Baptist Church, we're going to go ahead and get started this morning, first and
foremost, happy Easter, and so if you would find a seat and grab a hymnal,
our first hymn this morning is number 33, Christ the Lord is risen today, hymn
number 33, 3-3, Christ the Lord is risen today.
33 there, on the first.
at this time we'll open with a word of prayer if you'll bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day and just not only today but every day
that we can celebrate Your Son's resurrection that He died for our sins
was buried in Rose again that third day to pay that price for us. Lord I pray that
every day but especially this day we would just cherish that in our heart
that our hearts would be on that our minds would be thinking of that great
sacrifice.
in reverence. Lord I pray that with that being said that everything that we do today for this
service would be reverent to you, that you would incline your ears as we sing praises out unto you
and that you would just bless us all as we go our separate ways after the service. These things
we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right for our second hymn turn if you would to number 20
2-0, when I see the blood.
Please raise your hand and usher will bring you one. Thank you for joining us this morning
On the front of our bulletin, you will notice our Bible memory passage of the week and anyone who is able to memorize this entire chapter and recite it word perfectly to an adult non-family member will receive a prize.
And there's already one person who's done this, so it can be done. It's been proven, alright? So keep working hard on it.
And we'll get those prizes at the end. On the inside, you'll see our service times listed Sunday morning at 10.30 AM.
Sunday evening at 4.30 p.m. and our Wednesday evening Bible study through the book of Proverbs is at 7 o'clock
Below that is our soul winning times and soul winning is just when we go out into the community and preach the gospel
Because as we are thinking of and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ today when he rose again
What does he tell his disciples to do to go and to preach the gospel?
And so that's what we do here at the at our church our times are listed there below that is the nursing home ministry
Schedule brother Theodore is preaching today brother Cameron next week
and below that is our year to date statistics. Praise the Lord for 237 so far this year. That's
great numbers. Definitely want to encourage everyone to keep going soul winning. Upcoming events May
16th through the 18th.
is the King James Bible Conference
at Sher Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington.
Definitely would encourage you if you can,
make it out to that conference.
It's gonna be very informative, great preaching,
lots of educational sermons being preached.
But even if you can't,
I definitely wanted to put that in there
so you could watch those sermons online.
Below that is our May 31st Durant Oklahoma
soul winning marathon,
where we're gonna be teaming up
with Steadfast Baptist Church.
So we're really looking forward to that.
June 28th, we've got a fellowship day. Our church is going to go hang out and have a good time at the Tinker Air Show at the Air Force Base here in town.
And the following day, we're going to have a guest preacher, Brother Ben Naim from Steadfast Baptist Church, who will be preaching both services for us that day.
So we're really excited to be having him preach for us.
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship that's a conference that's
going to be taking place at Steadfast Baptist Church. It's going to be a great time and really
the highlight is that Bahamas mission trip there below October 6th through the 11th. A huge portion
of our church is going to this and it's one of the most receptive places on earth to preach the
part in the mega soul winning marathon where multiple churches from all around the united
states and all around the world were participating in soul winning at the same time and thank the
lord there's been really great results from that we had yesterday 17 soul winners and 15
salvations which is great numbers especially considering you know some of those soul winners
are little kids and babies and stuff like that and it was kind of a nasty day of weather yesterday
the joy of the resurrection you know they want to listen and they got saved so
we had 15 yesterday and of the world results there was 35 churches who
participated with 604 soul winners and 779 salvation just yesterday so let's
give a round of applause to all the churches
You know sometimes we could forget about what a big impact that we make when we're out soul winning
It can sometimes get monotonous and you're just going soul winning and oh, we're just in Oklahoma City
But you know every time we go soul winning
We're actually making a huge impact and we're a part of the big number of every day because all over this world
People are preaching gospel every day and we don't know what the total is, but it's big numbers every single day
and we're a part of that so I definitely want to encourage you to come out soul-winning with us.
If you're a visitor we'd like to you to scan that code if you will and just fill out a
communication card so we could have a record of your visit below that. On the back you will see
our prayer list.
Please do keep all those requests in prayer, and if you have any requests, please email the church
And we will be happy to add you for that. There's some information about giving below
One other note is immediately after the service this morning. We are going to be catering
Barbecue, so you came at a good time at Anchor Baptist Church for catering some barbecue
Please do stick around and share a meal with us. We'd love to have you for that
So looking forward to this day at this time. We'll go ahead and go to our third song
Write our third song this morning number 36 Christ arose
Him number 36 36 Christ arose
36 there on the first
Thanks for watching!
great singing this morning as the offering plates are being passed turn if
you would to Matthew chapter number 28 Matthew chapter number 28
Matthew 28 And the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow.
And for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear ye not, fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus, which was crucified, he is not here, for he is risen.
As he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly, and tell his disciples
There, shall ye see him, lo, I have told you."
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre, with fear and great joy, and did run to bring
his disciples word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, all hail.
And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him.
That they go into Galilee and there they shall see me
Now when they were going behold
Some of the watch came into the city and showed under the chief priests all the things that were done and
When they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel
They gave large money unto the soldiers saying say ye
His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept
And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you."
So they took the money and did as they were taught, and this saying is commonly reported
among the Jews until this day.
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them,
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,
and lo, I am with you all way,
even unto the end of the world, amen.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thankful to be in your house today.
Thankful for all those that are gathered here.
You help us to set aside the cares of the world.
Help us learn to focus this Easter
on preaching of your word, so that we have soft and tender
hearts, so that you can feel after all of this year.
And pray, amen.
We are in a great chapter this morning giving an account of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
And let's start reading verse number one
The Bible says in the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week
Came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. So to set the scene
This is very very early in the morning says in verse number two and behold there was a great earthquake
For the angel the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.
Now, of course, it's just evidence that God is working in this situation because this is the second large earthquake that's happened in this area just in the space of a few days because, of course, when Jesus died on the cross, there was a huge earthquake.
And now when this angel of the Lord descends from heaven, there's another earthquake and the Bible doesn't tell us necessarily who this angel is.
But man, what a blessed angel that got to come down and roll the stone away from the door. It says in verse number three.
His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow and for fear of him
The keepers did shake and became as dead
Men, so the keepers of the tomb saw and beheld this angel.
And you know, Hallmark likes to show angels
as being like these little cute, fat, chubby babies
or something like that.
But every time a person sees an angel in the Bible,
they're always terrified to death.
So you know, these angels are kind of scary looking,
they're bright, they're shining,
and these men are terrified, they fall down as dead.
Then it says that the angel's gonna speak here.
In verse five, and the angel answered and said unto the woman,
Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
Verse 6, he is not here, for he is risen.
And those are some of the best words in the English language right there, that Jesus is risen.
As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.
Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, lo, I have told you."
You know, this had to have been an extremely surreal situation for these ladies here, where
the angels speaking with them, telling them that Jesus has risen from the dead, and he's
like, look, look at the place where he lay, and guess what, you're about to see him.
from the dead, verse eight says,
and they departed quickly from the sepulchre,
notice their attitude here,
with fear and great joy,
and did run to bring his disciples word.
And as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them, saying, all hail.
And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.
You know, I love that phrase that Jesus tells these people to hail him because, you know,
in speaking to Muslims out soul winning throughout the years, one of the things that Muslims
constantly are telling me is, you know, show me a place in the Bible where Jesus commanded
to be worshiped.
Okay, right here, when Jesus rose again from the dead and conquered hell and death, you
know what he said?
He said, all hail.
Why?
He is the Son of God.
He did rise again from the dead.
Verse number 10 says,
then said Jesus unto them,
be not afraid,
go tell my brethren
that they go into Galilee
and there shall they see me.
Let's back up real quick to verse number eight.
I just want to read this one part again where it says,
and they departed quickly from the sepulchre
notice with fear and great joy.
And the title of my sermon this morning
is simply the joy of the resurrection.
the joy of the resurrection.
You know, Easter is one of the happiest days of the year.
When we're thinking about the glorious triumph of our Lord,
the fact that he physically rose again from the dead.
And when these ladies here found out
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
you know what it gave them?
It gave them great joy.
And, you know, here we are over 2000 years later and we are
experiencing that great joy of the fact that Jesus rose again
from the dead. And I want to give you several reasons this morning.
Why the resurrection gives us joy. Why you should be happy about
this great event. Number one.
The resurrection validates the Christian faith.
You know, that makes me happy to know that, hey, I believe in the right religion.
I have the real Word of God here and everything in it is true.
Why?
Because the resurrection of Jesus has now validated Christianity as true.
Go to Matthew chapter number 16.
Matthew 16.
Now, why is this the case?
He made a lot of claims with his mouth.
He said, hey, I am the Son of God.
He said, I'm going to be killed.
I'm going to rise again on the third day.
But you know, before it actually happened,
people could look at him and say, well, he's just making claims.
But when he actually did it, you know what it did?
Is it validated everything that Jesus said?
It validated his teachings.
And by extension, it validates the word of God.
It validates Christianity.
Look at Matthew 16, verse 21.
From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.
That is quite a prophecy to make about yourself.
We might just read the Bible over and over and take these things for granted, but put yourself in the shoes of people that literally heard Him say this in the flesh.
Here's a guy who's 100% man.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was born from a virgin,
he's a real man, flesh and blood.
He was a man and here he is saying that I'm gonna die,
but I'm gonna rise again from the dead.
That's not some small claim that he's making right here.
I mean, this is a huge claim that he's making,
but look at verse number 22.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from the Lord
This shall not be unto thee Peter's kind of getting carnal here and getting in the flesh
Because while I understand he doesn't want his Lord and his friend Jesus to die
Jesus dying on the cross and rising again from the dead is necessary to save us and
Necessary to save the world from sin. So of course, this is God's will that Jesus would die
and rise again from the dead.
Peter is kind of rebuking him, but verse 23 says,
but he turned and said unto Peter,
get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art in offense unto me.
For thou savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me." See, it was Peter's own human understanding and his own fleshly desire that his friend would never die,
but really it was the will of God that Jesus would die, that he would be buried, and that he would rise again from the dead.
Why? Because
By Jesus doing that, Jesus has now validated everything that He's preached.
He's now proven His words to be true.
He's proven to the world that He is the Son of God.
And you know what?
There's no excuse now.
I mean, Christianity is just objectively true.
Why?
Because Jesus rose again from the dead.
That's why.
It all hinges on that.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 15.
Let me think about it.
You want to know why Christianity is the most popular religion in human history.
You want to know why the Bible is the most popular book in human history?
You want to know why the name of Jesus Christ is known by the entire world?
And has been for thousands of years is because Jesus rose again from the dead. That's why.
It wasn't just because he was a good teacher, though he was.
It wasn't just because he preached good sermons, though he did.
He preached the best sermons.
But let me tell you why Christianity is just revered all around the world,
believed on by millions and millions, billions, really.
Why everyone reads the Bible, it's because Jesus rose again from the dead.
You know, if that would not have happened, Christianity would not have existed.
The teachings of Christ would have died with him, but the fact that Jesus rose again from
the dead validates that Christianity is the true religion.
Verse number one of 1 Corinthians 15.
The Bible says moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you by which also you have received and wherein you stand
By which also you are saved if you keep in memory that which 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 notice this phrase according to the scriptures
Then it says that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, notice, according to the Scriptures.
What was it that gave us testimony that bore witness of the fact that Jesus would die for the sins of the world,
that he would be buried and rise again from the dead?
It was the Scriptures that gave us that testimony.
And if Jesus did that, if Jesus fulfilled that, you know what it means?
It means that the Bible is true.
And here's the cool thing about the resurrection.
Is if you believe in the resurrection of Jesus, if we say, you know what, Jesus did rise again
from the dead.
By extension, you know what that means?
It means that everything in this Bible is true.
Because everything in the Word of God hinges on the fact that Jesus claimed to be the Son
of God, to be God in the flesh, and that he would die, be buried, and what, rise again
from the dead.
Go to, if you would, verse number five, verse number five, and before we read that real quick,
you have to understand that there's a lot of false religions that deny the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, right?
So the Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that Jesus' body rose again from the dead.
They believe that his body died, that it stayed dead, and only the Spirit arose.
But when Jesus rose from the dead, he showed his disciples the holes in his hands, in his feet, in his side.
He ate a meal with them because the resurrection of Jesus Christ was not just a Spirit rising again.
It was his body rising again. He bodily rose again from the dead. Then you have Islam.
and Muslims teach that Jesus never even died.
Not that he didn't rise again, but Jesus just never even died to begin with.
They believe that the crucifixion was made to look like Jesus died.
Like there was some sort of body double there, but really that God just preserved Jesus'
life and took him up to heaven without him ever dying.
You know what?
That is false doctrine.
That's damnable heresy.
Because the Bible says that Jesus died according to the Scriptures.
So if you're going to say that Jesus didn't die, you're denying the Word of God.
And guess what?
By him dying, he also had to raise again from the dead.
Where do we get that doctrine?
From the scriptures.
So if he did die, and if he did rise again from the dead,
you know what that means?
It means that the Bible is true.
Verse number five says this.
and that he was seen of Cephas,
then of the 12.
After that, he, Jesus, was seen of above notice,
500 brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain unto this present,
but some are fallen asleep.
So he's saying that these 500 men
saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ with their own eyes.
And when he says that the greater part remain,
he's saying some of these guys are even alive.
at the time that this is being written, but some are falling asleep, some have gone to heaven.
After that, verse 7, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all,
he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
So notice when it comes to believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's not some blind faith.
It's not just one person's word against everyone else, like for example, the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon, people who believe in Mormonism, they are just trusting in blind faith.
You just have to listen to this cult leader who told you that God came to him in the United
States of America and gave him these golden tablets that only he saw, no one else saw,
and he buried those on the earth where no one could ever examine them, and he just wants
to deliver you the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you what that is.
That's blind faith.
But you know what? God does not require of us blind faith to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because there were hundreds and
hundreds of eyewitnesses.
This is not just some clever fable, some cute little story.
This is historical fact that Jesus rose again from the dead.
And you have to have more faith in my opinion to not believe in the resurrection than to believe in it.
because God's given us many proofs of that, all these great witnesses.
I mean, to be an atheist today, to deny the Lord Jesus Christ,
to deny the resurrection of His body, you have to sit here and say
that all these hundreds of people decided together
to concoct this story that Jesus rose again from the dead
and then many of them were going to be tortured and persecuted to the death
preaching that lie.
Now, I understand there's sometimes in life there are going to be people who would die
for a lie, but you know what?
It's very unlikely that hundreds and hundreds of people would do that.
And you know what?
Jesus claimed to rise again from the dead, and He did rise again from the dead, and there
was hundreds of witnesses of that.
So guess what?
If Jesus rose again from the dead, then Christianity is the true religion.
Oh, it's just so hard to figure out what the truth is.
There's so many religions in this world.
How do you know which one is right?
How about there was one where the man, the God-man said,
I'm gonna die and rise again from the dead, and then he did that.
You think that might be the true religion?
Look, it's not hard to figure it out.
God told us, he gave us his word, he said,
I'm gonna rise again from the dead.
Hundreds of people saw it, it was preserved in his word,
it's not hard to know the truth.
Jesus is God.
The Bible is true. Christianity is the true religion, folks.
Those who believe in Islam are deceived and will spend eternity in hell unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
Jews who deny that Jesus is the Messiah and reject Him as their Savior.
Look, they have a false religion, folks. They need to realize that He was the Messiah.
He did die for their sins. He did raise again from the dead. They need to trust in Him.
And anyone who does not will spend eternity in hell.
And look, the Gospel is good news. Why is it good news?
Because the Bible does not say, hey, I have good news for you.
You're a sinner and if you just live a perfect life,
if you just repent of all your sins,
if you just follow all the commandments, you can go to heaven.
No, no, no. Salvation is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts chapter 16 verse 31 what shall we do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
Right because Jesus died for our sins. He was buried and most importantly. He rose again from the dead
That's gonna bring me to point to go to Romans chapter number 10 Romans chapter number 10
You know the resurrection brings me great joy. Why because it proves Christianity is true
I opened my Bible and I'm not wondering if it's true. I know it's true because Jesus rose again
Number two, the resurrection brings me joy because the resurrection saves us from sin.
The resurrection saves us from sin.
Look at verse number nine of Romans 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
See, believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a requirement for salvation.
You will not go to heaven if you deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is why religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses are false witnesses of God.
It is a false religion.
Islam is a false religion.
Judaism is a false religion.
And these people are not saved.
You must believe in the resurrection to go to heaven,
and it brings me great joy as someone who does believe in the resurrection,
that, hey, I'm saved.
I'm forgiven of my sins by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 15 again.
1 Corinthians 15.
But I wanted to show you that in Romans 10,
because it makes it very clear this is a requirement to be saved.
You must believe in it.
15 verse 12
Notice what the Bible says now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead
How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
You know the Apostle Paul is kind of just bewildered here like how are some of you saying that there's no such thing as
Resurrection the whole Bible teaches this concept. How are you denying this?
You know, that's that's how I feel today about the false religions. It's like Joe's witnesses. How are you denying this?
Muslims, how are you denying this?
This is a historical fact here, verse 13, but if there be no resurrection of the dead...
Then is Christ not risen see there were some people during the time that this was being written that denied that
Resurrection existed at all for anyone not even just for Christ, but for anyone these people were the Sadducees the Sadducees denied
The physical resurrection that it was even possible and he's kind of going down this
Logical thinking with them he's saying okay, well if there's no resurrection of the dead at all then you know what that means
It means that Christ is not risen
It means that Christ is not raised.
And what ramifications does that have?
Verse 14, notice what it says,
and if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain.
You know what it means to be vain?
It means empty, meaningless, without purpose, without point.
And he's saying, look, if Jesus did not rise again from the dead, then preaching the word
of God is completely pointless.
Because if Jesus did not rise again from the dead, then you know what that means?
That means that the Bible would not be true.
That means that Jesus' claims that he made of his life would not be true.
But of course, we know that that is true, but he's just going down this thought experiment saying,
if theoretically Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then my preaching to you is vain, and your faith is also vain.
He's saying, look, there's no point of even believing then if Jesus didn't rise again from the dead.
Why? Let's keep reading verse 15.
Yay!
And we are found false witnesses of God.
because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up.
If so be that the dead rise not.
He's saying, look, if Jesus did not rise from the dead
and we're sitting here telling you that he did,
you know what, that would make us false witnesses.
That would make us liars.
But of course, that's not the case.
The apostles are the ones that are telling the truth.
The 500 plus witnesses are the ones telling the truth
that they saw Jesus rise again from the dead.
The reality is that the false witnesses today
are those that deny the resurrection.
That's why I call them the Jehovah's false witnesses.
They are not our brothers in Christ.
They are false witnesses of God because they deny the resurrection.
Then it says, verse 16,
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.
And notice this very important point.
You are yet in your sins.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is necessary for us to have forgiveness of sins.
And this is why Christianity would be vain.
Your faith would be vain.
This sermon this morning would be vain.
All that we're doing as a church here would be vain if Jesus did not rise again from the dead.
But when you flip that around and you realize okay, but he did rise again from the dead
You know what that means? That means nothing that we're doing for Christ is in vain
That means that every time we preach someone the gospel and someone trusts in the Lord and someone calls upon the name of the Lord to be saved
Those are not vain words going nowhere. They're actually putting their trust today in the living God
Because Jesus yes, he died, but he's not dead right now
All the other false prophets of antiquity in times past are dead and in the ground and in hell,
but Jesus Christ is alive today.
And that's why today is a happy day.
Today is a joyous day.
Why? Because we have the forgiveness of sins through the death of Jesus Christ.
Now go to Galatians chapter 2.
You know, so far many Christians would agree with pretty much everything I've preached this morning.
But where some differences come is that there are many Christians in this world that will say yes, Jesus died
Yes, Jesus rose again from the dead. Yes, we have to believe in him
But many Christians will say this but I also have to live a good life
I also have to keep the commandments.
I also have to repent of my sins and turn away from my sins.
Otherwise, my sins won't be forgiven.
Okay, I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2 verse 16.
If you're following along, if not, listen very carefully to this verse.
It says,
The Bible says that you are not going to be made righteous.
We're all sinners, right?
But you're not going to be made righteous.
You're not going to have your sins forgiven by the works of the law.
What are the works of the law?
Following the commandments.
And look, I believe in following the commandments.
We should follow the commandments, but not for salvation.
If you think that you have to follow the commandments to be saved,
let me help you.
You're not trusting in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You're trusting in yourself.
Because if I tell you, hey, I'm going to heaven because I am in church this morning.
And because I'm even a pastor and I live a good life and I read the Bible and I pray and I tie, then I do all these things.
You know who I'm trusting in is myself. Here I am telling you all the things that I do.
But you know what? That's not what I believe. Here's what I believe. I am a sinner.
I have broken God's commandments, and as a result of me being a sinner, the Bible says for the wages of sin is death.
You know what I deserve as a sinner? Eternity in hell.
I am not a good person. You are not a good person. There is none that doeth good, the Bible says. No, not one.
That's why it's impossible to be justified by the works of the law, because your corruptible sinful flesh is already sinned and you will sin every day of your life.
Then Paul goes on to say this he says so we're not justified by the works of the law
But by the faith of Jesus Christ
What is that?
That's putting our trust in the fact that he died for our sins that he was buried and rose again from the dead
Then he says even we have believed in Jesus Christ
Why that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law
For by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified.
I wish every Catholic church this morning
would read this verse like a thousand times
to understand what it actually says
that you're not saved by the works of the law.
You are not justified by doing good works.
You are not justified by going to church,
by confessing your sins,
by praying and asking for forgiveness,
by taking communion.
You're not justified by any of those things.
In fact, even if you do all those things,
If you think that you're getting to heaven by your own good works,
you will go to hell when you die.
And look, I don't want that.
I want people to be saved.
That's why I'm here this morning,
preaching the good news that Jesus died for all of your sins,
that he was buried and he rose again from the dead.
Notice verse 20.
He says,
I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
What a beautiful verse that is.
Verse 21, I do not frustrate.
Now what does that word frustrate me?
It means to make of none effect, right?
To frustrate something is kind of like swatted away, to make it of none effect, of no power to you.
It says, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Let's just play your game a little bit, work salvationists and say, okay, salvation is
by works.
Let's just play that game for a minute.
The Bible says, if righteousness was obtained by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
You know what that means?
That means that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would be meaningless and pointless.
That means that Jesus coming down to earth to be born of a virgin, to live a sinless
to endure the mocking and suffering and death on the cross
would have all been for nothing if you can get yourself to heaven
by being a good person.
You know what? Work salvation is blasphemy.
Work salvation is spitting in the face of God
and spitting in the face of his free gift that he gave you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
He gave you His only begotten Son.
That is an extremely precious, valuable gift in the eyes of God to give of His only begotten Son to us.
And you know what? It's wicked, it's blasphemous, it's false doctrine to sit here and stay.
Oh, I don't need that sacrifice.
Oh, no, I'm going to get to heaven on my own by being a good person.
No, you're not.
If you think you have to do good works to be saved, you will not make it to heaven.
You are, what are you doing?
You are frustrating the grace of God.
For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Of course implying that salvation is not by the law and that Christ is not dead in vain
because his death, burial and resurrection is what gives us forgiveness of sins.
That's why I have joy this morning of the resurrection because my sins have been forgiven
by his resurrection.
Notice what it says in verse 4, Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of
you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace.
See if you want to be justified by works, if you want to stand before God and tell him,
oh I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person, because I lived a good life, because
I went to church, I did all these things, then the Bible says that Christ is become
of none effect unto you.
See, there is no such thing as you trust 50% in Jesus and 50% in yourself.
There's no trusting 99% in Jesus and 1% of your works.
If you trust at all in your works, Christ's sacrifice is applied to you exactly zero.
Exactly zero.
You must put all of your faith in Christ to be saved.
Go back to Romans chapter number five, Romans chapter number five.
Some people get angry at this doctrine that salvation is free, that it's by faith alone.
But look, the gospel is called good news.
This doesn't make me mad.
This makes me extremely happy to realize that the resurrection saves me for my sins.
You know what would be sad is if the work salvationists were right.
That would be sad.
Hey, I've got good news for you.
You're a sinner.
You're worthy of hell.
And all you have to do to be saved is keep all the commandments,
repent of all your sins, never sin again, live a good life.
Like, that's not good news, folks.
Because if salvation was by works, if you could lose your salvation by sinning or not keeping the commandments,
then you would lose your salvation every single day because we're all sinners.
You say, no, I'm great. I'm perfect. I'm wonderful.
You must not be reading the Bible. You must not be reading the commandments to realize that we're all sinners.
The Bible says that the thought of foolishness is sin.
Oh, you want to keep your salvation by living a good life?
Well, you better never have a foolish thought again.
Otherwise, you'll immediately just lose your salvation.
No, that's stupid, folks.
You're eternally secure through faith in Christ.
Romans chapter 5, verse 6, notice what it says,
For when we were yet without strength,
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
See, that's what we are.
We are the ungodly.
We are not righteous.
Yet, per venture for a good man, some would even dare to die.
Most people are not going to die for another person.
Most people are not even going to die for another person that they think is really great
and really wonderful and really righteous.
Now there are some people that would be willing to do it for a really awesome person, but
you know, especially most people are not going to die for just some random bozo.
You know, most people are not going to give up their life for some random stranger, some
wicked person.
But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us
See the love of God was that not Jesus died for us because we're so gray. We're so wonderful. We're so righteous
No, Christ died for us even though we were sinners even though that we were wicked even though that we were the ungodly
Sometimes we hear stories of bravery
of first responders or soldiers doing some sort of brave act in defense of some great
person or some innocent victim and we think that person's great.
But you know, Jesus is way more of a hero than that because he died for a bunch of wicked
sinners like us, a bunch of people that didn't deserve salvation.
You know, what a hero that Jesus was to die for our sins, to rise again from the dead.
Being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies
We were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being
Reconciled notice this phrase we shall be saved by his life
See you're not saved by your life. You're not saved by you doing good things you going to church
You're saved by the resurrection of Christ his life. That's how
You're going to be saved.
Go to John chapter number 11.
Number three, why the resurrection gives me joy this morning.
Number three, the resurrection spares us from death.
Spares us from death.
You know, I'm excited.
I'm happy about the fact that his resurrection
invalidates Christianity.
I'm excited.
I'm thankful about the fact that his resurrection
is what has my salvation is why I'm forgiven of my sins.
And it also spares us from death.
Think about death.
Just that word usually conjures up images of terror and fear and people people are very terrified of death
Death is something that happens around us all the time. Death is going on in this world every single second
There's wars going on all over this world where millions of people are being destroyed and killed and people are scared of death
And you know what if you're unsaved you should be scared of death
Because you don't have anything pleasant to look forward to if you're unsaved you have eternal torment and fire to look forward to
But for those of us that are saved, it's different.
Notice John 11, verse 21.
Then said, Martha unto Jesus, Lord,
if thou hath been here, my brother had not died.
Just to give you some context, of course,
Martha's brother Lazarus has died.
And Jesus has shown up and Martha's saying,
Jesus, if you were here, my brother would not have died.
Verse 22 says, but I know that even now,
whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again.
Verse 24, Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
But he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, notice shall never die.
The Bible says for the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The way that the Bible often uses the term death is not how we would use it
in the simple sense of shedding our body, of just dying in a carnal sense.
When the Bible says for the wages of sin is death, what's that saying?
It's saying that because we've sinned, we deserve hell.
That's what death is talking about there is hell so when Jesus says whosoever liveth and believeth in me
Shall never die. He's not saying that your physical body isn't going to be shed someday. We're all gonna get old
We're all gonna die. We could die before we're old. We could get in a car accident
We could have warfare. We could have all sorts of crazy stuff, right?
We're all gonna die from our carnal perspective, but Jesus promises us that if you believe in him
If you believe that he is the resurrection and the life,
that you will never die.
And because of that, Christians have an inner peace
that no other people have in this world.
The fact that I know that the moment I close my eyes
on this earth, the moment I take my last breath,
I will be in eternity with God in heaven.
Why are we, I mean, we're not afraid of death.
I mean, the Apostle Paul talks about how to live is Christ and to die is game.
I mean, he's saying, don't scare me with heaven.
Heaven sounds great.
We're not afraid of going to heaven.
Heaven is going to be wonderful.
It's going to be pure joy.
It's going to be amazing.
You know, but of course we have work to do on this earth.
He says to abide is more needful.
It's needful that the apostle Paul stays on earth and ministers to people.
And look, I'm thankful for every day of life that God has given me.
I want to live a long life.
I want to stay on this earth and preach the gospel for as long as I can.
I want to love my family and my parents and my loved ones and you guys.
You know, I want to be on this earth, but look, I'm not afraid of going to heaven.
I am not afraid of dying. I am not afraid of shedding this body because I know that Jesus rose again from the dead
And if he did that, then you know what? This is true right here
That if you believe in Jesus, you will never die. Praise God for that. Go to Acts chapter number two Acts chapter number two
Verse 22 the Bible says
Ye men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye also
yourselves know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God
ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up.
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
Verse 25 says, For David speaketh concerning him,
I forsaw the Lord always before my face,
for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad.
Moreover, my flesh shall rest in hope.
Verse 27, Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one.
see corruption. You know the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ did go to
hell and when he was raised again from the dead the Bible says that he was
loosed from the pains of death right because once you have shed your physical
body once you have breathed your last you're no longer experiencing pain right
death is death really is not a process people like oh he's dying slowly no
really death is a moment
Death is when your spirit leaves you your body's gone once death happens. It's over. I'm sure dying hurts
And of course Jesus's torturous last hours on this earth were extremely painful
But when the Bible says that he was loose from the pains of death when did that happen? It says that when he rose him up
He loosed him from the pains of death.
Why? Because Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights when he died.
And you say, why is that? He's God. He's perfect. He's never sinned.
Amen. You're 100% right. But you know what? You've sinned.
And I've sinned. And the Bible says for the wages of sin is death.
What do we deserve because of our sin? Hell.
And so, not only did Jesus be born of a virgin, live a perfect life, die for our sins, he
also was buried and went to hell for three days and three nights to pay the punishment
that you and I deserve, but then what happened?
He rose again from the dead.
And by Jesus going and experiencing death and rising again from the dead, he has abolished
death.
He has he has conquered death and hell and so that's why none of us if you believe in him will ever experience death
What does that mean? You will never experience hell if you are saved you will not spend one second in hell
There is no purgatory
where Catholics will teach well you know you get a second chance if you didn't
really live that good of a life you get to go to the nice part of hell where it's
not too hot there's there's no Abraham's bosom folks there's no purgatory hell
once you're there you're there eternally but guess what we will never go there if
we trust in Jesus Christ because he has abolished death and hell go to
Revelation chapter number 20 as you're turning there
I will read Hebrews 2 verse 9, the Bible says,
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
See, when it's talking about his death,
here's how we know it's not talking about
his physical shedding of his body,
is because the Bible says that he tasted of death.
Taste is to experience for a short duration to get a little sampling of, to taste something, right?
But Jesus did not get a little sampling of a physical death. He fully died, right?
His body was killed. He died on the cross.
But you know what? He only got a sampling of hell because he was there for three days and three nights.
That's why the Bible says that he tasted death for every man.
Revelation 20 notice what it says in verse 11 and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead those are the people in hell small and great stand before God and the books were open and another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
and the sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
And they were judged every man according to their works,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
See over and over and over again the Bible uses that word death to refer to hell and the dead here at the great white throne judgment
They are those who were just in hell and now the dead are standing before God
You know, it's not that people who are in hell aren't conscious of their conscious of their pain or anything like that
There is no annihilation that if you die unsaved God just burns up your soul real quick and you cease to exist
No, no, no, even though they're called the dead they're able to stand before God meaning that they have been
alive in a certain sense experiencing pain in hell.
See, you will eternally exist somewhere.
You will either eternally exist in heaven,
in joy and bliss and happiness with God
and the angels and God's people,
or you will eternally exist in hell.
burning for all of eternity and you know these people they've been in hell for who knows how long at this great white throne judgment
But they get this brief moment of respite where they stand before God and God's gonna judge them how according to their works
Because if you want to be judged according to your works, you will always come short
And these people, they didn't want to accept God's gift of salvation.
They didn't want to believe on Christ alone for their salvation.
They thought, I have to do good works to be saved.
And you know where they ended up? They ended up in hell.
And then in the great white throne judgment, they're going to stand before God, Almighty God,
and He's going to judge them according to their works.
You know what's going to happen? They're going to fail again,
and they're going to be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
That's crazy to think about.
Reunited with their bodies, thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity.
You know, we don't have to experience that. You don't have to experience that.
If you would just stop being so prideful and stop thinking that you have to do good works to be saved,
that you have to help Jesus out on your way to heaven, just stop being prideful and just accept the gift, folks.
Accept Jesus' grace, trust in Him alone for salvation.
If you do that, you will never experience death.
But if you fail to do that, you will burn for all of eternity and hell.
You know, that doesn't make me happy.
I don't want people in hell, but you know what?
I want to tell you that right now while you're still alive
before it's too late because once it's too late,
it can never change.
Go to Romans chapter number seven.
Number four this morning of why the resurrection brings me joy
is that the resurrection frees us from the law.
It frees us from the law.
Look at Romans chapter number seven.
Verse number one, the Bible says,
no, you not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law,
how that the law hath dominion over a man
as long as he liveth.
And of course, for the carnal man,
the law has this power and dominion over you
because it's showing you that you are transgressor,
that you are a sinner.
Then it says in verse two,
he's gonna give us kind of an earthly example
to help us understand that.
The Bible says for the woman,
which hath and husband is bound
by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.
So the husband has this dominion and authority over his wife
as long as he is alive.
Why? Because in Ephesians chapter five, the Bible teaches
the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church.
So the husband has that authority,
but it says if the husband be dead,
She is loose from the law of her husband if your husband dies you no longer have to obey him
He's not here anymore to tell you what to do. You're loose from that law, right?
Then it says in verse number three
So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man
She shall be called an adulteress, but if her husband be dead
She is free from that law so that she is no adulterous though. She'd be married to another man first force says where for my brethren
Ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ.
That ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
See, the law of God, you know what it tells us?
The law of God tells us, you must be perfect.
You must be holy and that is God's desire for us. He wants us to be holy
But you know if you tried to be justified by the law of God if you tried to make it to heaven by keeping the commandments
There's only one way that you could possibly do that and that is if you perfectly kept every
Commandment from the second you were born to the second you died and you never send a single time
Now, is that possible?
Absolutely not, right?
So that law has dominion over us in the sense
that we're condemned by it.
Like, how do we get sin?
Sin is the transgression of the law.
I would not have known sin if it wasn't for the law.
So the law has dominion over man in the sense
that it condemns us of our sins.
But, you know, if you want to be forgiven of that,
if you want to be free from the bondage,
of the law from a salvific perspective,
you have to believe in Jesus Christ.
You have to trust in Him.
That's why He says, again,
even Him who is what?
Raised from the dead.
That we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Look at Romans 7, verse 12.
Wherefore, the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good.
So we're not against the law of God.
We're not speaking against the law of God.
We love the law of God.
We love the word of God.
It's good.
It's holy.
It's just.
But we are not.
We are sinners.
We are unjust.
We are not good.
Verse 13 was then that which is good made death unto me.
God forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
That sin, by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal.
Sold under sin.
And then notice the inner struggle he has here, he says, for that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
Right? So even though the Apostle Paul knows what's right,
even though he wants to follow the law of God,
we have this sinful, corruptible flesh
that is just causing us to be bent away from doing what's right.
We all have the flesh, and if we walk in the flesh,
you know what we're going to do?
We're going to constantly be breaking God's commandments.
We're gonna constantly be breaking the law.
And even Paul, one of the greatest Christians
who's ever living, he's saying,
look, I'm doing the same thing.
We all have the same flesh.
He says, if then I do that, which I would not.
He's saying, if I do things that I don't want to do,
that I don't like, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Right?
We're not gonna sit here and downgrade the law's importance
or its righteousness and holiness.
No, he's saying, the law is good, I'm bad.
The law is good, my flesh is bad.
He says,
For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do.
Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me, for I delight in
the law of God.
Notice this after the inward man.
See, after you're saved, there's two us.
There's the old you, there's the flesh,
there's the old man, and then when you get saved,
there's the new man, the inward man,
the regenerated, born-again man,
and our spirit, our saved spirit, does not sin.
Our saved spirit wants us to do right.
The Holy Spirit of God and dwells in us
and wants us to keep God's commandments,
wants us to go to church.
And look, if you're saved today,
you're gonna be reading these verses,
you're gonna be singing the hymns
and your heart is gonna be burning within you
for love of God and for just acknowledgement
of the truth of these words
because the Holy Spirit is bearing witness of that.
But you know what, if you walk in the flesh,
you know what you're gonna start doing?
You're gonna start doing things that you don't like.
You're gonna start committing sins
that you would not allow other people to do
because that's the old man there.
But look, when you trust in Jesus Christ, you become a new creature, and that new creature
is not under the bondage of the law because that new creature is not transgressing God's
law.
And so what I'm not teaching, I'm not teaching,
oh, let's get rid of the law of God.
Let's not follow God's commandments.
That's not what I'm saying,
but I'm saying it's condemning power over you
from a salvation standpoint,
is no longer in effect when you believe in Jesus Christ.
If you sin, God's grace abounds.
Now, shall we continue and sin
that God's grace may abound?
God forbid.
Al shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein.
I'm not sitting here telling you,
oh yeah, go sin with impunity, no big deal,
live a wicked life.
That's not what I'm saying, but what I am saying is that no matter what sins you commit,
if you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saved.
And you can never lose your salvation.
Go to Romans 4.
Well, I read 2 Corinthians 5, 17.
The Bible says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
See, Jesus became sin for us so that we can have his righteousness.
He took our sin, we take his righteousness.
Romans 4 verse 5, notice what it says,
But to him that work if not, that means they don't do any good works.
They don't follow the commandments. They don't live a good life.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifyeth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
It's like a counted to you. It is put on your behalf.
Jesus' righteousness that he had is now applied to your heart when you trust in him without works, without the deeds of the law.
Lastly, this morning, go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4.
Why the resurrection brings me great joy is because the resurrection will one day liberate our corruptible flesh
Because Jesus rose again our bodies someday after we die after we're buried after in the ground our bodies will
Physically rise again someday and you know what that brings me great joy. Look at 1st. Thessalonians 4
verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren
concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus,
will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,
shall not prevent them which are asleep.
for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words."
You know, when the rapture happens, all those who have already died
All those who are already in heaven are going to be brought with Jesus Christ in the air,
and they are going to be reunited with their bodies from the ground.
Those who have died in Christ are going to be risen again from the dead.
And those of us who are alive at the time of the rapture,
we are going to be the only people that get to skip that death process.
We just rise straight up to Him in heaven.
The Bible says to comfort one another with these words.
You know, it brings joy, excuse me, it brings joy.
to think about how Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Asaph,
just all the people in the man of God, like they will rise again someday.
They will physically resurrect someday.
That is a cool thought.
That is a cool thought that someday their bodies will come out of the ground.
They will receive new glorified bodies.
They will rise again from the dead.
Hey, I'm excited that someday the preachers of times past,
Christians that you know have died or have gone to heaven.
You know, Pastor Jack Hiles is going to raise again from the dead someday.
That's pretty cool.
Pastor John R. Rice is going to rise again from the dead someday.
And your loved ones who've trusted in Jesus Christ, who have died, they will rise again from the dead someday.
What a joyous thought that is! What a blessed thought that is!
That those who are asleep in Jesus someday will rise again from the dead, and they're not going to rise in their corruptible flesh.
You know, their bones or something like that. They're getting a glorified, brand new, perfect body from Jesus Christ.
Praise God for that. Go to 1 Corinthians 15.
As you turn there, Philippians 3.20 says,
For our conversation is in heaven.
From Wins also, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body.
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
You know, our flesh is corruptible.
The older we get, the more problems it gets.
You can have injuries that are lifelong, permanent.
You can have illnesses that are lifelong, permanent.
Our bodies are vile.
But someday we're gonna get a body
like to his uncorruptible body.
You're not gonna have any problems.
You're not gonna have any pain.
You're not gonna have any illnesses.
You know, that is a great blessed thought.
Notice 1 Corinthians 15 verse 50.
We're gonna read the remainder of the chapter here. It says,
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The death of, I'm sorry, the sting of death is sin
and the strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be to God, which giveeth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that is what we're thanking today.
Thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank God that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he went to hell,
and that he most importantly rose again from the dead.
Thank God for that.
And you know, what is the application of that beautiful truth of the fact that Jesus did
die?
Jesus did, was buried according to the scriptures.
Jesus did rise again according to the scriptures.
And you know what? Our faith is not in vain.
We are not false witnesses of God.
What we're doing does matter.
And you know what? On top of that, as a cherry on top,
not only did Jesus rise again,
but someday you're going to rise again too.
Someday you're going to get a glorified body too.
You know, how should we respond to that?
What's the application to that great truth?
Verse 58 says,
Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
You want to know why Anchor Baptist Church, why the work that we're doing matters? It's because Jesus rose again from the dead.
You want to know why you're making a difference every time you go soul winning and every time someone calls upon the name of the Lord that their soul is actually being spared from death and from hell is because Jesus rose again from the dead.
Why is it that we should dedicate our lives to studying the Word of God,
come into church, doing all the things that the Bible says,
sacrificing of our time and our money and our effort and our energy,
to serve the Lord Jesus Christ because it's not in vain in the Lord?
Because Jesus rose again from the dead.
Go to John chapter 20.
John chapter number 20.
I want us to look at what Jesus said after his resurrection.
And the instructions that he gave was not just to his disciples, you know what, it's to you.
And it's to me.
John chapter 20 verse 18.
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord
and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut
where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them,
peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed them his hands and his side, then were the disciples
glad.
And that's what the sermon is, the joy of the resurrection.
They were glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus unto them again, peace be unto you, notice, as my Father hath sent me,
even so, send I you.
You know what the application of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is for us is that Jesus rose
again from the dead and what was it that he told his disciples to do, he's like, hey,
I send you.
You know what he's talking about?
He's talking about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Because let me just tell you something.
Unplug from your long week at work, from your social media scrolling, for whatever your
thinking about throughout the week.
You want to know all that matters in this universe
is where you go when you die.
All that matters is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All that matters is where you are going to spend eternity.
And you know, all that matters after that we're saved
is helping other people experience the same joy that we have this morning.
See, it's great that we have joy this morning. Praise God!
Man, I'm so thankful that He rose again from the dead.
It proves Christianity is true.
I'm not afraid of death. I'm not afraid of hell.
The law no longer is going to condemn me to hell.
I am going to rise again some day in a glorious body.
Hey, how great is that for me?
How great is that for you?
But what about everyone else?
See, so many Christians today are living such selfish lives.
They only think about themselves.
They're living their life thinking about going to their work, going to their job, making
more money.
What's my retirement account look like?
How's the stock market doing?
When are we going to get the retirement house?
You got the boat yet?
Are we going to have a barbecue this weekend?
We're going to have fun as this world is dying and going to hell.
As millions and millions of people are going to die this week, who did not trust in Jesus
Christ, who will spend eternity in hell.
And you know what? You know what I want to do?
I want to take the joy that I have,
that Jesus died, that he was buried,
and he rose again from the dead,
and I want other people to experience that joy.
Because if our gospel is hid,
it is hid to those that are lost.
And you know what? If you don't preach the gospel,
There are people that will go to hell that could have been saved, that Jesus loved, that Jesus died for, that Jesus went to hell for, that Jesus rose again from the dead for.
You know what? We have the joy of the resurrection, but let us make our life's mission sharing that joy with other people.
Let's have a word of prayer.
For his time he spent in hell for us and for most importantly his resurrection from the dead
Thank you for the joy that we have of the promises of our
Liberated body some day. Thank you for the joy that we have in our confidence of the word of God and the truth of Christianity
I pray that if there's anyone in this room who is not saved who has not fully trusted in Christ
That they would receive a full presentation before they leave this building that they would have an opportunity
to put their trust in Christ, I pray that she would bless the remainder of the service.
We love you in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
You have never been baptized. If you need to be baptized, it's ready for you.
We just require that people who are baptized are saved, meaning you have to believe that Jesus is God,
that He died for your sins, that He was buried and rose again, and that you're putting your trust only in Him for your salvation,
not in your works, not thinking you could lose your salvation.
Those are people who are candidates for baptism.
We love to baptize you this morning.
And of course, also, we do have food.
We've got the barbecue ready.
So please stick around and share with us.
We'd love to have you guys do that.
So we're going to go to one last song,
and then we will have the baptism.
As soon as the baptism is done, I will pray and dismiss
and feel free to start getting food.
All right, our last hymn this morning,
if you would turn to number 24 in your hymnal.
And can it be that I should gain hymn number 24?
And can it be that I should gain 24?
24 there on the 1st.
And yeah!