Joy And The Resurrection - [Luke 24]

Well, I love Resurrection Sundays This one and the other 51 of them.

I'm sure with you as we celebrate the Lord's resurrection every Sunday But particularly this Sunday, I'm sure if you boil down Religions into two religions take every religion in the world and boil them down.

You probably find the religion of naturalism and the religion of Supernaturalism you probably put everything into those two categories.

I mean you could probably say divine accomplice Men is one category and human achievement is another. I also want you to think that Christianity is a religion of supernatural ism supernatural things happen

They don't happen very often And so we're going to look at a passage today in the Bible that helps us prepare for the most

Supernatural event in all the world and that is the Lord Jesus after he bore the sins of all those who would believe rose himself from the dead and And again since it's not something that's so normal for all of us

Supernatural things the writer that we're going to look at today has kind of greased the skids a little bit for us

Has set it up so we would say to ourselves. This is obvious. We see so many things happening.

The resurrection is Obvious, so I'd like you to take your Bibles today and turn to Matthew the gospel of Jesus according to Matthew chapter 27 and our outline is super simple.

We're going to look at five Events surrounding the death of Jesus that are all supernatural five supernatural occurrences that help you that pave the way for you to easily understand the resurrection

Had to be so we'll see the final resurrection as the supernatural event of all time but there are going to be five other supernatural things around the

The death of Christ that you'll say that is amazing and so we're going to look at Matthew chapter 27 as the culmination of everything the event of all events with chapter 28

My desire for you today. My prayer for you today is that you would say I have a wonderful Savior He's not just the

Savior, but he's my Savior. He's not just the Lord But he's my Lord that you would say with Martin Luther Learn to sing to Jesus and say

Lord Jesus. You are my righteousness I am your sin you have taken upon yourself.

What is mine and given me? What is yours you have become what you were not so that I might become what

I was Not and so if you're a Christian I want to strengthen your faith as we learn about the

Lord Jesus if you're not a Christian I want you to see who Jesus is what he's done and that you might respond with saving faith and Belief before we get into these five supernatural signs that lead to the final supernatural sign the resurrection

I want to just walk us through Matthew 27 I won't read every verse but many of the verses so you can get the context

Because really the death and the resurrection of Jesus go together Jesus is is dying for sinners, and he's vindicated

By the resurrection we see that the it is finished of Jesus is

Given the SS Lewis Johnson would say the amen of the Father. They're tied together You have one and then you have the other and so if you turn to Matthew 27

In this gospel that records Jesus as King remember every gospel has a different slant this one

Jesus as King Oh, you see flashes of his priesthood you see occurrences of his

Prophetic office, but this is Jesus the King from anywhere from his genealogy to treachery

With Herod trying to take over Jesus the King to the credentials of the king in chapters 8 and 9 etc

This is about Jesus the King and in chapter 27 it starts off With Jesus being delivered to Pilate remember they wanted to put him to death chapter 27 verse 1 so they delivered him to Pilate the governor

Right after that Judas hangs himself In verse 11 now

Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him. Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said you have said so but when he was accused by the chief priest and the elders he gave no answer

Then Pilate said to him. Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave no him no answer not even a single charge so that the governor was greatly

Amazed and then of course you know the next section you have a man named Barabbas And there's a custom around that time of year that the governor

Pilate would release someone Who do you want me to release and I think Pilate first thought it's not going to be

Barabbas this Vigilante this murderer this bad guy and by the way Barabbas bar

Abba means son of the father Which son of the father do you want me to give freely?

Barabbas or Jesus and of course we know what happened Verse 21 of the same chapter the governor said to them again

Which of the two do you want me to release to you and they said Barabbas? Pilate said to them then what shall

I do with Jesus who is called Christ they all said Let him be crucified

Why what evil has is done, but they shouted all the more let him be crucified And so Pilate tries to wash his hands, and it says in verse 26

He's delivered. That is Jesus to be Crucified they scourge him and they deliver him over to be crucified and of course on the way the mockings and the beatings and the pummelings and the spitting and the striking and The stripping of the clothes and at the end of verse 31 they led him away to crucify him

I Mean instead of hail Emperor Caesar Here we have phony

Messiah. What do you get when you cross a phony with the king this? potential

Lord Jesus and Mark says they just kept beating him over and over and over they kept kneeling down before him playing this game to them

Crucify this man. Here's a warning for all those who don't obey Rome and that's what they did they're going to crucify him verse 35 and when they had crucified him

They divided his garments among them by casting lots. They sat down and kept watch over him there

Nothing about medial nerves nothing about the pain of the nails nothing about the side Getting pierced nothing about anything here physically.

It's like with one commentator said incredible restraint, and they just crucified him They take his clothing

Probably all the clothing and then they put the rap sheet over his head Probably a piece of wood with chalk they write on that piece of wood.

This is Jesus king of the Jews Behold your king and remember the leaders didn't like that They didn't believe that and so the

Jewish leaders were saying things like why don't you put on there? He said he was king of the Jews and remember Pilate said what

I've written. I've written Versus 38 and following there are two crucified with Jesus They were mocking hey verse 40 come down from the cross if you're the

Son of God Chief priests scribes elders they mocked him to saying the exact same thing.

He saved others. He can't save himself He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe him and Isn't that the cry of all these folks save yourself save yourself save yourself

But of course we know and are we not thankful for the Lord Jesus came to give himself

He saved others. He can't save himself. That's kind of an interesting thought even right there Could he have saved himself did he have the power to do it the authority to do it obviously?

But he was sent by the father to die to die for all those who would ever believe

Verse 43 he trust in God let God deliver him now we come to the first supernatural sign

Five supernatural signs that will pave the way for you to say oh, it's obvious so much supernatural stuff is going on the resurrection

Is the exclamation point I expect it you expect something at the end of a sentence a period or an explanation?

Here's the exclamation. I almost said explanation, but that would work, too the explanation exclamation

We're gonna look at five of them, then we'll see the resurrection the first supernatural sign Designed for you to say wow this is amazing.

God is involved and God does supernatural things. He injects himself into nature is Darkness of judgment the darkness of judgment found in verse 45

Matthew 27 verse 45 now from the sixth hour you started counting the hours at 6 a .m..

So 6 a .m. Plus 6 hours the 6 hours is noon There was darkness all over the land until the 9th hour 6 a .m..

Plus 9 hours is 3 p .m. There's darkness now Jesus is on the cross and all of a sudden at noon it becomes dark

Now normally it doesn't become dark and some people though would say there are explanations for this

There's a Sirocco There's a dust storm Seems to me that in the next week or two.

There's gonna be a lot of people Watching the what the Eclipse you know I went to Home Depot.

Excuse me. Sorry my wife works at Lowe's I went to Home Cheapo Which I went to Lowe's and you know they have the the

Eclipse glasses there But it's a trick because they have the paper ones for $2, and they have the good ones for 20

I'm like what am I gonna do save $18 and be blinded? I'm forced to buy the expensive ones

You say this is just a natural occurrence. You know at noon just once in a while it becomes dark Is that's what is that what is happening here when pretty soon?

We're gonna realize that when Jesus breathes his last Perfect timing it becomes light again

Is that what's happening here verse 46 and about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying

Eli Eli llama sabachthani that is my god my god. Why have you forsaken me? Think about darkness in the

Bible one of the best ways to interpret the Bible is to know the Bible and all of a sudden You should be thinking.

Oh regularly and often darkness is judgment Remember back in Exodus with the plagues the darkness and the judgment.

How about Joel? 231 Regarding judgment and darkness the

Sun will be turned into darkness the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the

Lord darkness and judgment Amos 5 it's the same thing for what purpose will the day of the

Lord be to you it will be darkness and no light Amos 8 the same thing darkness and judgment

I will make the Sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in the broad Daylight declares the

Lord Regularly darkness is judgment now you what you should be saying is if God is judging now who is he judging and The answer is he's judging the

Lord Jesus not because Jesus was the sinner He was perfect obviously, but he's bearing our sins the darkness

Showed God was judging our sin on the Lord Jesus Christ He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him

It was the sentence of Pilate crucify him, but it was also the sentence of the Father's divine plan

The judgment is happening now at the cross God is publicly displaying

Jesus as a propitiation in his blood Roman chapter 3 Why have you forsaken me my

God my God why have you forsaken me and one of the reasons why he says that is so we Might ask the question.

Well, I'm glad that Jesus was forsaken because now I might not be forsaken

This is penalty substitution. This is Jesus taking away the sin of the world This is he himself bearing our sins first Peter 2.

This is Jesus the just for the unjust dying first Peter chapter 3

This is Galatians 3 have become a curse for us Every one of your sins dear

Christian was paid for by Jesus on the cross and God was judging that sin then

With darkness and there's no double jeopardy. You don't pay for that sin ever again. It's been paid in full

Down in verse 50 Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirits as his spirit

Six hours on the cross and the three hours of the darkness and Jesus yields up his

Spirit now in the epistles.

It says Jesus died, but you know what in the Gospels that never said Jesus died Like somehow it happened to him like oh it he died in the evangelists

Matthew Mark Luke and John Making sure that you never think Jesus was a prisoner of circumstances

That somehow death was inflicted upon him and he couldn't stop it or he didn't allow it. He didn't permit it.

He didn't ordain it The check says he yielded up his spirit

He's the one that had control John chapter 10. I have the authority to lay it down I have the authority to take it up again.

This is all the plan of God Did Jesus die? Yes, but the point of the passage is Jesus is in control of his death

Not the centurions not the scribes not the Pharisees not Herodian I mean not her

Herod at three o 'clock guess what was happening around town

At three o 'clock on that very day was the day you started slaying the Passover lambs for Passover What a coincidence what luck?

What serendipitous fortune? Trying to think of other words that would go along with that It's the providence of God the precise time

The supernatural darkness at noon, it wasn't a Sirocco. It wasn't an eclipse.

It was the judgment of God Jesus paying for our sins in full Do you see it?

Well, not only that Number two the second supernatural sign because there's a whole flurry of them

Five before we get to the resurrection, which is one as well We could say six But I want you to see that they're just one after another after another and then it it makes sense for the resurrection

Number two, the curtain is torn in two verse 51. The curtain is torn in two

Now if you know anything about Temple worship back in those days the Jewish temple and maybe you can look at the the back of your

Bible or the front They probably have pictures of different temples or tabernacles Generally, you have a holy place and then you have the holy of holies and in that holy of holies you would have the

Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat of the cherubim and inside that that that box that Ark of the

Covenant you would have things like manna and Aaron's rod and the Ten Commandments and No one was allowed to go into that room except the high priest once a year and you hope after all the sacrifices

And prayer and everything else that you The high priest would make it out alive because you wouldn't want to die in there and you certainly could

No one goes in no one comes out except once a year and the curtain prevented you from going in verse 51 and behold behold

Look the curtain that 60 foot tall curtain that 30 35 foot wide curtain that really wide thick curtain

With all the twisted plates of everything it was torn into Not just a little rip, but it was torn into from top to bottom

Obviously you're supposed to make the connection if it was torn and it was 60 feet tall There's nobody up there climbing up the ladder and then trying to cut this really thick thing

No, no, it's torn from top to bottom and you should be saying God tore that temple. Why did the curtain in the temple?

Why? Because now there's access to the Father Because Jesus has paid for sins the death has

Happened and right at the exact same time the temple curtain is torn and that means you can go in the presence of God is

Available for all not just the high priest not just for priests not just for men

Not just for women, but for Gentiles to Open presence for everyone the curtain temple torn from top to bottom

Able to walk in to the Holy of Holies now the the Lord Jesus Christ has made us have access

To the Father listen to Hebrews 10 described this Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by new and living way

Which he has consecrated for us through the veil That is to say his flesh

Having a high priest over the house of God now Let us draw near with the true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts

Sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water I'm so glad I get to be a pastor now because if I was a leader back in the time of the

Jews and I Was a priest basically I would be a butcher Right and you bring me the animal and we slayed the animal and I'd range the pieces that said or over and over and over Killing killing killing killing killing because we keep sinning so we have to keep killing

And I'd also hate it if I was the high priest and it was my job to go in to the

Holy of Holies Now it doesn't say it in the Bible But church history says sometimes they would tie a rope around the guy's leg and put little bells on his leg so that if Somehow the bells stopped tinkling

That they would then know the guy was dead and they would pull him out because you can't go in and get the guy because then You're dead, too

If I had to do that, how afraid might I be I Would certainly delegate that to Scott Brown to go in Then after he was dead,

I'd send for deep then he would die then Steve would die then I'd die deacons. You're next alphabetical order

The privilege of access to God anytime you want to pray anytime you want to say Lord help anytime you want to praise him anytime

You want to say I need help and mercy from the throne of grace access To the

Holy of Holies You don't have to go to a priest you don't have to go to high priest. This is divine accomplishment from top to bottom

SOS Johnson said I want you to know that if there was a Jewish believer sitting in the audience Who didn't know anything about this and came to the understanding of what it meant?

That they would have to stand off outside and see Aaron go in year after year No one ever saw the inside of the holiest of all

They would jump three feet out of their chairs and shout a lot of hallelujahs

This doesn't mean the temple is no longer needed. Although that's true. This is the opening of the way into God's presence

Torn into from top to bottom supernatural

Sacrificial system is over Jesus paid it all Hebrews 9 how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the

Living God clean Holy Saint able to come near and draw near with a sincere heart and full

Assurance you think well, that's not that big a deal Well when we think that way it's because we think our sin isn't that big a deal

God is not really that holy. He's this holy We're not really this sinful. We're this sinful and the gap to be bridged can be done with Being good

Religiosity civil things etc But if God is thrice holy and he is and we're sinful and even somebody like the

Abraham said I'm but dust and ashes in God's Presence Job in God's presence. I abhor myself

Isaiah in God's presence. He's on his face Daniel in God's presence.

There's no strength in me We're so sinful we need a mediator and a savior and Jesus pays for those sins and now ripped curtain access thirdly

Not just the darkness not just the curtain torn, but the third supernatural sign paving the way for you to think

Something's going on here pay attention is the earthquake in Versailles Verse 51 and behold after the temple was caught the the curtain torn the earth shook and the rocks were split

So Jesus dies he yields up his spirit, and we have the temple curtain torn and also now when he dies

There's an earthquake Now I don't know if I've felt the earthquake here in the last 27 years

But I felt them in California before the big one. I want to say it was 93 ish or something maybe 94

Haley was little and we lived in North Hollywood and it was I think 430 in the morning and all of a

Sudden there was this jar, and then it started going like this back and forth, and I I don't know what I'm doing I'm looking around.

I'm just I have no idea because it was so weird and so Unusual and so I then said to myself

Where's Kim and then I said to myself I better go get Haley this little infant and then neither of them to be found

And I finally go outside, and there's Kim and Haley standing in the middle of the street She's already rescued her and she's already taken care of her, and I'm wandering around the kitchen

Wondering where my coffee is You say earthquakes we have earthquakes.

I mean Palestine. It's built on a on a ledge on a rift Not that big a deal the timing seems pretty interesting to me and if you know your

Bible Like knowing darkness is regularly judgment. You will also know earthquakes are regularly judgment of God that their judgment

Their symbols of God's judgment and their symbols of God's presence while you can go into the presence of God now

Because of the mediator of the Lord Jesus Here we have the presence of God the earth is shaking at the precise moment when

Jesus dies The earth quakes Remember on top of Sinai shaking

God's they're giving his law here. There's Shaking Jeremiah 10, but the

Lord is a true. God. He's the living God and the everlasting King at his wrath the earth quakes

And nations cannot endure his indignation Psalm 114 the mountains skipped like rams

Tremble Oh earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob Nahum won the mountains quake before him who can stand before his indignation supernatural timing supernatural earthquake supernatural presence of God supernaturally

God is Angry of course it's the plan, but these people have put him to death

But now we come to something that maybe many of you have never thought about in your life And if it wasn't in the

Bible you wouldn't believe it the fourth supernatural sign the graves were open

The graves were open. There's the darkness of judgment Jesus is paying for our sins He's the lamb the curse is on a him even though.

He's sinless the curtain torn in two Access to God because of the

Lord Jesus the earthquake and now the graves open This is wild this is maybe weird in in the real sense the literal sense of the word verse 52 and 3 the tombs also were opened and many bodies of the

Saints who had fallen asleep were raised and Coming out of the tombs after his resurrection

They went into the holy city and appeared to many What in the world

We have the earthquake We have the tombs open now remember when we think of burials now we regularly think of Somebody underneath the ground six foot under you would typically have a tomb and it would be like a cave and if someone died you'd

Put that person in the cave And you put aloes and everything and dress the body and then when everything decayed all the flesh to clay decayed

You'd pick up the bones and put them in a little bone box Just about a little bigger than the femur the largest bone in the body, and then you would set it up on a little shelf

And of course remember like with the Lord Jesus There's the big stone that's in front of that and you want to make sure jackals can't get in or other people and so don't be thinking underground be thinking tombs caves and The bodies of the

Saints who had fallen asleep that means dead Were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.

They went to the holy city and appeared to many Now some of you know I in my study here

I have a skull And it's a ceramic human skull And I did that because of some of the Puritans used to say to themselves

I have a skull on my desk because it reminds me that one day I'll die so preach Christ and one day everybody

I preach to will die so preach Christ It was all kind of fun and interesting for a while until you get cancer and other things and it wasn't quite as funny

But not meant to be funny. I remember one time a little Elliot Smith came in and And he kind of just you know it was a little enough

He just waddled in during the women's Bible study, and he goes pat the death of zombie I'm like what kind of show does

Andrew and Anita let you watch? It's a zombie Matter of fact what

TV shows do you watch young man, but these aren't like dead people walking.

These are Saints believers in the Messiah to come Believers in Yahweh the great

God and they're walking around But they don't start walking around until the

Sabbath is over notice a text they came out of the tombs Stayed there. Don't travel on the

Sabbath is my guess and After the resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many

They're raised on the Lord's death, but they don't go into the city to talk to people until Sunday And that's not a whole lot of time to wait because remember in the

Jewish way of accounting Jesus died on Friday was raised on Sunday And we say a third day he rose from the dead because if you're a

Jew you count any part of one day as a day Whether it's one second one minute or twenty

Three and a half hours, then we have all day Saturday 24 total hours And then you could say three days even if Jesus rose on 1201 a .m..

So we're looking at something Not really 48 hours even there, and so they're waiting now.

I wonder who these Saints were do you think it? Maybe was Moses? David Noah The question is could you even?

Recognize them if you were in Israel if you were in Jerusalem and all of a sudden Moses started walking around Most likely it's people that just had died recently

Think about it Jesus is the Messiah. He's the true Messiah, and we believe in him other people say no, that's not true

We don't believe in him. We believe in someone else. He doesn't have the right pedigree doesn't right do the right things

He does things by Satan And they're saying those things your family members. They're not saved You're saving you're trying to evangelize them and you something happens to you and you die

Jesus dies you wait outside the tomb Resurrection Sunday happens and now you go back

They just buried you by the way a week ago a month ago three weeks ago You go back and say by the way

Jesus is alive He's been raised from the dead He's the true and now if I was

Moses or Elijah or Noah or David or Jeremiah or Isaiah or any of these other ones? they're not going to know who they are, but They must know who they are if I'm reading the text rightly that seems to be the best option

They're not ghosts. They're not apparitions. They're not specters The text is very very clear

They were raised the bodies. Do you see what it says in verse 52 the bodies of the Saints? That's a believer who had fallen asleep.

That's a sweet way to say somebody died. It's only used of believers They fall asleep.

It looks like they're sleeping. They'll wake up again one day in the resurrection They came out of the tomb and they appeared to many that's all it says

Whether they use their mouth or whether they didn't they testify that Jesus was alive

That'd be pretty interesting to me. You say well.

What kind of bodies did they have I don't think they had Jesus's glorified body yet Because Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection, but they had their body back like Lazarus And poor

Lazarus he had to die twice, right? What happened to these people well? They could have got translated a lot by like Elijah Maybe that's the case, but I think they just had to die again

You say well, it's appointed for man wants to die in the judgment. Well. That's true unless God makes an exception

Elijah didn't die He was assumed who else didn't die in the Bible Enoch does that make

Hebrews 9 not true of course not some have to die twice By the way

They missed out an incredible opportunity because they could have written books like heaven is for real and other stuff and made a killing on This a lot of shackles to be made

But this is a supernatural event Matthew doesn't tell us why there's a delay he doesn't give us any insight, but this is a super natural event

The death of Jesus causes these people's bodies to be raised God does things for a purpose and that purpose was to go back into the city and Certainly tell the good news of the

Lord Jesus Christ. He is risen just as he said he is risen He's risen indeed and by the way first Corinthians 15 when

Jesus is raised from the dead It guarantees our resurrection from the dead if Jesus isn't raised

We're not raised and by the way if we're raised Jesus can also be raised Wouldn't that have been amazing?

Wow, that's fascinating I'm sure they just preached away One day they died.

I love it when Jesus said I'm the resurrection life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies

John chapter 14 because I live you will also live also Dead men walking because of the power of the death of Christ and the goodness of God as a testimony

You might say to yourself well, who is the guy who is the woman who was the young person that led you to the

Lord? And preached the gospel to you. Oh It was my dad. He died.

He came back and then he preached the gospel to me. I got saved Wow This is not natural

This is supernatural How many people for the first time ever have heard that?

Come on, don't be shy. Okay. Thank you for being honest the rest of you. I don't believe fifth supernatural sign

Then the resurrection is easy because we just see God working God's working. He's working. He's working.

There's earthquakes. There's darkness There's there's curtains There's dead bodies getting up This one maybe is a little more subtle, but I think it's supernatural nonetheless verse 54 it's the opening of a sinner's heart as Great as some other supernatural events are on the human side

This is right up there when the centurion Gentile soldier is used to seeing people die

By the way when you were crucified what you'd usually do is you would spit out blasphemies against the soldiers and everybody else that walked by and most of time the centurion said

Enough of that and they cut your tongue out. I wonder the centurion is watching Jesus They crucified

Jesus and I wonder if he noticed anything different about Jesus When the centurion and those who are with him witnesses two or three witnesses

Keeping watch over Jesus Saw the earthquake that is its effects and what took place.

I Don't know What else they saw their darkness

Obviously they were filled with awe and said truly this was the Son of God the veils ripped open

Even Gentiles can go in even soldiers can come in yes They can how many people this guy see die on the cross a lot how many people did he see die the way?

Jesus did Saying to his mother Jesus Behold your son and to John behold your mother to say on the cross

To the thief today, you'll be with me in paradise to hear him say to his father father into your hands

I commit my spirit it is finished. I Thirst I don't think that centurion and those other men saw one person like that ever

And so he responds truly this was a son of God and of course the writer Matthew He's wanting you to say the same thing.

Yes, that's true. I see it all but the eyes of faith The poem goes who was the guilty who brought this upon thee alas my trees and Jesus hath undone thee

Twas I Lord Jesus it was I denied thee I Crucified thee and now we have the centurion who says

I'm the one in charge of your Crucifixion with the nails and the hammer, but I'm the one in charge of your crucifixion because it was my sin

That held you there This is supernatural salvation Every time somebody gets saved.

It's the greatest miracle on earth That God would open up a heart like Lydia's in Acts 16 that God would regenerate a man like Nicodemus That he would save one of us and By the way, you know this to be true because every time you pray for one of your loved ones

Don't you say God do a mighty work in their heart that only you could do and open up their heart here's a supernatural sign a

Centurion that killed Jesus was in charge of killing Jesus comes to faith

Comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in The gospel of Matthew God the

Father has said this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well -pleased Demons have said this is surely the Holy One of God Jesus himself called himself the

Messiah and now we have the centurion face -to -face with Jesus Supernatural one two three four five

I'm not going to be shocked if something else happens in a supernatural way and therefore we see

Verse 57 and following the burial of Jesus that means he's really dead.

It's important to remember the burial of Jesus we see the guard at the tomb in verses 62 and following and Then with anticipation with of course that should happen with God involved

Primed and ready we are as readers for another supernatural thing Matthew chapter 28

Now after the Sabbath Toward the dawn of the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary went to see the tomb the disciples are all cowards at this point and Behold there was a great earthquake

For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came back and rolled the stone and sat on it His appearance was like lightning his clothing white as snow and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men

But the angel said to the women do not be afraid for I know that you see Jesus who was crucified

He is not here for he is risen as He said come see the place where he lay

Then go quickly tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead and behold. He's going before you to Galilee You will see him there see

I've told you So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell the disciples and behold

Jesus Met them and said greetings they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him and Jesus said don't be afraid go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see

Isn't that wonderful? Can't you just see it in your mind's eye?

He's been raised from the dead truly dead truly buried truly raised

That's the most supernatural thing in the Bible Pilot thought water could cleanse his hands

Dear visitor dear BBC member who might not be a Christian if you're not a

Christian Can't you see that it's not water that cleanses a hand a heart a soul

It's the Lord Jesus who does and you don't have to be ignorant any longer who can wash away your sin we sing a song there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and Sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their what guilty stain

It doesn't take long for us to go back in our mind and in our history to think about some of those guilty stains we've had and what we've done and how if it could only be washed by the blood of the

Lamb and the answer is You can't simply by faith.

I know everything in you wants to say What can I do and how much money do I have to give and how far do

I have to go to Mecca? The answer is the veils been rent from top to bottom You don't have to do anything except take

God at his word and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved Christ has died for sinners like you and the message is believe.

He's been raised to prove his his word his works Colossians says in whom

Jesus we have redemption the forgiveness of sins I Regularly say from this pulpit wouldn't you like to have your sins forgiven?

I can't stand it for one day if I sin against Kim and there's a break in our relationship and something's wrong and I just so desperately want to make up and so desperately want to go and ask for forgiveness and when

I ask for forgiveness and She says of course I forgive you. I love you the feeling the communion the unity

That's a person. I love her, but she's still a sinful person How about sin against God to have that fellowship restored the the

Edenic communion? reestablished It's because of the

Lord Jesus because he breaks the power of cancelled sin and he sets the prisoner free

Would you like to be free would you like to be forgiven? The Bible says well, you don't have to pay anything come without price

You come to the Lord Jesus you say I come as a sinful person That's the only way to come I come with sins that I don't know if they'd ever be forgiven

That's the way you come. I come that if anybody else knows about the sins. They'll never talk to him on my life That's why the

Lord says come because he already knows it all anyway And for us as Christians. It's good to just look back and say this was planned

This had to be look at who God is no wonder. This is the most important thing in all the

Bible I deliver to you as a first importance Jesus life death burial resurrection and appearance

There's nothing more important than that and of course if it's that important Then you would see the father involved in the spirit involved in a supernatural.

I love resurrection Sundays I love all 52 of them because we need to be reminded again one more time about how great the

Lord is and Then after you see that I hope you say dear Christian. I'm thankful Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for dying for me thank you for not tossing me out like a piece of trash even though that's what my life was and Father I'd like to live now a life commensurate with my calling and I'd like to walk in a manner worthy and like a

Holy obedient man or woman I want to walk to say Happy resurrection

Sunday. Let's pray. Thank you father for your word seal it to the hearts of these dear people in Jesus name