Man, now you have to bear with me this morning.
I'm still very sick.
So I'm not going to be my normal self preaching today.
But I'm just glad that I'm here, at least,
because the last few days I was wondering
if I was even going to be able to be here and preach,
because I've been so sick the last few days.
So pray for our family to get over this horrible sickness.
But in Matthew chapter 28, we read the familiar story
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And of course, today is Easter Sunday.
So that's an appropriate topic to preach on.
And what I want to preach this morning
is a sermon called Easter, Fact and Fiction.
Basically, I want to separate the fact from the fiction
today when it comes to Easter, because there
are a lot of things about Easter that people say that just
simply aren't true, a lot of things that are just a hoax
or just they're made up, things about the resurrection
of Christ that are not true.
Just a few days ago, I had the Jehovah's Witnesses
come to my house.
And they are always out.
How many had the Jehovah's Witnesses come to your house
in the last two weeks?
See, hands all over the building,
because of the fact that they have a big Easter thing.
But they actually pervert the resurrection of Christ.
I'm going to get to that later in the sermon,
how they pervert and corrupt the resurrection of Christ.
And they don't really believe in it.
They just give it lip service.
So this morning, I want to separate the fact
from the fiction in three different areas
as we look at the subject of Easter.
And first of all, number one, I want
to give the fact and the fiction about the word Easter itself.
Now, if you would go to Acts chapter 12.
Acts chapter number 12 is actually
the only place in the Bible that uses the word Easter.
Acts chapter number 12 in your King James Bible,
you'll see it in verse 4.
And before we read Acts chapter 12,
let me just read for you a scripture from Proverbs 14, 15.
The Bible reads, the simple believeth every word,
but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
So what's God saying in that verse?
Don't believe everything that you hear.
It's a simple person who just, they just hear things,
and they just, oh, OK.
You know, they just believe it without seeing whether it's
really fact, without seeing whether it really
has basis in reality.
Now, my final authority is this Bible right here,
the King James Bible.
That's the English Bible.
That is what I believe is the final authority
for all areas of faith and practice.
And in this church, this book is the final authority.
And you know, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
because of this book.
I mean, when I was a child, I heard the words of God,
and I believed.
The Bible says faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God.
Let me tell you something.
You can read any other book in this world,
any other religious text.
It does not have the power of the Bible.
It can't even come close.
No book can even hold a candle to this book right here,
the King James Bible.
This is my final authority.
This is the basis for what I believe.
Now, anything that's outside of this book,
I have to suspect it.
And I have to figure out, okay, is this true or not?
Now, if it's from the Bible, I know it's true.
Because the Bible says thy word is truth.
But anything outside the Bible, we have to wonder,
okay, am I being told the truth or am I being lied to?
And there's so much deception out there.
And so it would be a very simple person indeed
who just believes everything that they hear.
That's why the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.21,
prove all things, hold fast that which is good.
And often what you'll hear this time of year,
usually by people who don't go to church,
and you see the church is packed today because why?
People go to church on Easter.
Even people who don't go to church all the time,
they say, hey, let's at least go on Easter.
I think that's great.
That's a good thing.
But people come to church and they wanna make sure
that they pay reverence to the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.
But people will try to attack Easter and they'll say,
Easter is a wicked pagan holiday.
And they'll say, even that word Easter
is a wicked pagan word.
It comes from a false god called Ishtar.
Who's heard that kind of stuff before?
The whole building has their hand up.
Because this type of thing is always brought up
this time of year.
But yet we find the word Easter in the Bible
and it's about something that's godly.
Look at the Bible.
Let's read it together in Acts chapter 12 verse one.
It says, now about that time Herod,
the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain
of the church and he killed James,
the brother of John with the sword.
And because he saw it pleased the Jews,
he proceeded further to take Peter also.
Then were the days of unleavened bread.
So let me give you the context here.
Herod is the king over Judea at that time
and he kills James, one of the disciples.
And the Jews are happy and he wants to please the Jews.
He's a politician.
He wants his followers to be pleased with him.
He's gonna do whatever makes him popular.
He doesn't care what's right.
He just wants to do that which is popular.
And who is he trying to be popular with?
According to this scripture, the Jews.
Because the Jews are the ones who,
they hated Jesus, they killed him, they crucified him.
And so when he starts killing the disciples,
that makes him popular with the Jews.
He's doing something that they want.
And it says, because he saw that it pleased the Jews
in verse three, he proceeded further to take Peter also.
Then were the days of unleavened bread.
Now that little parenthetical there,
then were the days of unleavened bread,
that's not there by accident.
It's there for a reason.
He wants us to understand why there's a delay
in killing Peter.
It says in verse four, and when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison and delivered him
to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him,
intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing
of the church unto God for him.
So this is a great story where Peter's arrested
and he's about to be killed with the sword.
But wait a minute, they don't kill him
because it's during the days of unleavened bread.
And they don't want to kill him during those feast days.
If you remember when Jesus, let the Bible interpret itself.
When you look at the story of when Jesus was crucified,
it was right before the Passover.
He was crucified on the day of the preparation
for the Passover, and they said we need to get his body
off the cross before the Passover.
They don't want to be killing people,
having people hanging on a cross,
during these days that are set apart as holy
to celebrate the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So they don't want any execution to take place
during their holiday, their week-long days of unleavened bread
which by the way, even today,
the Jews are celebrating today the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It goes through this Tuesday, okay?
It goes through April 22nd, today is April 20th.
So he doesn't want to, his whole point in killing Peter
is to make the Jews happy.
Well, you know, he's not going to kill them
during their holiday, that's not going to make them happy.
So he's going to wait till after Easter to do it.
You say, well, what's Easter?
Well, if we just read the context
and let scripture interpret scripture,
Easter is equivalent to the Days of Unleavened Bread.
He calls it in verse three, the Days of Unleavened Bread.
He calls it in verse four, Easter.
Now, people out there will try to say,
oh, this Easter, you know,
yes, the word Easter's in the Bible,
but it's a wicked pagan holiday.
That was just some pagan holiday that Herod was celebrating.
Well, that's just simply not true.
And in fact, I can document for you that that's not true.
I can bring facts to you that that's not true, okay?
And here's the thing.
When you just read things on the internet,
that doesn't make them true.
There are all kinds of internet hoaxes out there
and people say all kinds of things.
It's important to fact check things
before you just repeat them and just believe them
and actually get to the facts.
Now, when you're investigating something,
and let me just explain to you something
that's just good for you to know in life,
whether it's religion or anything else.
Whenever you're trying to find the truth about something,
you go to the source.
You don't get everything secondhand, thirdhand.
I mean, the number one source,
if you wanted to learn something
about Faithful Word Baptist Church,
would be to talk to me, talk to one of our members,
attend a service, visit our website.
Now, if you read a newspaper article about our church,
that's what's called a secondary source,
because you're getting something secondhand, right?
Showing up here is getting something firsthand.
See, if I look to the Bible, I'm getting things firsthand.
This is a primary source right here of truth, the Bible.
Now, if I read a book about the Bible,
that's a secondary source.
And then someone preaches to me something
that they read in a book about the Bible,
now we're like thirdhand getting our information, okay?
So it's always important to go to the source
and understand, look, I can actually show you
a historical document right here that will prove
that Easter is equivalent to Passover
or the Days of Unleavened Bread, okay?
This is William Tyndale's New Testament,
first printed in 1534, okay?
So this is long before the King James,
in the English language, 1534 New Testament.
And in this book in my hand, the word Easter
is used 23 times in this book.
Is he talking about a pagan festival?
Is he talking about a pagan holiday 23 times?
Well, let's read it, let me just give you some examples.
I'm not gonna read all 23, but in Luke 2 41 it says,
and his father and mother went to Jerusalem
every year at the feast of Easter.
Luke 22 one says, the feast of sweet bread drew nigh,
which is called Easter.
John 6 four, an Easter, a feast of the Jews was nigh.
Acts 12 four, same as the King James,
Acts 20 verse six, and we sailed away from Philippos
after the Easter holidays and came unto them
to Troas in five days where we abode seven days.
Hebrews 11 28, through faith you ordained the Easter lamb
and the effusion of blood, lest he that destroyed
the firstborn should touch them.
So from this book right here, we can clearly see
that the English word Easter is talking about the Passover,
23 times in this book.
Furthermore, that giant book back there,
somebody, some able-bodied young man,
go grab that giant book back there from the table.
Somebody who's strong enough to lift the thing.
That right there, okay, and you know, you say,
well, why do you even take the time to even talk about this?
Because I'm just trying to show you
how much deception out there there is
and the way that you find the truth about things
by going to the source.
And actually, look, this is the original
King James 1611 edition, all right?
I mean, this thing is, I mean,
you could get a workout with this thing.
I mean, this thing is huge.
And I've seen, now this is of course a replica,
but I've seen a real one.
The real one's worth like $400,000.
I've held it in my head.
It's identical to this book right here.
And right here in the front of this book,
it says, it has a little chart right here
of how to find Easter forever.
Now, are they telling you how to find a pagan holiday?
Obviously, they're telling you how to find the holiday
where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ
in this book.
So don't tell me that the King James translators
wanted us to see about this pagan holiday
Herod was celebrating when the translators
are calling the resurrection of Christ holiday
right here Easter, right in the front of this book.
See, these are facts.
This is not a website.
This is fact, okay?
This is fact.
And we need to just be careful that we don't,
I mean, the internet has a lot of great information,
don't get me wrong,
but we just need to be careful
to separate the fact from fiction.
First of all, always making this book our final authority.
And if this book is our final authority,
then we see that Easter is equivalent
to the Feast of Unleavened Bread as we read the context.
And then that's further supported
by this information right here.
So that just kind of helps separate that out.
Secondly, go to Genesis chapter one.
So you know, I just want to separate the fact
from the fiction there on the word Easter.
Not a bad word because the Bible says
every word of God is pure.
And if God chose to use the word Easter
in our English Bible to talk about the Passover,
the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
that must not be a bad word.
Therefore, I have no problem saying that today
we're celebrating Easter Sunday.
It's a very biblical term.
You say, well, why does it just say Easter
in that one place?
Everywhere else it says Passover.
Why does it just say Easter in that one place?
Well, here's why.
Because this guy, William Tyndale,
invented the word Passover himself, okay?
He also invented the word scapegoat.
He also invented a few other words
that escape me at the moment.
But new words take a while to catch on.
You know, that's why he mainly used Easter in this book.
Slowly over time, by the time you get to 1539,
they're using the word Passover about half the time.
And by the time you get to the Bishop's Bible,
Easter's only used twice.
By the time the King James, it's just used that one time.
You say, why is it used that one time?
Well, a couple reasons.
Number one, because it's talking about the whole week.
So to differentiate that from the single day,
the word Easter, is to denote the entire week.
And the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that's a seven-day thing.
And then number two, it's used because of the fact
this is after the resurrection of Christ,
taking the focus off of the Old Testament aspect of Passover
and looking at the New Testament aspect of Passover,
because it's the only mention
after the resurrection of Christ.
Because the other mentions in Corinthians
and so are pointing backward.
So that's why.
But what about the dates of Easter?
Go to Genesis chapter one, look at verse 14.
It says, and God said, let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night,
and let them be for signs and for seasons
and for days and years.
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven
to give light upon the earth, and it was so.
And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day
and the lesser light to rule the night,
he made the stars also.
Now this clearly tells us that God gave us
the sun, moon, and stars so that we could have
years and months and days and weeks
and so that we could keep track of time.
Yet people will say that there's something pagan
or wicked about the fact that the date for Easter
has to do with the sun and the moon.
Well that's how God told us to reckon time
with the sun and the moon.
Now today in the United States of America,
we only use the sun to reckon time.
Our calendar that we use is based upon the sun.
The lunar month doesn't really mean anything to us today.
We don't follow that program.
But yet in the Bible they did follow that program
of a lunar month.
Have you ever wondered why Easter jumps around all the time?
You ever just wonder like when is Easter?
Because sometimes it's at the end of March.
And then other times it's April 20th.
I mean this is pretty late, right, for Easter.
Usually it's at the end of March.
It's all different times and it's so confusing.
That's why there's the big chart explaining how to find it.
You're like when in the world is Easter?
But let me actually give you the exact formula
for when we celebrate Easter.
I'm gonna explain to you why.
This is the formula for Easter.
It is the first Sunday after the first full moon
after the spring equinox.
Okay, that's the formula.
It's the first Sunday after the first full moon
after the spring equinox.
Now people will look at that and say,
full moon, ugh, you know?
Werewolves, vampires, paganism, wickedness.
No, wrong.
God told us to use the sun and the moon to calculate time.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Now let me explain to you real simply
why this formula exists
and why the formula makes perfect sense, okay?
Here's why.
Because the Passover is held on the 14th day
of the first month on the Hebrew calendar.
Now remember, the Hebrews use a calendar
that has to do with the sun and the moon.
Therefore, the first day of their month is the new moon.
Okay, so whenever there's a new moon,
they're like, okay, new month.
New moon, new month.
Therefore, if the Passover's on the 14th day,
isn't that about halfway through the month?
15th day starts the Feast of Unleavened Bread
halfway through the month, okay?
What happens if you start the month,
this is like a science class,
if you start the month on the first at the new moon,
what do you have halfway through the month?
A full moon, right?
So therefore, the Passover would always be
right around the time of the full moon, wouldn't it?
Because they're always starting a month on a new moon,
the full moon's on the 15th,
the Passover is on the evening, you know,
and it goes from the 14th to the 15th,
and then another week.
So therefore, the full moon coincides with Passover.
Always, okay?
Then, did Jesus Christ die on the cross on Passover?
Yes, but did he rise from the dead on Passover?
How many days later did he rise from the dead
after he died on the cross?
Three days later.
So he rose from the dead what?
After the full moon, or after the day of Passover, right?
Now here's the thing.
Whenever you're celebrating a holiday,
you have to decide,
are we gonna do it on the exact date,
or are we gonna do it on the day of the week?
Think about that.
Mother's Day, for example,
do we celebrate that on a certain date every year,
or a day of the week?
Day of the week.
Memorial Day, it's always what?
Monday.
Labor Day is always gonna be on a Monday,
whereas holidays like 4th of July, Christmas,
they're on a certain date.
It could be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, anything.
Whereas Thanksgiving's always on a Thursday.
So here's the thing.
Instead of Easter being on a different day
of the week every year,
it's always on a Sunday during the Passover week, okay?
Because of the fact that, you know,
three days after Passover.
So if we were to have,
if we were to celebrate the holiday
on the exact day this year
of when Jesus rose from the dead,
it would have been the 18th, okay?
For example, you know, or 17th, 18th, something like that.
Today's the 20th.
Why?
Because we're doing it on a Sunday.
And in fact, I just wrote down,
for the last five years,
on 2011, Easter was on April 24th,
Passover was from April 18th to April 26th, okay?
2012, Easter was on April 8th,
Passover was the 6th to the 14th.
2013, Easter was on March 31st,
Passover was March 25th to April 2nd.
And on and on and on and on.
Yet, go on the internet, and this is all,
the date of Easter has nothing to do with the Passover.
Nothing, it's at a completely different time.
I mean, somebody emailed me this morning and said,
today is Easter and this is nowhere near Passover,
even though they're celebrating Passover right now.
But I'm telling you, there's a lot of fiction out there,
there's a lot of just lies and fabrication out there.
People just make things up.
We need to prove all things.
We need to test things.
The reason we're celebrating Easter today
is because this is the Passover week.
The reason that we're celebrating Easter today
is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's it.
But look what the Bible says in John chapter 19 verse 31.
It says, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation
that the bodies should not remain upon the cross
on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day,
be sought pilot that their legs might be broken
and that they might be taken away.
Notice, this was not an ordinary Sabbath.
It says this Sabbath was a high day.
I'm not gonna turn there for the sake of time,
but back in Leviticus 16 and Leviticus 23,
it calls the day of atonement a Sabbath,
even though it would fall on a different day of the week
every year, because it's just the 10th day
of the seventh month.
And it calls holidays a Sabbath.
So there's the Saturday Sabbath,
but then there's also the Sabbath of a holiday.
And so when it says here that Jesus Christ
is hung on the cross the day of the preparation
before the Sabbath day, it's not talking about Saturday,
it's talking about the Passover.
It's the day before the Passover.
It says in chapter 18, flip back one page,
John chapter 18 verse 28, then led they Jesus
from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment,
and it was early, and they themselves went not
into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled,
but that they might eat the Passover.
So they're saying, look, we don't want to be defiled,
we want to eat the Passover.
The next day is the Passover, they're trying
to keep themselves clean to do that.
Look at chapter 19 verse 14.
It says, and it was the preparation of the Passover.
And about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews,
behold your king, but they cried out away with him,
away with him, crucify him.
Pilate saith unto them, shall I crucify your king?
The chief priests answered, we have no king,
but Caesar.
Now go to First Corinthians chapter number five.
First Corinthians chapter five, I'm gonna show you
something amazing in the Bible here.
First Corinthians chapter five.
But today there are people out there that tell you
that if you celebrate Easter, you're worshiping Satan.
And they tell you that Easter come from Ishtar.
No evidence for that, total fraud.
Go to the library and go check out every single book
in the library on ancient history, ancient mythology,
none of them.
You will find evidence for none of what you see
on the internet.
You look up Ishtar, the false goddess from thousands
of years ago, and it'll tell you that Ishtar's symbols
were eight-pointed stars, lions, and owls.
Those are the things in the carvings.
But then you look it up on the internet and Ishtar's
associated with rabbits, eggs, it's so convenient.
She just happens to be associated with rabbits and eggs.
And she just happens to have an association
with the full moon and the equinox.
It's a fraud, it's an internet hoax.
Look it up.
Now look, why do people celebrate other things
on today, Easter Sunday?
Of course they do, why?
Because not everybody believes on Jesus Christ.
And a lot of people don't wanna even retain God
in their knowledge, and a lot of people don't wanna
talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ today,
so what they do is they wanna turn the holiday
into something else.
Okay, so they'd rather talk about the Easter bunny
and eggs and chocolate and all that,
but look, what we oughta be talking about
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's what we oughta be celebrating,
that's what we oughta be emphasizing.
But there are people out there who don't wanna talk
about that, so that's why on Christmas,
instead of talking about the birth of Christ,
what do they wanna talk about?
You know, they wanna find a substitution there
of something that fits what they believe,
so they wanna talk about Santa Claus
and reindeer and snowman.
But look, just because people are talking
about Santa Claus, reindeer, and snowman,
just because people today are talking
about rabbits laying eggs, and we all know
that rabbits do not lay eggs.
That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong
with us celebrating the biblical holiday of Easter,
just celebrating the resurrection of Christ,
celebrating the Passover lamb who was Jesus.
You say, why celebrate Easter?
Where does the Bible tell us to celebrate Easter?
Well, because we should celebrate the resurrection
of Christ, and we should commemorate
His death, burial, and resurrection.
In fact, look at 1 Corinthians 5, 7
and see what the Bible says.
1 Corinthians 5, 7, purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Look, the Bible's telling us to keep the feast.
And what are we supposed to be celebrating?
Christ our Passover.
And look, I don't wanna just celebrate His death,
I wanna celebrate His burial and resurrection.
And let me tell you something, the Jews today
that are celebrating their Passover week,
they have no hope.
They do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in the Passover in the Bible, they would kill a lamb,
and they would shed the blood of that lamb,
and God said that blood of that lamb
is for an atonement for your souls,
it's to forgive your sins.
But wait a minute, it's not possible
that the blood of animals can take away sins.
That was a picture of Jesus, and when Jesus arrived,
John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said,
behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.
And today, the Jews aren't even,
they didn't even sacrifice a lamb on,
let's see what date it was,
I have my dates on the other page.
Back on April 14th, when their Passover week started,
because today we're toward the end of their Passover week,
back on April 14th, they didn't kill a lamb.
They didn't shed the blood.
Why, because Judaism's a fraud, that's why.
Because in the Old Testament, they killed a lamb.
They shed that blood.
And you know why we don't shed that blood today?
It's because Jesus is the lamb who died once for all.
He doesn't have to be offered every year.
And by the way, you don't have to get saved every year.
You don't have to get saved, you get saved one time.
Jesus died once, he was buried once, he rose again once,
we believe on him once, and we're born again once,
and we're saved for all eternity.
One offering, the Bible says.
He has perfected forever them that are sanctified
by one offering, one time.
The Jews every year, I wanna say they're offering a lamb,
they're not even offering it.
And I ask the Jews, why don't you sacrifice animals
if you believe in the Old Testament?
Oh, well, we just don't have the temple.
You know what, they were sacrificing animals
long before that temple was ever built.
God said, if you don't have the temple,
you pile up an altar of whole stones,
and you sacrifice on an altar of whole stones.
But they're like, well, we don't have our temple,
we're not gonna sacrifice it.
God never even told them to build that temple.
That temple never even came into God's mind.
God told them to build what?
The tabernacle, God told them to build a tent.
They were supposed to build a tabernacle,
and then David said, I'm gonna build you a temple.
And God's like, I never told you to do that.
But yet they're like, well, if we don't have that building,
we can, look, do you think we'd stop having church
if we don't have a building?
You know, look, it's not about a building.
It's not about the temple, it's not about the,
it's the God of the temple.
It's the God of the tabernacle.
And you know what, they were supposed to just pile up stones
and just, that was the altar.
Whoever did that in Sunday school,
where you color a little picture of like an altar
that's just a bunch of boulders.
Did anybody ever do that coloring book?
Two people, I did it, you know, when I was a kid.
You go to Sunday school, it's like a little,
you know how they give you a color sheet in Sunday school,
and it was like just a bunch of boulders like piled up,
and Abraham's offering, Isaac's doing a burnt sacrifice.
Look, they don't offer the lamb
because they don't believe in the Bible.
We don't offer a lamb because we believe
the lamb's already been offered.
His name's Jesus Christ, and he's been sacrificed for us.
He's our savior.
He died, he was buried, and he rose again.
We keep the feast, and we celebrate the Lord's death.
We celebrate his burial and resurrection.
That's where, nothing pagan about that, my friend.
Nothing about a false god.
And you know what, I'm not gonna go celebrate
with the unbelieving Jews.
I'd rather celebrate with God's people
in the house of the Lord
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not with unbelievers, okay?
Now, in 1 Corinthians 5 here,
we see that Jesus Christ is our Passover.
Here's what's so interesting about that,
and if you would, flip over to Matthew chapter 12,
and I wanna move on to my next point quickly here,
but here's what's so interesting about it,
and I'm not trying to bend your mind
with a lot of math and dates and everything,
but it's pretty interesting when you think about the fact
that the Passover lamb back in Exodus,
on the 10th day of the month,
they would present the lamb
and make sure that it had no spot or blemish.
So they would get out a lamb on the 10th day of the month,
and they'd look at it and examine it,
and they would present that lamb, okay?
Then on the 14th day at even, or 6 p.m., basically,
we know when the evening comes,
they would kill that lamb, and the Bible says
that the congregation of Israel would kill that.
The whole congregation would kill those lambs.
Each household had their own lamb,
the whole congregation would kill the lambs at that time,
on the Passover, which is the 14th.
Then on the 15th, they'd have the day of unleavened bread.
Now here's what's so fascinating.
When Jesus Christ was on this earth
doing his earthly ministry,
you remember the Sunday before Easter?
What's that holiday called today in America?
Palm Sunday, and that Palm Sunday is to commemorate
Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
This is where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,
and they were all laying down the palm branches,
they took off their coats and laid them down in the way,
and they said,
blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
And that was his triumphal entry.
Let me tell you something,
that was the lamb being presented to the congregation.
He came to them and they said,
behold thy king cometh unto thee.
But they did not accept him.
He came unto his own, his own received him not,
because later they would tell Pilate,
we have no king but Caesar.
But he came on that donkey,
he came meek and humble,
not on a horse like a warrior,
which he will the second time he's coming on a horse,
but he's gonna come just on a donkey,
humble and ready to save them,
ready to be their savior.
And he shows up,
he's presented to the congregation on the 10th.
Now think about this,
if Sunday was the 10th, then what was Monday?
In the 11th.
And we realize they didn't call it Sunday and Monday
back then, you know, they weren't speaking English.
But do you mind if I speak English?
Or should we switch to another language?
But anyway, so Monday is the 11th, right?
And then Tuesday would be what?
12th, okay.
Wednesday would be what?
13th, and then Thursday would be what?
And what day is the Passover?
14th, okay.
So when was Jesus killed then?
He wasn't killed on Friday.
That doesn't work.
Because he was killed on the Passover,
which is the 14th.
Now, the way that the Bible reckons time,
remember in Genesis 1 it says like the evening
and the morning were the first day?
So the day kind of starts the night before.
Kind of like, we start the day when?
Midnight.
Okay, they just started a few hours earlier than that
at evening six o'clock p.m.
is when they would start.
You know, the day ends, it's like okay,
so they have the night and then the day, okay?
So if you think about it, you know,
if Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, right?
Then basically he would have died that evening, okay?
And if he died on that Wednesday evening,
then he would be killed on the Passover at even,
on the 14th day right there.
Wednesday night, you know, if he gave up the ghost.
You know, he says some things at three o'clock p.m.,
according to the Bible, the ninth hour.
But you know, I believe he gave up the ghost
at around six p.m. around evening
when they would kill the Passover.
He gave up the ghost around that time,
if you study the scripture.
And then he was dead for three days and three nights.
Well if you think about that,
if we go from Wednesday night, that gives us three days.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, right?
But it's even more interesting than that.
So the three days that Jesus was dead
was Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Now those are the three days that he was dead.
But here's what's interesting.
Thursday was the Passover, right?
The Jews are not allowed to do any work on the Passover.
The 15th day, which would be Friday,
Friday was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
No work.
Saturday was what?
The Sabbath.
Are they supposed to work on the Sabbath?
No work.
And then Jesus rose again, and even before,
he actually rose in the night,
because the Bible even says when they got there to that tomb,
even before it was light, they got to the tomb,
he's already gone.
He'd already risen early on the first day of the week,
before it was even day, before they'd even got there,
he'd already risen on that first day of the week.
Now look, what is so interesting about that?
Because salvation is not of works.
And Jesus was showing us, look,
while I'm paying for salvation,
while the death, burial, and resurrection is happening,
it's three days of rest.
He said, I don't want anybody working but me.
Because Jesus was doing all the work for us to be saved.
He did all the work.
That's what the Sabbath teaches us.
He wants us to rest in his promise,
rest on his sacrifice, and not try to work our way,
but look, you can't work your way to heaven.
Jesus paid it all during those three days of rest.
Passover, unleavened bread, Sabbath.
And then what's even more interesting
is that the Bible talks about at that time of year,
after the Sabbath, the day after the Sabbath,
on the first day of the week,
then they would wave the sheaf of the firstfruits
at that time.
And Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection,
the Bible tells us.
So, and then after they waved that sheaf of the firstfruits,
they would number 50 days and have Pentecost.
And of course, we know the story of Pentecost
in Acts chapter two.
Everything in the Bible just fits together
when you look at it and study it.
But to say Jesus is crucified on a Friday is a fiction.
It's not true.
It's just false.
You say, where does that come from?
People just misunderstood the Bible
when it said that he died the day before the Sabbath.
They thought that meant Saturday,
when in reality, the Bible's real clear
that that Sabbath was a holiday or a high day,
it was a feast day, it was the Passover.
It was three back-to-back Sabbaths, you know?
Passover, unleavened bread, Saturday, amazing.
And think about it, if Jesus would have died other years,
it wouldn't have lined up like that.
It's like he died on a particular year
where it just lined up perfectly,
where all three days that he was dead
had a special meaning, each of the three.
Very amazing how God does everything so perfectly.
I'm gonna skip some stuff for sake of time.
I was gonna prove to you more clearly
that he was dead for three days and three nights.
You know, the Bible says,
as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly, are you there in Matthew 12?
Look at verse 40.
For as Jonas was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be.
Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
You say, well, he rose again the third day.
But in the Bible, the third day means after three days.
I have evidence for that from Esther,
1 Kings, James, don't have time for it.
But let's look at another aspect of the resurrection,
the fact versus the fiction.
Go to Acts chapter two, Acts chapter number two.
And then we're gonna go to the main resurrection chapter,
which is 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
But again, there's a false religion out there
called the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And they've been out in force, knocking doors.
They try to put themselves forth as biblical Christianity
and they're simply not.
They don't believe Jesus died on the cross.
They don't believe he rose again.
They don't believe in heaven, they don't believe in hell.
But then they say they're Christian.
That's not Christianity.
Christianity teaches that Jesus died on the cross,
that he rose again, that there is a heaven
for those that are saved, and that there is a hell
for the unsaved, and they don't believe those things.
In fact, the Jehovah's Witnesses that knocked on my door
a few days ago, I said unto them,
you know, you don't believe that Jesus died on the cross.
Oh yes we do.
I said, you don't believe that Jesus died on the cross.
They're like, well we believe Jesus died for us.
I said, on a cross?
No.
Now, you say, why is that important?
Oh, I don't know, just because everything
in the Bible's important?
Just because the Bible tells us over and over again
that he died on the cross?
And I told them this, I said, well, you know,
how did he die?
And they said, on a stick.
And I said, well, how many nails, if he was on a stick
the way the Jehovah's Witnesses show,
I said, how many nails would he have in his hand?
They said, one.
And I said, well, okay, well here's where the Bible says
the print of the nails in his hands.
So I said, it says nails, plural, in his hands.
That's two nails, that's the cross.
I mean, not to mention the fact that it just says
over and over again that it was in the cross,
but they have a Bible that takes all that out.
They have their own new world translation, it's called,
where they take all that out.
Take out the cross, take out stuff about hell,
they just make all kinds of changes.
But I said, right there, two nails.
And she's like, well, I guess they could've put two nails.
You know, I guess just double it up, you know?
They didn't have any answers for me, my friend.
But the main problem with the Jehovah's false witnesses,
besides the fact that they don't believe Jesus is God,
they don't believe in the three and one,
they don't believe in heaven and hell,
the main problem is they don't believe
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now, they claim to be celebrating today
the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
but they don't believe that he really bodily rose again.
Now, let me show you what the Bible says
in Acts chapter two, verse 31.
It says in Acts 2 31, he, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ
that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption.
Now, in that verse, we see two aspects
of the resurrection of Christ.
One is the fact that his soul wasn't left in hell.
His soul resurrected from hell.
But then we also see the aspect
that his flesh did not see corruption.
So there's a spiritual aspect and a bodily aspect.
Does everybody see that?
The soul and the body.
Now, go to John chapter number two.
John chapter number two,
and we're also gonna look at Luke 24.
John chapter number two and Luke 24.
In John chapter two, it says in verse 19,
Jesus answered and said unto them,
destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
Look at verse 21, but he spake of the temple of his body.
What is Jesus gonna raise up after three days
according to this verse?
His body.
He says, look, if you destroy this temple in three days,
I'll raise it up, he spake of the temple of his body.
He said, I'm gonna raise this body up, okay?
Go to Luke 24, just a couple of,
you should just turn like one page to the left
in your Bible and you're at the end of the book of Luke.
Because the Jehovah's Witnesses,
here's what they'll tell you.
Well, his body didn't raise, this is what they say.
His spirit just left his body.
That's called dying.
I mean, how many times have you read the Bible
where it says that someone gave up the ghost?
What does that mean?
They died.
You know, it says Abraham gave up the ghost.
Isaac gave up the ghost.
You know, it means they died.
The spirit, the ghost is the spirit.
They gave up the spirit, the spirit left the body.
The Bible says the body without the spirit is dead.
And they say, well, the resurrection
is when Jesus' spirit left his body.
Wrong, that's not what the resurrection is.
Let me prove to you right now
that the resurrection of Jesus Christ
was a bodily resurrection.
You say, why does this matter?
Because your salvation hinges on the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You know, my dying grandfather,
his last words were, remember that the gospel
is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Those were his dying words.
And he couldn't have been more right.
He couldn't have been more biblical when he told,
I wasn't there, but he told that to my brother,
his dying words.
And the Bible says in Luke 24, 36,
this is after the resurrection,
as they thus spake, Jesus himself
stood in the midst of them and saith unto them,
peace be unto you.
But they were terrified, affrighted,
and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
Sounds like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
I mean, they're like, they thought they saw a what?
What did the Jehovah's Witnesses think the resurrection was?
A spirit, but what did they really see?
Let's keep reading.
They thought they saw a spirit.
Verse 38, and he said unto them,
why are you troubled and why do thoughts
arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones,
as you see me have.
Is this a bodily resurrection?
He said, look, I'm flesh and bone.
Come put your hands on me.
Put your fingers in the holes in my hand.
Put your hand in my side and believe
that I have risen from the dead bodily, he's saying.
He said, I'm not a spirit, I have flesh and bones.
Look, feel it, come touch it.
Don't just take my word for it.
And when they had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered,
he said unto them, have you here any meat?
Look, just in case there's any doubt
about the bodily resurrection,
let's just clear it up right now.
They gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb
and he took it and did eat before them.
I mean, how is a spirit gonna eat food?
I mean, he's just showing, look, I'm physically here, guys.
Okay, come handle me.
Okay, still not convinced?
Give me some food.
Okay, I'm eating food, everybody.
I mean, look, what else do you have to prove?
I showed this to Jehovah's Witnesses.
And usually they're kinda confounded by it,
not surprisingly, but sometimes you'll show it to them
and if it's one of their expert guys, here's what he said.
Well, actually, Jesus just, you know,
he was just a spirit when he rose,
but Jehovah loaned him a body
to go show the disciples.
Here's what's funny, that the loner that he picked up
actually had holes in the hands in the side.
I mean, that sounds like God is trying to pull off
some kind of a fraud.
Like, hey, let's make him think it's the same body.
Here, let's put some holes in it.
Let's punch a hole here.
Okay, let's put some stripes on the back.
Okay, here you go, here's the loner.
Bring it back, bring it back full of fuel in three days.
Look, that is so blasphemous and so ridiculous.
Look, how can anyone be deceived?
But there's a stadium full of people today
who are being lied to today by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Millions of people.
I mean, and even in the Spanish-speaking world,
you see all over Phoenix, the, you know,
the testigos de Jehovah.
You know, salon del reno de testigos de Jehovah.
All over the place.
Look, it's a fraud, it's a false religion, folks,
and they're denying the most important part
about our salvation, which is the bodily resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15, I'm gonna show you
that the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is essential to salvation.
You have to believe in it to be saved.
If you don't believe in the bodily resurrection
of Jesus Christ, you're not saved.
That's why none of the Jehovah's Witnesses are saved.
We need to get them saved.
Let's get them the gospel.
They're not saved.
Because they don't believe in the bodily resurrection.
Let me show you.
1 Corinthians 15, one says this.
Moreover, brethren, I declared unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also you've received, and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved.
So the Bible says we're saved by the gospel.
And he says you're saved by it,
and he says if you keep in remembrance
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain,
for I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures,
and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures.
Look, the Bible says if you don't believe that,
you've believed in vain.
That's what the Bible says.
And throughout this whole chapter,
he tells us, it's a long chapter.
It's known as the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15.
Like Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter.
1 Corinthians 13 is the charity chapter.
This is the resurrection chapter.
And throughout this chapter he says
without the resurrection we have no hope.
We have no salvation.
And he says look, you can say well,
but the Jehovah's Witnesses, they believe stuff.
The Bible doesn't say believe stuff and thou shalt be saved.
It said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and guess what you have to believe?
The gospel of Jesus Christ, okay?
And so anybody who believes anything
other than the gospel of Jesus Christ has believed in vain.
Oh, well I believe in Jesus,
except their Jesus is Michael the Archangel.
Their Jesus didn't rise again from the dead.
Their Jesus is not a biblical Jesus.
Yes, they believe something.
Yes, they have faith in a Jesus,
but they have believed in vain if they don't believe
in the death, burial, and resurrection.
Now you say, what's the burial about?
Well let me ask you this.
What did they bury?
A spirit or a body?
So if it's the death, burial, and resurrection,
what died?
The body.
What was buried?
The body.
What rose again?
The body!
That's the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's why it's so critical.
That's what we have.
Look, is there a spiritual side to it?
Of course.
Yes, his soul was not left in hell.
Neither did his flesh see corruption.
Both aspects are there.
Now, are you in 1 Corinthians 15?
Jump down on the page.
I just want to show you one last thing,
and then we'll wrap it up with Romans 6.
Go down to 1 Corinthians 15, 50,
because here's what the Jehovah's Witnesses will say.
After he shows them this mountain of evidence,
and say, look, he's eating, he's drinking,
they're handling him, he's saying I'm not a spirit,
I'm flesh and bone.
Here's what they'll say.
Well no, no, no, it couldn't be a bodily resurrection.
Because he said, this is the only thing
I've ever had them show me.
1 Corinthians 15, 50 says,
now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Now see right there, flesh and blood can't inherit it.
We'll keep reading.
Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
See, our bodies will be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed,
for this corruptible must be put on incorruption,
and this mortal must be put on mortality.
It says in Philippians 3, 21,
who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able
even to subdue all things unto himself.
Let me ask something.
When Jesus rose again from the dead,
was his body changed?
Yes.
But did the body still rise?
Of course.
He still rose, his body still rose.
There was a change in that body.
It went from being a mortal body that could be killed,
to being an immortal body that could not be killed.
It went from being a corruptible body
that would age and go through pain and sickness,
and it went to being an incorruptible body,
that was not bound by those same weaknesses and limitations.
Now, look at verse 50 again.
Does that say flesh and bones?
Does that say flesh and bones
shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Is that what it says?
What did Jesus say he had?
Did he say I have flesh and blood?
He said I have flesh and bones.
Now, here's the thing.
Our physical bodies today are powered by a life force
that is our bloodstream.
The Bible says the life of all flesh
is in the blood thereof,
and the thing that's keeping us alive right now is our blood.
It's what delivers the life-giving oxygen and nutrients.
Our blood is the life of our flesh.
It's even the life of other animals' flesh, the blood.
In the resurrection, the blood is not the life force.
In the resurrection, the spiritual body,
after the resurrection, is powered by the spirit.
Old body is powered by the blood.
New body is powered by the spirit.
That's why flesh and blood doesn't inherit.
Flesh and bone does, okay?
So I just wanted to explain that quickly.
Last place we'll turn, Romans 6, Romans chapter 6.
So we see that the resurrection is crucial
for a couple of things.
Number one, it's crucial for salvation,
but number two, it symbolizes our new life in Christ.
Now, we're separating the fact
from the fiction this morning.
We said, number one, you know, the word Easter.
Should I just believe everything I read on the internet?
You know, well, turns out it's a hoax.
A lot of that stuff turned out to be a hoax.
You try to fact check it.
I mean, I, you know, I mean, I see something,
I don't just automatically,
that's not true, no, don't ruin my holiday.
No, you know, but you fact check it.
And you look it up, like, okay, is this true?
And when you start fact checking it,
you notice that everybody's quoting everybody else
in a circle.
And it's not going back to any source.
The only source is a book called Two Babylons
by Alexander Hislop, which was made,
which was written by someone with a very vivid imagination
who just filled it with fabrications that he documented.
Not at all.
No, he doesn't give any evidence for these things
that he claims about Easter.
It's just all, it's made up.
It's been debunked, it's been proven to be a fraud.
Does it have good things in the book?
Well, you can find good things in the garbage can too.
Let's go jump in it after the service,
see what we can find.
We can find some treasures.
But I'm saying, you know, it's all just quoting each other,
separate the fact from the fiction.
Easter's a biblical word.
It's just referring to the Passover week.
We're celebrating right now during what week?
Passover week.
And then the date.
Number two, separate the fact and fiction on the date.
Oh, these dates have nothing to do with Passover.
Oh, the date.
It's just pure coincidence that it just
happens to be during Passover week, this year,
and last year, and the year before, and the year before,
and the year before.
But don't let that confuse you, OK?
You know, we separate the fact from the fiction.
Is it a fact that Jesus was crucified on a Friday?
So Good Friday doesn't even exist.
Why is it called Good Friday?
And why can't we eat any meat on Good Friday?
My wife was embarrassed.
She went to the grocery store on Friday
and bought a bunch of fish sticks.
Just because we wanted fish sticks,
and she's like, oh, man, people are
going to think that I'm trying to celebrate
a Catholic holiday with Good Friday.
They're going to think I'm Catholic because I'm
buying all this fish.
And even to this day, any steakhouse you go to,
what's the soup of the day on Friday?
Clam chowder.
That's why I love Fridays, because I love clam chowder.
But some of this stuff, it's just not good Friday,
not in scripture.
Meatless Friday, not in scripture.
You know, all this, Lent, not in scripture.
Ash Wednesday, not in scripture.
Fat Tuesday, Blue Monday?
I mean, you know, that's a fats domino.
Blue Monday?
I mean, you know, that's a fats domino song.
But anyway, you know, a lot of this stuff is just fabricated.
You know, it doesn't have any basis in reality.
So the last thing I want you to see,
you know, because we're talking about the Resurrection today,
really important subject.
It is literally the gospel.
It's literally the foundation of our salvation.
It's what we believe.
I mean, what do we believe when we get saved?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart,
that God has raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved.
I mean, that's what it's all about.
That's what salvation's about.
But not only that, there's one last thing
we can learn from the Resurrection.
Look at Romans 6.
It says in verse 1, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
Now, the reason he says that is because he just
finished talking about, for the last three chapters,
how basically we're saved totally by faith,
not by our works, not by any good that we do.
So then, whenever you preach the gospel,
have you ever had people say that to you,
where you tell people, hey, all we have to do
is just believe in Jesus to be saved.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
And then here's what they say.
What do you mean, just do whatever you want then?
I mean, that's what people will say,
because you're like, well, all you have to do is just believe.
Oh, so we just do whatever we want.
There's the thing.
Paul explains in chapter 5 that if you do whatever you want,
you will still be saved.
Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.
But he says, should we do that?
Should we?
God forbid.
That's like saying, well, my wife and I,
we swore an oath till death do us part, and we meant that.
I might as well just treat my wife, however,
because she's gonna stay married to me no matter what I do.
I mean, my wife's never gonna divorce me.
Might as well treat her like garbage, right?
And look, she knows I'm never gonna divorce her.
She might, you know, I might as well come home for dinner
and say, honey, what's for dinner?
And she just, you know, hands me a hungry man frozen dinner
and just circles the instructions on the back
for the microwave, just with a Sharpie.
Here you go.
You know, I'm gonna get back to my soap opera now
or whatever.
You know, I mean, is that how my wife is gonna act?
Just because, I mean, is my wife secure in her relationship?
I will never divorce my wife, no matter what.
Well, what about that?
No, what about, no, I will never divorce my wife, period.
For any reason.
For better, for worse.
And she feels the same way,
but does that mean that we don't love each other?
Does that mean we're not gonna treat each other well?
Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
So should we continue in sin that grace may abound?
No, because number one, if I treat my wife like garbage,
guess what, we're both gonna be miserable.
If she treats me like garbage,
we're both gonna be miserable.
If children treat their parents badly
and don't obey their parents,
children's lives are gonna be miserable.
They're gonna get the belt.
They're gonna get a spanking.
But wait a minute, does that mean
that they're not in the family?
Look, we are children of God, we will be in that family.
If we continue in sin, grace will abound.
But shall we?
God forbid.
He says, how shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein?
Verse three, know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death,
therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death,
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we also will automatically walk
in newness of life if we're really saved.
Is that what it says?
It says, even so we also what?
Should walk in newness of life.
Okay, so it's saying, look, baptism,
not only does baptism symbolize the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ,
it also symbolizes that just like Christ arose
and he was changed, we should get baptized,
which is a picture.
I mean, when you're in the water,
it's a picture of him on the cross.
When you go under the water,
it's a picture of when he was buried.
When you come out of the water,
it's a picture of his resurrection.
He's saying, look, just like we've been buried
with him in baptism, we should walk in newness of life.
That's why baptism is a great first step
of obedience after you get saved.
You get saved, then you get baptized,
and here's what you're saying when you get baptized.
I wanna walk in newness of life.
I wanna bury the old Steven Anderson.
I wanna be the new man,
because look what it says in the next verse.
Knowing this, verse five, or I'm sorry,
verse five says this, for if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
What's likeness?
It's something that's similar.
We're gonna live a life similar to his resurrection
in that our life is gonna be changed.
Now, what if a person doesn't get baptized?
Their life's probably not gonna change.
Why?
Because baptism's such an easy step to take,
if they can't even get dunked under water,
how are they gonna do all the hard things
in the Christian life?
I mean, who would say here,
I've been baptized, and it was really hard?
I mean, it was hard.
Who here will say I was baptized, it was easy?
Yeah, exactly.
So that's the point.
It's just an easy thing.
It doesn't save you, because look, Jesus got baptized.
Did Jesus need to be saved?
No.
Did Jesus wash away his sins?
He didn't have any sins.
Jesus was baptized as an example unto us,
and we're following in his footsteps
to symbolize the likeness of his resurrection.
It's a picture, it's a symbol.
It's not literal, it's symbolic.
Being dunked under water is symbolic
of being buried and rising again.
He says, verse six, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
That's what we're picturing when we get baptized.
Number one, we're picturing
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ,
and then we're also picturing
the death, burial, and resurrection
of the old man into the new man.
Now, the old man stays with us,
unfortunately, our entire life,
so we're gonna go back and forth
between doing right and wrong.
None of us is perfect, right?
We all sin, we all do wrong.
But at least getting baptized shows a willingness,
a willingness to do right.
Now, a lot of people say,
well, you have to be willing to do right to get saved.
No, no, no, you just have to believe to be saved.
Amen.
But baptism is saying, you know what?
I'm not just trying to escape hell,
because you get saved, why?
To escape hell.
You believe on Christ.
You call out to him to save you.
Baptism says, I'm not just trying to escape hell,
I also want to walk in newness of life.
I also want to live differently.
I want to change.
That's the power of the resurrection, my friend.
It's an important doctrine.
By the way, that's why we don't sprinkle.
Because this isn't a burial.
I mean, last time I was at a burial,
they didn't just sprinkle dirt on the body
and just call it good.
You know, you just walk up
and just sprinkle some dirt on him,
and it's like he's buried.
That's gonna stink.
You know, that's gonna be infested with critters.
And then, well, pouring, pouring.
Okay, let's just pour some dirt on the body.
No, no, a burial, you're surrounded by earth.
I mean, you're in the earth.
You're buried in dirt.
Well, that's what baptism is.
You go underwater.
Okay?
And by the way, the Bible says that to be baptized
there's one thing that has to happen first.
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
Let me ask you this.
Does a baby believe in Christ?
A baby doesn't even know.
I mean, a baby discovers its hand.
You know, that's a milestone.
Like, if you read books about rearing babies,
it'll tell you, like, here's a milestone.
They discovered their hand.
And they'll just lay there and just,
wow, you know, this is really cool.
You know, they don't know who Jesus is.
They're innocent.
If they die, they go to heaven
because they haven't even sinned.
They're totally innocent.
They don't even know right from wrong.
Never even heard the laws of God.
Can't even comprehend that which is good or evil
at that point.
But what we see is that a believer, after they get saved,
should be baptized as a symbol of,
hey, let's walk in newness of life.
What's the moral of the sermon?
What's the sermon about today?
Get everything you believe from this book, number one.
Number two, understand the importance
of the resurrection today.
Bodily resurrection.
It is salvation.
You quitting drinking is not salvation.
You joining a church is not salvation.
You getting baptized is not salvation.
You, you know, you moved out from your girlfriend
that you were fornicating with is not salvation.
Believing on Christ, believing in the death
from the resurrection is salvation.
That's the gospel.
And lastly this, the resurrection teaches us
that we should be changed.
Not automatically gonna be changed.
We gotta take some steps to change.
What's the first step, getting baptized?
What's the next step?
Going to church, reading our Bible, praying.
And you know what?
It takes a lifetime to grow in the Lord
and we're never gonna be perfect, but let's keep growing.
Let's keep doing better.
Let's keep trying to fall in the footsteps of Christ
to the best of our ability.
And you know, we're gonna fail,
but we need to just keep getting back up
and try to walk in newness of life.
Now let me say this.
If you're here today, we're gonna be,
we are gonna be baptizing people
after the service this morning.
If you're here today and you've never been baptized
since after you believed on Christ,
since after you got saved, you need to get baptized today.
You know, and again, nobody's gonna force you to do it.
It's something you have to decide to do.
It's your decision, but God commands you to be baptized.
And so if you've never been baptized after,
you say, well, I got baptized as a baby.
You took a bath.
That's it, that's what happened.
Okay, well, I got baptized 10 years ago,
but I got saved two years ago.
You took a bath 10 years ago.
You need to get baptized after you get saved.
And here's the thing, it's up to you.
We've got all the change of clothes.
We got the towels, you know, we got the water.
What does hinder you to be baptized?
Nothing.
But it's up to you, my friend,
but let me tell you something.
When you put off obedience to God,
and you put it off, and you put it off,
and years and years and years go by,
you know, and then you wonder why your life doesn't change.
God's waiting for you to obey him.
He says if you can't be faithful in that which is least,
the little thing,
you're not gonna be faithful in the big thing.
And you know, I know you want your Aunt Plutie
to fly in from Virginia,
and you got family that needs to come in from Europe
for your baptism, and you need to bring in a photo crew,
and you need to bring in, you know,
look, that's not what baptism's about.
The Philippian jailer got baptized
in the middle of the night.
It's just about just obeying Christ.
It's not about putting on, you know,
oh man, we gotta send out engraved invitations.
Just get baptized today.
Just get dunked under water and be done with it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
We thank you for just a way to separate fact from fiction,
Lord, because if we didn't have the Bible,
we'd just be totally clueless on what is true
and what is false, but thank you for letting us
use the Bible as a source of all truth
to cut through all the disinfo
and figure out what's true and what's false, Lord.
Lord, there are false prophets today
going to people's doors telling lies,
telling a fiction about the resurrection,
that it was a spirit leaving a body.
Lord, help the glorious gospel of the bodily resurrection
to go forth today.
In every church in America, Lord,
every Bible-believing church,
all Christians of the world today
that are true believers in the gospel,
I pray that they would preach
the bodily resurrection of Christ,
both in the church house and door-to-door
and at family gatherings.
Lord, help it not to just be a Easter bunny egg fest.
Help us to preach the word of God today.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, let's go ahead and, all right,
the bells ring, which means that we broke our record.
How many do we have?
Wow, so our old record was 111 for a Sunday morning.
We hit 118, which means that we have ice cream
after the service for everybody.
So stick around for ice cream,
stick around for the baptisms.
If you've not been baptized, come approach me
or approach someone else in the church
and tell them, hey, I'd like to be baptized today.
And let's sing one quick song before we're dismissed.