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Here's the wild part. Are you ready? Verse 52, and the tombs were opened.
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Well, that's not that big a deal because the earthquake's so big, it just cracks the tombs, and the cave entrances are opened.
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Remember, they didn't bury underground, they buried them in a cave, put them in a tomb.
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Those tombs were opened, and then what happened? You want to know how powerful the death of Christ is? Here's resurrection account number four found in the
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Gospels. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. The people that believed in God, who were believers, and had just recently died, they got up.
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They're alive now, and they're in their bodies. You say, maybe it was like Moses. Maybe it was
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Moses. Well, that wouldn't make sense because who would recognize Moses? Charlton Heston had not been born yet.
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But if it was somebody who just died recently, a family member, a loved one, somebody who died a year ago, that you just...
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Now, sometimes I think, what did my father look like? What's his voice sound like? And he shows up.
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He's all of a sudden alive. The power of the death of Christ raises people from the dead.
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I was talking to Luke today. What if I walked in here today, and my mom just walks in? Something's going on.
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And what'd they do? And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
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It's Friday at three. The earthquake happens. They get up, and they don't go into the city until Sunday.
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So now the rest of Friday and all of Sabbath, they just stay in the cemetery. I don't know if they talk.
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I don't know if they clean themselves off. I don't know what they do. But they're just there. Do you see it? It's in the
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Bible. The tombs were open. That's why I always laugh, sometimes out loud to their face. That's probably not nice.
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I never read the Bible, and the Bible's boring. We have a little slogan in our house. If you think the
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Bible's boring, my kids would say, what? I won't tell you.
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That's next week. No, they'll say, you're boring. Luke, what do you mean? The death of Christ, and now people are up, walking around, testifying to the power of redemption, and now they go into the city, after Jesus has been raised.
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They don't have glorified body. Only Jesus does, and He's the first fruits of these glorified bodies. But in their body, they walk up.
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Wait, I thought you were dead. Yeah, I was, and then I was raised up from the... What are you supposed to do?
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I think I'm supposed to tell everybody that Jesus has power over the dead. If you've buried a loved one, or you're going to bury a loved one, and you will bury a loved one, just how pitiful is it to see somebody in a casket and say, that's it.
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You'll live in my heart forever. I say to myself, for those that say doctrine is irrelevant, the doctrine of the resurrection is the most relevant doctrine in all the world.
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Finally, number five. We need to go quickly. Finally, number five, Matthew 28. This is
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Jesus' own resurrection. I'm just going to read the passage, and then truth,
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I think, demands a verdict. Truth shouldn't just be, oh, that's nice to know. I want to challenge you.
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I want to preach to you. If you don't believe it, why? And if you do believe it, aren't you thankful? Matthew chapter 28, the fifth account of resurrection, our resurrections, found in the
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Gospels. Matthew 28. I could have gone to Mark chapter 16. I could have gone to John 20. I could have gone any of the passages.
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Luke as well, Luke 24, but Matthew 28. Now, after the
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Sabbath, verse 1, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other women went to see the tomb.
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The sun's gone down now. It's Sabbath. They're able to walk on the Sabbath. Behold, there's a great earthquake, verse 2, for the angel of the
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Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning.
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His clothing, white as snow. He's just come from heaven where it's holy and pure.
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Of course, He's going to look like that, straight from heaven. And for fear of Him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.
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First the ground shakes, now the guards shake. And then they're paralyzed. They became like dead men.
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But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
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I know that's who you want to see, the crucified one. He's not here. Literally, He was raised as He said.
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Jesus said, I was going to be raised, and I was. You tear this temple down and three days later, I'll raise it back up again.
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I'm not talking about that physical temple, John 2. He was dead.
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Now He's alive. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples, after you've kind of seen the spot where He was laying down, after you've had a good look, as you've looked at it with just a feast, your eyes feasting on it, then go, tell the disciples that He's risen from the dead.
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Behold, He's going before you to Galilee. There you'll see Him. See, I have told you. And behold,
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Jesus met them and said, Greetings. They came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped
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Him. He's not a ghost. He's not a phantom. The literal Jesus is raised from the dead.
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And then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see
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Me. And the rest of the passage talks about Roman spin control.
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So I learn about the resurrection. What's my response? Let me show you the response. It's found in Ephesians 5.
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You just want to turn there quickly. If not, I'll just read it. This is what we think was a hymn found in Scripture.
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Maybe even a resurrection hymn. Maybe even what we would say an Easter hymn. And it's written to people who aren't
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Christians. It's written to people who aren't believers. It's written to people who aren't born again. It's written to people who are trusting in themselves, hoping in themselves, thinking religion will save, baptism will save.
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Something that they do saves. They're not doing what Jesus said and that is believe in Him. That's what
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Jesus says in the Bible. Believe in Him. So what is this response?
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I just find this maybe as fascinating as these dead people getting up, walking around.
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It says in verse 14, Awake, O sleeper, Ephesians 5, arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.
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If you're an unbeliever, the Bible says, wake up. My mom used to come to me in the morning and she'd try to wake me up when
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I was a teenager and she'd say, she'd start off really nice, rise and shine. And then she'd give me what was called the water treatment.
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She'd get some water from like a little bowl and she'd start sprinkling it on my face. Anything but the water treatment.
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Wake up. Rousing me. Sometimes you just have to take somebody's blanket and you just have to pull it off and the people are just waking up.
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Isn't it interesting that Paul through the Spirit of God calls unbelievers sleepers and says, get up.
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When you're sleeping, you don't know what the danger is. Your house could be burning. Your basement could be flooding. And you're just impervious to it.
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You don't even know anything about it. Similarly in a spiritual way. If you're not a believer, your house is burning.
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You're going to die and we're going to bury you and you'll stand before God and then it won't be, yeah, a bunch of hypocrites or Christians.
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Church just wants my money. You know what? Big bang theory. You're going to be standing there and now it's time to wake up.
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This is Paul's way of saying, repent. Follow. Believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. It's time to wake up, you sleepy fellow. One writer said, so with the sinner.
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It's as if his faculties were locked in a deep slumber. He hears not when God calls. He has no sense of danger.
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He's insensible to the beauties and glories of the heavenly world. You're in danger.
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You're in danger. What else does he say? Isn't this interesting? Look at Ephesians.
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Arise from the dead. Stand up. Get up. Paul through the
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Spirit says to unbelievers like Jesus says to Lazarus, wake up. Get up.
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Spiritually dead. Yes, I know you're physically alive. You're here. You're breathing. But you're spiritually dead.
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But Ephesians 2 says you're dead in trespasses and sins. It's like if I take my dog to Niagara Falls, my dog is the best dog.
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She is this Parson Jack Russell and she is just an amazing dog. And she knows her pecking order in the family and she knows
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I'm boss and she loves me for it. And when I take her to Niagara Falls, she doesn't look.
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She doesn't smell. She doesn't see. I see beauty. I hear awesomeness and the beauty of Niagara Falls and she's looking around.
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She's trying to chase a cat. She has no eyes to see. And so the person who's not a
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Christian, who's not born again, is alive, but it's like they're looking at Niagara Falls, they're looking at Jesus Christ, this great
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Teacher, this great Healer, this great Resurrected Person and they're going, yeah, but aren't the Red Sox on today?
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Where are those Easter Bunny things? Where are the Peeps today? I mean, for any adult that likes Peeps, you've got serious problems.
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It's like unbelievers. I've got to get to the Peeps! That's what spiritually dead is.
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You need to wake up. You need to rise from the dead. And it takes the power of God through this proclamation.
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How is the power of God found? Because Lazarus couldn't pick himself up by his own bootstraps. It had to be done to him.
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But when it was done to him, Lazarus walked out. And so you need the power of God to make you alive.
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And the power of God comes through. You want to hear something weird? Preaching through a sinful person about the great sinless
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Jesus. That's how the power comes. You need to wake up. Your house is burning. And are there promises for those who will wake up and believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Are we just going to be like Socrates when he drank his hemlock? His friend said, shall we live again?
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Socrates says, I hope so, but no man can know. Marganita Lasky, secular humanist.
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She's on her deathbed. 1988. Do you have any regrets,
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Mrs. Lasky? What I envy most about you Christians is forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me.
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And look at the promise in Ephesians 5. Wake up from the dead, awake you sleeper, and Christ will shine on you.
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To expose your sins? No. To enlighten you. I once was blind and now
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I see. Jesus says in John 8, I'm the light of the world. Romans 10, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.
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What a great Savior to do that. God demonstrates His own love towards us that while we were yet sinners,
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Christ died for us. Why do we celebrate Resurrection Sunday?
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Because it's true. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, I thank
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You for these words found in the Gospels. For the Christians here today, oh, it's so comforting to know those who have died in Christ Jesus are more alive than they've ever been.
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Thank You that we don't have to be pitied. Everybody else running around doing their own thing and we're here today singing songs and listening about a dead
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Savior. But that's not true. We're not to be pitied. We're to be envied.
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That You and Your sovereign grace would decide to make us born again, cause us to be born again, let us have eyes to see.
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It's amazing. Thank You. And we haven't just sinned one time. We've sinned so many times and yet Jesus' grace is greater than all our sin.
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That's how great Calvary was. Not dying for His own sin, but for our sins.
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I pray for the unbelievers here today. I pray that You would help them not to trust in themselves. I pray that You'd help them to trust in Your Word.
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And Father, I'm very thankful that if You can take a Christian persecutor like Paul and awaken him on the
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Damascus Road, wake up Paul, You can do it to every person here at Your good pleasure and Your free will to all those who aren't believing.