Buried Alive? - [Mark 15-16]

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Well, I don't know if you've ever had to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not too enjoyable.
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I'd much rather be the bearer of good news. I met someone in the last week or two and they've gone through a very tough time and lost their spouse after many decades and I said to this person,
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I have some good news for you. I met with a man in the last week and he's had a stroke recently.
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We sat down over a cup of coffee and I said to him, I have some very good news for you.
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And so today we're going to talk about good news. What is that good news? What did I tell the person over coffee and what did
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I tell the other lady? If you take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, there's a wonderful summary of the good news that we're going to celebrate today and that is since Jesus Christ died and was buried and was raised from the dead, you don't have to pay for your sins and you can go to heaven.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now, this is interesting because if I were to ask you, what is the good news?
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There's a bit of information in here that sometimes we overlook and we're going to stress this this morning so we don't overlook it again to make sure we have all of the good news.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3, Paul writes and says, for I delivered to you as of first importance.
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There are many things in the Bible that are important. In fact, all things are important, but some things are more important.
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This is the most important. What I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
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Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the
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Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3 and 4. He died and was buried and was raised from the dead.
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How can the burial be good news? We often talk about the death of Christ and how
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He died a sacrificial death. Remember, John the Baptist called Him the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, a sacrifice for sin.
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We understand that Resurrection Sunday is a wonderful day to celebrate what we really should celebrate every
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Sunday. Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. But why burial? Why does
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Paul include burial in this good news? I don't know if you're aware of this, but some people attack the burial of Jesus.
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Some people say, you know what, He really didn't die. He was just kind of knocked out.
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He was unconscious and called this the swoon theory. John Dominic Crossan said that Jesus' corpse was not properly entombed.
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He was thrown into a shallow grave that was probably dug quickly, and some dogs came along and ate his corpse.
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John Wilbur Chapman has a hymn, an Easter hymn called One Day, and he talks about the burial of Christ.
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Buried He carried my sins far away. What's with the burial of Jesus?
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Is the burial of Jesus important? And so today we're going to make sure we understand that that helps us see the good news as really good news, the burial of Jesus.
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There's another song that I think of during Easter time. You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
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I see why Eric made you say He is risen indeed two times. You ask me how
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I know He lives? He lives within my heart. Now, I know this is scary to consider, especially with maybe
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Charlie being here and Elaine, but if I were to write a hymn for this sermon on the burial of Jesus, it would go something like this.
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I'll just give you the lyrics. I won't sing. You ask me how I know He died?
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Because He was buried in the tomb. Let's take our Bibles and go to the
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Gospel of Mark, and I want you to see the tie -in where we know His death was certain because He was buried.
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If you'd like to make sure the resurrection is impressive in your mind, He really died and He was really buried because you only bury dead people.
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My kids might say ten years ago, duh. And then He was raised from the dead.
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But the Scriptures regularly... Did you know every Gospel talks about the burial of Jesus? Because it's important because He actually had to die.
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The wages of sin is death. And He didn't sin, but He's dying on our behalf in place of sinners.
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He had to die, He had to be buried, and He had to be raised from the dead. And so, I think you'll see that the resurrection is more impressive when you realize
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He really was buried, He really died. The Heidelberg Catechism says, Why was
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He buried? Answer, His burial testified that He had really died.
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The Apostles' Creed, Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried.
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And so today we're going to make sure we understand that Jesus died, and as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
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He was buried, and that He was raised from the dead. Now, let's just catch up in Mark.
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Let's go to chapter 8 quickly. Jesus had predicted His death earlier in Mark. Mark chapter 8, it says in verse 31, sometimes maybe people think
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Jesus was caught off guard, and He got caught up in a Messiah complex, and it went too far, and He got killed.
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It wasn't planned. No, Jesus had always taught this,
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Mark 8 .31. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man, Jesus, must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days, rise again.
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The next chapter says essentially the same thing, Mark 9 .31. For He was teaching
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His disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered in the hands of men. They will kill
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Him, and when He is killed after three days, He will rise. And then
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Mark 10, verse 33 and 34. See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the
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Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver
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Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and flog
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Him, and kill Him. And after three days, He will rise.
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Now, let's move to Mark chapter 15. And what we're going to do is we're going to work through Mark chapter 15.
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If you're a visitor, welcome to Bethlehem Bible Church. You won't think this is any strange feat if I go through the entire chapter.
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If you're a member of Bethlehem Bible Church, pray for me. What we're going to do is we're going to walk through the passage, because we see in Mark chapter 15,
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Jesus as the Messiah who dies on behalf of sinners, and who was, in fact, buried.
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It is important for us to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And Mark, this wonderful gospel, this fast -paced gospel, shows us this very thing.
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And I think if you're a Christian today, you'll say, Yes, that Jesus would die for me, and the
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Father would accept that sacrifice. Jesus is alive. I don't have to pay for my sins.
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My hope of heaven is sure. I know I have eternal life. I know I have the Scriptures. I know
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I have the Spirit of God. I know I have a high king in heaven. His name is Jesus.
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I have a mediator. I have someone who is there for me. I have eternal life.
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And if you're not a Christian, here's what I want. I want you to realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross on behalf of sinners like you.
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He really died because we know that. He was buried. And then how could a dead man be raised from the dead?
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How could there be a resurrection? Jesus was alive and that you would place your faith in him. Mark chapter 15 tells us the story.
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And when I say story, I don't mean fictional story. It gives us the drama. And this account, it just draws you in.
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You can feel like someone is dragging you into the story because it's gripping. Here Jesus called the king many times in this chapter, six times.
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And it says in Mark chapter 15 verse 1, And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and whole council.
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They bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him,
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Are you the king of the Jews? He answered him, You have said so.
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And the chief priest accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, Have you no answer to make?
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See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed.
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Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called
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Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.
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And he answered them saying, Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he had perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had delivered him up.
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But the chief priest stirred at the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. Pilate again said to them,
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Then what shall I do with the man you call king of the Jews? They cried out again,
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Crucify him. And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more,
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Crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them
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Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace that is the governor's headquarters.
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And they called together the whole battalion. And now is the fiendish game playing of these
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Roman soldiers. Verse 17, And they clothed him with a purple cloak.
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Royalty wears purple. Let's give him purple. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
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You don't get a royal crown king. You get a dunce cap basically. That was the idea.
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This is kind of a circus oddity they've made of Jesus. Kind of a three -eyed man.
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This is the Messiah. When you get someone who's a phony, and you cross him with a king, what's the outcome?
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This particular man right here. He's fake royalty. So much so, what does it say in verse 18?
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And they began to salute him. Laughing, jesting, mocking Jesus. Instead of hail
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Emperor Caesar, hail Caesar, hail King of the
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Jews. And by the way, it's over and over and over.
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It's an imperfect tense. Hail King of the Jews. Hail King of the Jews. This is a big farce.
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You're no king. Verse 19, And they were striking his head.
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This is again with imperfect tense. Over and over. They just kept pummeling him. They just kept beating him with a reed.
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And they just kept on spitting on him. Now, we wouldn't like to be spat on, but back in those days, and even in the culture in the
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Middle East now, you don't spit on people. And they just kept spitting on him. They just kept hitting him.
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And to make matters worse, they just kept kneeling down over and over and over in homage to him.
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Okay, it's your turn. Okay, it's your turn. Beat, spit, kneel, repeat. And I would imagine as they would strike his head with the reed, the crown of thorns would jam into his head even more severely.
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How insensitive, how cruel of the soldiers. But you know, this game gets kind of boring after a while.
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And when they had mocked him, verse 20, they stripped him of the purple cloak, put his own clothes on him, and they led him out to crucify him.
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Tired of this old boring game? Now let's go crucify him. Let's warn everyone, if you mess with Rome, this is what happened to you.
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And now we look at the crucifixion of Jesus. And they compelled a pastor by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry the cross.
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It's just like jury duty. You get requisition. You now will attend. You now are going to be deposed.
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You will carry this cross beam, maybe up to a hundred pounds. So he carries it.
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And it says in verse 22, they brought him to the place called Golgotha. It's an
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Aramaic word, close word for skull, which means place of the skull. We would call it
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Calvary in Latin. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, verse 23.
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But he did not take it. This was kind of a sedative. This was kind of a medicine, so that people would actually be allowed to suffer longer.
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They would suffer longer. They wouldn't writhe around as much. And Jesus refuses that, of course.
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He's not going to drink anything like that. And then, verse 24,
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I find this so fascinating. Hardly any talk about the physical agonies of crucifixion.
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Pressure on the medial nerves, not discussed. Full weight on the nails, not discussed. Arms fatigued, not discussed.
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Cramps sweeping over the muscles, not discussed. Can't hardly breathe, not discussed.
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It's just veiled. And they crucified him. And divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide which each should take.
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And it was the third hour when they crucified him, 9 a .m., and the inscription of the charge against him read,
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The King of the Jews. What's his rap sheet? He's the King of the Jews.
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It's probably a piece of wood. They get some kind of white chalk, and they put this up here. This is the inscription.
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If you put all the inscriptions together, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Of course, the
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Jews didn't like that. They wanted to have included, he said that he was the
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King of the Jews, but Pilate said, I've written what I've written. Verse 27, And with them they crucified two robbers.
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How fitting, as Jesus is coming to seek and save those who are lost. One on his right, one on his left.
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He lives with sinners, he dines with sinners, he dies with sinners, he dies for sinners. And those who pass by derided him.
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Wagging their heads, saying, Ha ha, you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.
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Yeah, right. They were hurling insults. Just picture, I know it's hard for this particular congregation to picture spring training in the
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Boston Red Sox. But just imagine a pitcher on the mound, hurling 95 mile an hour pitches, right down the strike zone.
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That's the language, that's the intensity. They're hurling pitches of derision.
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Opening their mouth, mocking. Matthew says those who were passing by were hurling abuse at him.
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Oh yeah, just join in the fun. Spurgeon described it this way, Like hungry cannibals, they opened their blasphemous mouths as if they were about to swallow the man whom they abhorred.
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They could not vomit forth their anger fast enough through their mouths. Now just step back for a second.
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This is Jesus who created the world. This is Jesus who upholds the world.
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This is Jesus who's created them and you and everyone else. This is the Messiah.
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He's never sinned. He's never spoken an ill word. He's never envied. He's never had covetousness.
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He's never lied. He has always told the truth. He's always loved the Father. He's always loved his neighbor.
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And they say, save yourself. Come down from the cross.
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So also the chief priest and the scribe mocked him to one another. He saved others. He can't save himself.
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Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.
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Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
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Now it's true physically that he was held to the cross by the nails. That's true. But isn't it even more theologically true that he's held to the cross by the love of the
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Father and his own love for the Father and his love, Jesus' love for his people?
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I mean, it's both true and false. He can't save himself. It's true in the sense that this is the
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Father's will. This is what he sent for. This is why Jesus cloaked himself with humanity when he was born a virgin, so he could be the representative to die on behalf of sinners.
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It's true he can't save himself because he knows his hour has now arrived and he has to die for other sinners.
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But it's false in the sense that he doesn't have enough power because he's got plenty of power. And Warren Wearsby is right when he said,
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The world's motto is, Save yourself. And Jesus' motto is,
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Give yourself. For God so loved the world what he gave.
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Jesus on the cross is loving the Father. Jesus on the cross is loving his neighbor.
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On the cross, the Father couldn't love the Son more because the Son has humbled himself and he's been obedient even to the point of death on the cross.
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And Jesus is going to be the sin bearer, verse 33. And when the sixth hour had come, noon, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
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So from noon till three, it's completely dark. When you think of darkness at noon, regularly and often you should say to yourself,
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That's judgment. In the Old Testament, when it was dark at times it shouldn't be dark. There's judgment from God.
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And that's exactly what's happening here. There's judgment. God is judging. Who is he judging? This can't be an eclipse because Passover's always at a full moon.
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There's judgment. Darkness spreads over Egypt. There's judgment. Here there's darkness from noon to three.
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And God the Father is judging our sins. On Jesus, the
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Son, silent like a lamb, dumb before his shearers. What's happening theologically is 2
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Corinthians 5 .21. He made him who knew no sin, that is Jesus, to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
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Verse 34 Mark 15 states, And at the ninth hour, three o 'clock, the exact time where the
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Passover lambs are slain, By the hundreds, by the thousands, Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
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Even with a term of endearment, with this double, My God, my God, my God, my
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God, why have you forsaken me? God is turning his back. Yes, God is what theologians call simple.
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And that means simple is he is love, grace, full of wrath, justice, righteousness.
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He's all these attributes together and he's showing his love towards the Son certainly, But here he's showing his judgment.
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He's forsaking the Son, turning away from the Son. Forsaken. Deserted. Left destitute.
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This is what Peter calls in chapter 3 of his epistle, Christ died for sins once for all,
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The just for the unjust in order that he might bring us to God.
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This is what Paul calls in Galatians 3, Having become a curse for us. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
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It is like Jesus is experiencing all of hell's wrath
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For an infinite amount of time, Compressed into three hours and just dumped on Jesus.
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To think that we would earn God's displeasure by our own sin And Jesus would intercept that,
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Jesus would take that, Jesus would die in our place as a substitute. Verse 35,
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And some of the bystanders hearing it said, Behold, he's calling Elijah, Because Eloi, Eloi sounds like Elijah.
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And someone ran off and filled a sponge with sour wine, Put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, Saying, wait, let's see whether Elijah will come down to take it.
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And Jesus uttered a loud cry, And breathed his last. The wages of sin is death.
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He didn't sin, he's dying for other sins. God recognizes this, look at these supernatural things that begin to happen.
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The curtain of the temple was torn in two, Not ripped from the bottom up by people, But from the top to the bottom.
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No more sacrifices needed in the Holy of Holies. A man who recognizes death and character,
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And when centurions who stood facing him, Saw in this way he breathed his last,
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He said, truly, this man was the Son of God. This Roman soldier, he even knows it.
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Jesus doesn't die like other people. Do you know many folks who were crucified, Would spit out so many horrible things,
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To the Roman centurions and other passers -by, That the Roman soldiers would have to cut their tongues out.
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Jesus isn't like that. He doesn't die like these other people. And this man, the centurion said,
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This man was the Son of God, surely. In spite of the mocking,
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In spite of the derision, This man's the Son of God. Which brings us to our passage today,
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Verse 42. Look at the stress on the burial.
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The stress of the burial is found in Matthew, In Luke, in John. We've read 1
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Corinthians. Why death, burial, resurrection? Why is that part of the good news? And when evening had come,
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Verse 42 of Mark 15, Since it was the day of preparation, That is the day before the
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Sabbath, it's Friday, Joseph of Arimathea, A respected member of the council,
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Who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, Took courage, went to Pilate, And asked for the body of Jesus.
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Sabbath, Jewish Sabbath, begins at sundown. It's, who knows, 3 .30 in the afternoon by now, 4 o 'clock in the afternoon, 4 .30.
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They've got to get busy. What's happening, the writer, Mark, Is going to try to make sure you understand that Jesus really died.
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It wasn't that he was swooning, It wasn't like the tomb was so cool and refreshing That he got up on his own.
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Jewish law requires proper burial for bodies of people, Including executed criminals.
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Take the bodies down before sunset, Deuteronomy 21. Now look in the next two verses, in verses 44 and 45.
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How many times do you see the word, Died or dead or corpse? And again, I know it's kind of odd,
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Where you think, Mike, I understand. He was crucified and then he was raised from the dead.
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This burial thing, of course, when you're crucified, Then you die and then you're buried
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And then you're raised from the dead. But the scriptures put a focus, The scriptures put a priority on his burial.
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And I think when you realize that in fact he was Clinically dead, physically dead,
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His resurrection is that much more impressive. Now look at verse 44 and 45. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.
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Summoning the centurion, He asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead,
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He granted the corpse to Joseph. The scriptures will not let anyone say,
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Oh, you know what, he wasn't really dead. He kind of fainted, some blood loss,
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And he was almost dead, but he wasn't really dead. Verse 46,
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Joseph bought a linen shroud. Taking him down, he wrapped him in the linen shroud
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And laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Look at all this detail for the burial of Christ.
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And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw
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Where he was laid. He was buried because he actually died. Because the wages of sin is death, he died for other people's sins.
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He wasn't embalmed here, they just wrapped him In these perfumed burial cloths. Now some of you know
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Matthew Henry, the commentator, Here's what he said, Jesus was buried To make his death the more certain
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And his resurrection more illustrious. Let me repeat that, he was buried to make his death more certain
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And his resurrection more illustrious. So when you hear Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15,
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Death, burial, resurrection, the burial is right in the center Pointing both ways, back to the fact he in fact died
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And forward to the fact this is going to be an amazing resurrection. Now, turn back to 1
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Corinthians 15 please And I want to just make sure we understand The significance of it
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Because it is part of the good news. I wonder if someone comes up to you with a struggle
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In the next couple weeks and they ask you Could you please help me?
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And you were to say to them, I have some good news for you, I wonder what you would say. I was talking to a couple ladies at the gym
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Who were up front, my wife introduced me And we're talking and I said
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Well, something's happened in the last couple weeks And I was asked the question, what is the gospel? And I said to this person, are you asking me, what is the gospel?
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And this person said to me with some force Yes, I'm asking you, what is the gospel?
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And I'm describing this situation to these two ladies And so the one lady said, she's a professing
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Christian And she said, that's so wonderful, the gospel is And what do you think she said? She said, the gospel is the
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Bible Could be worse answers, but that's wrong
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I didn't say that by the way, I'm nice in person usually So, try to be
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There's hope for progressive sanctification for all of us And I said, that particular lady said to me
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What is the gospel? And I thought, the other lady, well what would you say the gospel was?
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She didn't know either She says she's a Christian I wonder if I ask you the question, what's the good news?
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What's the most important truth in the world? Why are we here celebrating resurrection? What's the good news?
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Do you have any good news for me? I think you can go online and just type in bad news And you can be busy all day if you'd like I mean,
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Paul, think about it On the Damascus road, he meets
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Jesus And this guy, Paul, he's a Christian killer No, maybe he didn't pick up the rock to kill
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Stephen But it was just as bad as if he did How can sinners get to heaven?
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How can murderers get to heaven? How can adulterers get to heaven?
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How can people who lust get to heaven? How can people get to heaven who don't worship God like they should?
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How can people who are idolatrous get to heaven? And the answer is, there's good news
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Nobody deserves to go, but God has made a way Now let's look at this again, and we'll flesh it out 1
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Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4 We're almost ready to land the plane For I delivered to you as of first importance what
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I also received That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures That He was buried
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Amazing that Paul notes this When Paul preaches in Acts 13 It says they took
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Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb Paul is talking regularly about the burial of Jesus Death and burial connected
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Burial and resurrection connected Corroborating the fact that He was in fact dead
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And that now He is alive Finality of death, burial
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I don't have to tell hardly any of you When you bury a loved one There's that gut -wrenching finality to it all
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And that He was raised on the third day In accordance with the
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Scripture Now here's the really amazing news He dies at Calvary For not
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His own sins, but all those who would ever Trust in Him He was buried, and the tenses of the
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Greek are really fascinating A point in time died makes sense A point in time buried makes sense
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But the language in the Greek For He was raised right here That He was raised on the third day
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It's the kind of raised where you're Raised from the dead, and it has ongoing effects
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He's always raised He's the risen one He died once, He was buried once, but He stands risen today
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He was raised He has the character of being the risen Lord And by the way, that word raised
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Shows us that Jesus was raised by the Father Because it's passive Somebody raised
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Him. Who raised Jesus from the dead? Well, elsewhere Jesus raised Himself, the
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Holy Spirit raised Him But the focus in Scripture is somebody raised Him And it was the Father. Why?
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Because the Father said I'm pleased, just as Perdeep prayed That sacrifice. Sinners should be killed
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Because of their sin I said to a man this week when I was preaching the
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Gospel to him And I don't think he quite wanted to say that he was Really rebellious against God You know, we do this well.
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At least I'm not as bad as somebody else And I just said, friend How many times do you have to Spit in the king's face
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As a peasant before he banishes you And to think Jesus dies
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For our sins like that. Every single one of them In the gracious plan of God In the loving plan of God, He dies on behalf of sinners
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And the Father says, I accept that. That's right They don't have to die for themselves
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You aren't a sinner, Jesus. You're dying for other people's sins That transaction, that wonderful exchange that Luther calls it
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Was good and right And how could I let my son stay in the grave
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In eternity past, we've designed this plan Where son, you go rescue sinners. We love sinners
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The Trinity loves one another and let's go rescue sinners And now Jesus does in fact live a perfect life
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He does in fact die on behalf of sinners Of course the Father will say, I am going to raise you up It is
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S .O .S. Johnson who would say Jesus being raised from the dead is the Father's Amen to Jesus as it is finished
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And look at how this resurrection is further established Verse 5 of 1 Corinthians 15
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How do we know it's true? Well if you were in the court of law back in the Jewish day You need to have two or how many witnesses?
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Three witnesses Is this true? Is this false?
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Well let's find out. And He appeared to Cephas Then to the twelve I mean
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Jesus is raised from the dead and then He shows up to Peter Of course we know He forgives Peter and reinstates him
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After that He appeared to more than 500 brethren at a time It's kind of hard to have
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A hypnotic effect on 500 people at a time Well He's raised in a real body.
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They all see Him Most of whom remain until now But some have fallen asleep
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That was 25 years ago, Paul says, but some people are still alive And you can go to Jerusalem, he tells the
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Corinthians And find out people who were Really witnesses to the risen Savior Who in their right mind can think
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Here's a body and it's dead And it's buried and now it comes alive
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Jesus' blood ceased His circulation ceased His breathing ceased
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When your heart stops beating It's cardiac arrest After one hour of death
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All the muscles in your body relax Eyelids lose their tension Skin sags
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A person gets pale if they're light -complected The body cools from 98 .6
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degrees To the room temperature Can you imagine this all happens to Jesus And from that state of being dead
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And buried, He becomes alive From that state,
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Jesus rose from the dead This particular person
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I talked to this week Who lost their loved one I just thought, you know Here's why
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Christianity is good news Jesus has victory over the grave
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We all have to bury our loved ones And if that's it, then
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Paul says We're to be pitied above all people But I'd much rather point you to Jesus Who had said of Him in the book of Revelation I am the
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Alpha and Omega Who is and who was and who is to come Fear not, I am the first and the last
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And the Living One I died and behold, I'm alive evermore I have the keys of death and Hades How can a holy
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God get sinful people into heaven Answer, Jesus lives a perfect life
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He dies, He's buried and He's raised from the dead And all those who look to Christ in faith
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Can have eternal life Secularist, novelist, humanist
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Lasky, she said before she died In a very honest moment, I think 1988
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What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness I have nobody to forgive me
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How would you like to be forgiven How would you like to have your sins forgiven Every single sin you've ever committed
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How would you like to be forgiven And the Bible says it's not by being good The Bible says it's not by being religious
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The Bible says it's not by having some kind of sacrament The Bible's not by saying go into church or be a member or anything else
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Here's what the Bible says Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved
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This particular person I met with this week Said, well I'm not too sure about the resurrection
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And I said, alright first let's just paint the picture We walk in, have a cup of coffee You meet me for the first time and I sit down and I say
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I'm the bread of life Well I'm more than that,
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I too am the light of the world I am the resurrection and the life
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I said, who talks like that I said,
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Jesus does because he was and is I said, if my father were here
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He served in the Korean War, he went to Korea And he said to you, I've served in Korea I was there for one year
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And you said, no you weren't You wouldn't be believing him You wouldn't be taking him at his word
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I said, what a slam on my father I don't believe you, I don't trust you
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Who do you think you are, I don't take you at your word And so friends, Jesus dies a sin bearing death
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He's raised from the dead and he said If you look to him in faith you have eternal life And you either believe him and take him at his word
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Or you don't And what we want at Bethlehem Bible Church is for you to take Jesus at his word
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I am the resurrection and the life And if you believe in him you will not die Let's pray,
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Father I thank you that it's been death, burial and resurrection Up from the grave he arose
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A mighty triumph O 'er his foes And Father we would admit this morning that we were your foe
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But you have redeemed us and reconciled us And now we're your friends, even more We're your sons and daughters
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What a glorious message I pray Father that for all of us today we would remember
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What things are important in life What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world
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And loses his soul Father whether it's fame or money or houses
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Children, education, all these things Wonderful gifts from your hand Father if they become the ultimate
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May that not happen to anyone here today I pray that they would look to the glorious message
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Of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ And believe, Father grant saving faith this morning