everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church Easter. Great to see everybody here this morning.
Go ahead and find our seats. We will get started. So we've all found a seat. Let's go and grab a
hymnal and we will start this morning's service in song number 33. Christ the Lord is risen today.
Risen today. Song number 33. Let's all sing it together. Thank you for rising from the dead
and saving us from our sins. Lord we love you and we just ask that you fill this room with your
spirit and bless this Easter service. Lord in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right for our next
song let's go to song number 36 for 36 Christ to Rose song number 36. Thank you so much for coming
to our Easter services. If you did not already get a bulletin and you would like one just lift
up your hand nice and high one of us can come by and get you a bulletin. We have a special service
today for you. We have our kids choirs are going to be performing and I'm very excited about that.
They've been practicing very hard and thank you so much to all the parents for allowing your kids
to participate and the kids for working hard. Thank you so much to my wife for working with them
and preparing and thank you so much to our instrumentalists who have been working on that
as well so we're excited for that. If you look on our bulletin we're starting a new Bible memory
passage, Jude 1. Now prizes for the last one I'm going to hold off and I'm going to wait a few days
just like you have to wait for the resurrection you have to wait for the prizes and we're going to
give those out on Wednesday. So I already have them but we're just holding back all right so
Wednesday first come first serve on the prizes for Matthew 28 but you can get started on Jude
and then on the inside we have our service and soul winning times church stats we have our
expecting ladies list peace be in prayer for expecting ladies. Down below yesterday we had
over 100 people come out for soul winning all the soul winning for a church yesterday was 48
salvations so praise the lord on that that was great work also we got at least one trespass
warning uh brother ben helped us out on that and uh but it was an assist because he ran interference
so i could get a lady saved and so praise god for that um tonight we're going to be having our lord
supper and so if you would like to join us that's going to be in the evening service we'll be having
communion as a part of the end of our evening service um down below also we have the note
about the scott baby shower mother's day brunch may 10th there's a sign-up sheet but also you could
just uh message in the ladies chat either way you don't have to do both if you do one you are in um
also there was a new soul winning marathon uh that brother sam foley had alerted us to that we're
going to partake in it's in cleburne texas it's going to be may 24th and cleburne texas we've
actually done a soul winning marathon in cleburne in the past cleburne is kind of southwest of here
a little bit it's just south basically directly south of fort worth a little bit so i don't know
i'd say like 30 minutes 35 minutes from here approximately something like that but cleburne
texas is having a special event where a lot of people from the the marshallese people that have
migrated to america all meet up together and have some kind of a baseball or some kind of athletic
event uh this whole weekend it's not just limited to the 24th i think it's a few different days
but we were going to try and organize a group if people want to go out there to this park area and
just evangelize i've we've been told about like a thousand people show up for this particular event
and uh there was a recent just expedition to arkansas where there's an area where a lot of
marshallese people have migrated to and they went soul hunting over there and and the people from
this area just seem to be very receptive people and so just kind of a special unique opportunity
to reach some uh foreigners that seem to be pretty receptive and so if you if you have questions
about it i'm probably not the expert you could ask brother sam or brother evan they uh have been
spearheading this idea but we just want to come alongside and offer the opportunity we'll probably
just um meet at the park directly so if you if you want to go soul hunting that day basically
you can just meet at the park in the morning and then we'll have lunch somewhere and then go back
out in the afternoon so it's just going to be kind of a targeted soul winning at this park location
there's not going to be maps or anything like that because we're all just kind of we're just like bees
swarming this event okay so uh but that's just an opportunity if you want it it happened to coincide
that we have another soul winning marathon just right that we already planned just right after
that so you got your fill of soul winning all right if you come to steadfast baptist church you
got lots options and we're also doing a durant oklahoma soul winning marathon now this is kind
of a little bit halfway between us and anchor baptist church and pastor dylan aus is also
planning on organizing his church to come out and meet with us and so we're going to be partnering
with them so it's a great time to give them uh get to see those people in oklahoma and give them
a hard time remind them that texas is better and uh but we're going to go and meet them on the other
side and go into oklahoma now some some areas of oklahoma were mostly populated or heavily
influenced by uh native american towns or indian towns in the past and so we're kind of trying to
go to areas that have a little bit uh of a history of some indian reservation and some indian heritage
and stuff like that and typically those areas are a little bit more receptive so we don't know what
to expect but uh we are looking forward to going to durant it's a little bit smaller of a town so
it's kind of a small town soul-winning opportunity but if you'd like to join us we'll also be meeting
out there probably for breakfast somewhere going out soul-winning lunch and going out in the
afternoon as well so lots of great soul-winning opportunities we want to plug in the end of may
baby announcement we have a congratulations to the lugo family on the birth of analise marie
she was born on the 14th nine pounds 11 ounces 20 and a half inches long congratulations to them
and then on the back we have the note about the baby shower for the scots and their baby boy
that's going to be on the third 12 to 2 if you'd like to rsp please do that to miss milstead down
below is our prayer list if you have any additional prayer requests you can see me um just to give a
few practical instructions we're going to sing our third song and it's going to be where the spirit
blows in our psalm binders as soon as we're done with that song brother dustin is going to announce
for our kids choir to come up and they're going to perform for us after the kids choir is done
performing i'll just make another quick announcement and i'll let the youth choir know that they're
going to switch so then our kids choir will go sit down our youth choir will come up and then
they're going to perform for us also after the youth choir is done then we're going to just have
our normal offertory where our ushers will come up and down we'll have our musicians play a verse
for us and then we'll have our traditional bible reading we're going to be in acts chapter number
two this morning if you and i'll remind you again but we'll be in acts chapter number two
but that is what we're going to do so we're going to have brother dustin come and lead for us
where the spirit blows and then we're going to have our kids choirs perform for us that was
where the spirit blows it's all singing out together
choir come on down job thank you so much to both of our choirs thank you so much uh i really
appreciate all the parents and everybody for doing that bibles is out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings thou's perfected praise and uh that was really special we really appreciate that
thank you so much uh thank you to my wife for doing such a great job at this time we're going
to turn to our bibles to acts chapter number two and we're going to pass our offering plates
and our ushers are going to come down and so if you turn your bibles to acts chapter number two
as is our custom before the preaching of God's word Bible reads and when the day of Pentecost
was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance
and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven now when this
was noised abroad the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them
speak in his own language and they were all amazed and marveled saying one to another behold are not
all these which speak Galileans and how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and in Cappadocia and
Pontius in Asia, Phyrgia and Pamphylia in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers
of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful
works of God and they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another what meaneth this
others mocking said these men are full of new wine but Peter standing up with the eleven lifted
up his voice and said unto them ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem be this known
unto you and harken to my words for these are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third
hour of the day but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in
the last days saith God I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams
and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit
and they shall prophesy and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath
blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
before that great and notable day of the lord come and it shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved 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 he yourselves also know him being delivered by the determinant counsel and
foreknowledge of god ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom god hath raised
up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it
for david speaketh concerning him i foresaw 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
also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou
suffer thine holy one to see corruption thou hast made known to me the ways of life thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance men and brethren let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch david that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us under this day
therefore being a prophet and knowing that god had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of
his loins according to the flesh he would raise up christ to sit on his throne he seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see
corruption this jesus that god raised up whereof we all are witnesses therefore being by the right
hand of god exalted and having received of the father the promise of the holy ghost he hath
shed forth this which ye now see and hear for david is not ascended into the heavens but he sayeth
himself the lord said unto my lord sit thou on my right hand until i make thy foes thy footstool
therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god hath made that same jesus whom ye have
crucified both lord and christ now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said
unto peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do then peter said unto
them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins
and he shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promises unto you and to your children
and to all that are afar off even as many as the lord our god shall call and with many other words
did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation and they that gladly
received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand
souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking
of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions
and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one
accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness
and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in
heaven we ask Lord God that you bless all aspects of the message this morning and fill Pastor Shelly
with the Holy Spirit as he preaches to us give him clarity of mind and enable him to teach
your word to us to the best of his ability and Lord God I pray that you would help us to remember
the resurrection today and to not take our salvation for granted but to glorify you
in all that we do. We love you and in Jesus name I pray amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this
morning is Jesus resurrected from hell. Jesus resurrected from hell. Now this is a doctrine that
many people are shying away from. People are afraid to preach but anytime I go out soul winning
and try to get someone saved I often explain to them that Jesus Christ not only died on the cross
but that his soul descended down into hell. And I use Acts chapter number two is a great place to
reference this. Look down at verse number 31 the Bible says he's seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption.
So if we just let the text speak for itself the Bible clearly is talking about the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ and where does it say that he was resurrected from? It says he was
resurrected from hell. Yet many people would probably be offended just by the title of the
sermon alone yet that is what the text just explicitly states in verse 31. We're talking
about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and it's saying that his soul was not left in
hell. Why? Because it rose again. Meaning what? Jesus Christ's soul returned to his physical body
in the tomb and he came back to life physically and he walked out of the tomb and that's what
we celebrate on Easter is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of people when you ask
them what happened to Jesus or where did Jesus go after he died on the cross, many people will say
he went to heaven and of course Jesus Christ is in heaven right now. We understand that Jesus Christ
is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven but that is not where he initially went.
The Bible says that he first descended down into hell and yet he was not left there but he rose
again and that's what we celebrate is the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and how he conquered death and hell for us so that we wouldn't have to go to hell. The thing
about the God of the Bible is the God of the Bible is just. What is just meaning? It means that he
does not allow sin to go unpunished. God always makes sure there is a consequence to sin but God
is also merciful and he's allowed his son to take the substitution for our sins and to die in our
place, take our place in hell and then resurrect so that he could be both just and merciful and he
could extend to us the free gift of salvation to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. The moment
you believe in Jesus Christ you're given eternal life, you've been passed from death unto life,
and you cannot go to hell. You should not perish but have everlasting life and so you will go to
heaven because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course we understand that Jesus
Christ died on the cross died on the cross for all of our sins but without the resurrection
the Bible makes it abundantly clear in first Corinthians chapter 15 we have no hope of being
resurrected ourselves. We have no hope of escaping the punishment of hell. It's not only that Jesus
Christ died for us but it's also that he rose again from hell conquering death in hell having
the keys of hell and of death which gives us the hope that we will never go to hell because he's
given us everlasting life. Now let's pay attention to this passage because there's a lot of stuff we
can find in the Bible about this doctrine. When you have this doctrine right you're going to
understand so much of the Bible and so much of the Old Testament. When you have this doctrine
wrong you'll start believing weird and strange doctrines. Things like Abraham's bosom which
yes Abraham has a bosom it's his chest okay and there's not a special compartment in the
middle of the earth somewhere that's also known as paradise. This is a strange doctrine to get
away from the clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus Christ went to hell. It's also to get away
from the idea that Old Testament saints went to heaven when they died but we understand that
just because Jesus Christ hadn't technically died on the cross yet people were still able to go to
heaven because God already foredain that Jesus Christ would die on the cross. Just in the same
way that when Jesus Christ died on the cross somehow that paid our sins in the future,
right? I mean you're not going to understand the gospel message locked into time. Of course,
Jesus Christ dying in the future from the Old Testament perspective paid their sins and Jesus
Christ dying in the past also paid for our future sins. It's a one-time event that paid all sins.
We don't have to be locked into time. Look down at verse number 24 now. The Bible says, "Whom God
hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be
holding of it." So when we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that he was
crucified and slain, but then in verse 24, "Whom God hath raised up." So when did Jesus Christ get
raised up? Well the Bible makes it clear it was on the first day of the week. It was early in the
morning on the first day of the week before the sun had set. Now we're celebrating Passover week
and I've made whole charts on this and I've preached little sermons on this, but essentially
the Passover week starts with the Sunday before where we have Palm Sunday and the Lord Jesus
Christ had the triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. They're waving palm branches and they're
laying them before his feet. They're laying their coats before his feet and they're shouting "Hosanna
in the highest." They're shouting "Hosanna blessed is he that blessed is the king of Israel that
come in the name of the Lord." So they're sitting here praising Jesus Christ celebrating him. He
enters in. He goes into the temple and boy he does not make friends. He preaches for a couple days.
You have all kinds of special events the fig tree withering and yet he preaches. By the time we get
to Wednesday on a calendar day this is when at the evening he's going to celebrate the Last Supper.
He ends up celebrating the Last Supper Wednesday evening with his disciples and then in the middle
of the night the Romans come. They seize Jesus Christ because of the traitor Judas. Judas betrays
the Lord Jesus Christ. They take him in the night. They bring him before the chief priests and the
elders and they accuse him and they bring many false witnesses to falsely slander him and make
up lies about him and their witness did not agree and they ask him all kinds of questions
and he mostly did not respond to them but at one point they say art thou the son of the blessed
and this is what Jesus said I am when Jesus Christ was confronted by the chief priests
and they said art thou the son of the blessed he said I am and they said what further witness have
we need you've heard the blasphemy they rent their garments they lead them off unto Pilate
early in the morning they they confer with Pilate and finally Pilate basically agrees under their
slander they ask what the accusation is and he says if you were not a malefactor we would not
have brought him unto you what an accusation we already know he's a bad guy no no need for a jury
no need for a trial no need for accusations we already figured out he's bad kill him and that's
what the roman the romans are just nervous about this but the jews are putting so much pressure
because the jews are the ones responsible for killing jesus christ they deliver him over the
romans and pilot even brings out jesus christ and he's constantly looking for an opportunity to
escape this situation and you have this famous saying of behold your king and he presents jesus
christ before the children of israel and this is kind of a significant event because the bible
talks about the pass of her lamb being presented before the whole congregation and just like that
jesus was presented before the whole congregation of course he was rejected in place of barabb yeah
barabbas where essentially he's a murderer and they want the murderer over the lord jesus christ
but the gospel message is sit is situated there where jesus christ is going to take places with
a murderer and he's really taking places with us our sins and yeah some people think oh murder
will send you to hell no even murder got swapped with jesus christ even murder was paid for and
bought by the lord jesus christ and if you think about it what was the direct sin that he basically
swapped for was murder with barabbas not only just murder just being a traitor i mean barabbas had
basically done an insurrection murder all kinds of grievous sins and they were put upon the lord
jesus christ he swapped places with him and the lord jesus christ was then beaten they shoved a
crown of thorns on his head they tried to get him to carry his own cross at some point someone even
had to help carry that cross for him and that signifies the fact that hey jesus christ wants
us to also bear the cross with him he was led up to mount calvary and he was crucified in our place
took our death took our sin and the bible says that he became sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of god in him after being crucified on thursday at you know
about 9 a.m approximately at about 9 a.m crucified he lasted about six hours under the third hour of
the day when he finally gave up the ghost and the bible tells us that the Passover lamb was to be
slain was to be killed at even so that's in the twilight hours Jesus Christ dies and gives up the
ghost at that same time that the Passover lamb would have been slain and they have to quickly
bury him in order to not violate the Sabbath and to be able to eat that Passover meal that they
would normally and traditionally do on that Thursday and so Jesus Christ died on Thursday
around 3 p.m. was buried.
And of course, we enter into the special time period
where Jesus Christ was in the heart of the earth.
He was in hell.
Now, the Bible makes it clear that He was in the heart
of the earth for three days and three nights.
So we have Thursday, we have Thursday night,
we have Friday, we have Friday night,
we have Saturday, we have Saturday night.
And then He rose early on that first part of the morning.
So part of Saturday night entering into,
He rose early, we don't know exact time.
We could guess 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m.,
somewhere in that range.
Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.
Now this is what it's saying in verse 24,
"Whom God hath raised up."
When are we talking about at this moment?
We're talking about Sunday morning.
We're talking about that Saturday evening.
We're talking about that transition
when Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.
Notice what it says,
"Having loosed the pains of death."
Jesus Christ was dead for three days and three nights.
The place of death is hell.
And hell is not a fun place.
What does the Bible say?
The pains of death.
Jesus Christ was not suffering the pains of the cross
on Sunday morning.
He was suffering the pains of death
on Thursday evening, Friday morning, Friday evening,
Saturday morning, Saturday evening,
until he rose again.
When, when God hath raised him up,
hath loosed the pains of death.
Why?
Because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
God could not allow the Lord Jesus Christ
to suffer forever.
Only three days and three nights was sufficient
to pay for all of our sins and to bring the innocent lamb,
the lamb of God, back from the dead
and resurrect him from hell.
And this is why he says very clearly,
look at what it says in verse number,
let's just keep reading, verse 25,
for David speaketh concerning him,
I first saw 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, also my flesh shall rest in hope.
What does the flesh resting in hope mean?
Well, the body was buried.
The body was buried in the tomb, so it's resting.
Why is it resting in hope?
Because it will not just stay there
and rot and become dust.
His soul is going to return to that flesh.
That flesh is resting in hope, why?
Because that will not leave my soul in hell,
neither will thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
So he's saying the soul is not gonna just stay in hell.
The body's not gonna perish.
What's gonna happen?
He's gonna be raised again from the dead in the same body.
This is important.
Jesus Christ's body did not see corruption,
did not rot, decay and decompose.
It was preserved so that he could rise again
in the same body and we could see someone come back to life
in the same body and he could show the disciples
the holes in his hands and the hole in his side
so that people would know that this is not just another person.
If someone died and then another random person shows up
in a completely different body,
you're not going to say that person rose again from the dead.
We don't believe in body swapping.
We don't believe in this idea that Jesus Christ
is just going to transform into another person.
No, it was the same body, the same man that died on the cross,
is the same man that rose again from the dead.
His soul came out of hell and returned to his physical body.
He came back to life.
And it says in verse 28,
"Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath them, that of the fruit of his loins.
According to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne, he seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell,
neither is flesh disruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses.
What is it mean to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that they were a witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he went to hell,
but he rose again victorious,
and that they were to go out and to preach the gospel.
The gospel is the death, burial,
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what we celebrate on Easter.
What a great verse here too,
that notice what it says in verse number 30.
According to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
Who's throne?
David's throne.
Not like Jesus was ruling and reigning in Jerusalem
for thousands of years,
and then going to sit back on his own throne.
No, David was the king of Jerusalem,
that Jesus Christ is gonna sit on David's throne.
And of course, that which is first is earthly,
but that which is second is heavenly.
And so we have the pattern here
that God allows man to do that first
and to not succeed completely,
because we're man,
and for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God.
And then Jesus to come alongside
and to show us how it's really done.
And we have the millennial reign of Jesus Christ
that will happen in the future,
where Jesus Christ will literally
rule and reign on the earth.
But we have to understand that Jesus Christ
really went to hell.
Go if we go to Psalm 16, go to Psalm 16.
There's a lot of Bible on this.
I just wanted to explain that in detail.
How can anybody get away from the clear verse though,
having loosed from the pains of death?
There's a lot of people that will not believe
that Jesus Christ went to hell, period.
But what I've noticed through the years
is that most of the people get mad
about what I'm preaching this morning
are just pastors and teachers.
Most laymen, most Christians don't have a problem with this
because it's just what the Bible says.
But it seems like most of the people getting mad
are pastors or teachers.
And it kind of makes me wonder,
like, these people are false prophets or false teachers.
Because why would you be so mad about this?
Why would you be mad about Jesus Christ dying,
being buried, having to suffer in hell,
and coming back out and being resurrected?
I mean, in my mind, it just makes what Jesus Christ did
even that much more special.
It makes it that much more of a sacrifice.
It makes it that much more real that Jesus Christ
not only would take a physical punishment for us,
not only would he die on the cross for us,
but that he would suffer in hell.
If you think about it, any of us could potentially
take a physical beating for somebody else.
I mean, it's possible for someone to take someone's place
and take a physical beating.
It's possible for one of us to even lay down our lives
physically for someone else.
And the Bible brings us up that even for a good man,
some would dare to die.
But you know what none of us could ever do?
Take someone else's place in hell for them
and then be raised again from the dead.
That is unique that Jesus Christ not only died,
but that he went to hell and he rose again from hell.
And 1 Corinthians 15 and plenty of places in the Bible
make it abundantly clear that's why we're saved.
It's not that somebody died.
It's not that someone substitute only the death.
It's because they rose again from the dead victorious
because they were innocent and them going into hell
and being a perfect substitute for us.
Now the Bible refers to Jesus going to hell multiple places.
Go to Psalm 16 verse 9.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices,
my flesh also so rest and hope.
So this is what was being quoted in Acts chapter two.
For that will not leave my soul in hell.
Neither will they suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
That will show me the path of life.
In thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
So this is what's quoted in the book of Acts chapter number two.
And then we get the exposition from the author here, Peter,
who's kind of the author and Peter.
Peter's basically the one that preached this.
The author's relaying what Peter had said.
And of course, it's coming from the Holy Ghost,
interpreting for us and saying, look,
when David was saying this,
he wasn't talking about himself because David's dead.
Not only is he dead, we have his body.
We could just go open the grave right now
and look at David's body, whatever remains.
Probably dust at this point, but they could see it.
And they know that he didn't raise again from the dead.
But him being a prophet, he's seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Some people will say this.
Oh, they didn't understand the resurrection
in the Old Testament.
What?
David is the one preaching the resurrection
in the Old Testament.
Yes, they believed in the death-bound resurrection.
I mean, there's no way to believe that doctrine.
The Pharisees confirmed the resurrection.
Are you gonna tell me that the disciples
and the sage Christians in the Old Testament
didn't understand the resurrection,
yet the Pharisees confess that?
The Pharisees believe that.
Of course, they understood the resurrection
in the Old Testament.
The book of Job, Job explains the resurrection.
We have all kinds of prophets
explaining the resurrection in the Bible.
We have even Abraham, when he was gonna sacrifice Isaac,
the Bible makes it abundantly clear
that he understood that God could raise Isaac from the dead.
So you know what the Old Testament saints believed in?
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And you know what we believe in the New Testament?
The death, burial, and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not a New Testament doctrine.
This is an eternal doctrine that Jesus Christ
would not only die, but go to hell, but not stay there.
He would be risen again from the dead.
His flesh would not seek corruption,
but he would be victorious.
Now go over to Jonah chapter number two.
Jonah is probably one of the clearest prophets
on the resurrection from hell in the Bible.
And it's crazy to me to see how many people
are shying away from what the Bible says on these doctrines.
We need to believe not only in the resurrection,
but we need to believe the death, burial, and resurrection.
And we understand that He went to hell.
You say why?
Because the Bible teaches it.
Anything the Bible teaches, we need to believe and understand.
And look, I'm telling you, when you understand this doctrine,
it unlocks all kinds of cool stuff in the Bible.
When you have heresy, you get confused
about everything in the Bible.
And just a little leaven will cause you to lose your mind.
And we have seen that.
We have seen that, and it happens repeatedly.
And you know, that's for a sermon tonight.
But Jonah chapter 2, look at verse 1.
"Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's
belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction
unto the Lord, and he heard me, out of the belly of hell cried
I, and thou heardest my voice."
Now, of course, Jonah, if you really understand the book of
Jonah chapter 2, it kind of has this unique way of doing this
poetry, where Jonah is kind of going back and forth from a
literal expression to a metaphoric expression.
He's kind of just, he's very ebbing and flowing from
literal to metaphoric, but what's happening is every time
it switches to the metaphor, then it switches to literal for
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have here, of course, Jonah is in the well's belly,
he's in the fish's belly, and he is crying because he's being
afflicted in the well's belly.
But he's not literally in the belly of hell.
But don't you think from a metaphoric perspective, if you
are in a fish's belly in the ocean, you could probably say
this is like the belly of hell.
You could probably use that expression.
Now many people would say, oh, he's cussing, OK?
No, it's called Bible.
No, it's called prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know what?
There's not such thing as this like bad word.
You know what?
Hell is a word found in the Bible 54 times.
And the modern versions love to take out the word hell.
But you know what?
They want you to go to hell.
They don't want you to say the word hell.
You know, we need to embrace the word hell and teach the
word hell.
And Jesus Christ preached on hell.
And you know, out of the belly of hell cried I, is what the
Bible says.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ literally was in the belly of
hell and literally had to cry under the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why?
By reason of mine affliction.
That's what the Bible says.
For Jonah, it was a metaphor.
For Jonah, it was a symbol.
For Jonah, it was a picture.
And it's not a coincidence that Jonah went into the
whale's belly for three days and three nights, just like
Jesus Christ went three days and three nights.
And just like Jesus Christ tells us in the Gospels, for
as Jonah was three days and three nights, and the whale's
belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
That's just Jesus talking.
And you know what, when Jesus tells you this is about me,
let me explain it to you.
It's about Jesus.
You know, there's some parts of the Old Testament where we
kind of wonder, like, hey, is the prophet speaking of
himself, or is he speaking of another man?
But when Jesus is just like, hey, the prophet was speaking
about me, you just know he's speaking about him.
And is it interesting?
I mean, there's so many places in the Old Testament that we
could go where the prophet's talking about Jesus.
There's so many examples where the prophet is not talking of
himself, he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then why did Jesus pick Jonah?
And why did Jesus pick Jonah talking about him being in
hell to be the one time where he says, hey, Jonah was talking
about me right here.
Must be significant.
Because he could have picked dozens, if not hundreds, of
places in the Bible to highlight and say this is
about me.
But you know what he chose to highlight?
The fact that Jonah went in the well's belly just like
Jesus would have to go into the heart of the earth, would
have to go to hell for our sins, essentially, because
that's the punishment of our sins.
And the only reason someone goes to hell is because they're
a sinner.
And Jesus Christ took that place.
He was in there with affliction.
He was crying.
And he was in the belly of hell.
And God heard the voice of Jesus Christ in his holy temple
in heaven, because God the Father is in heaven.
So many great doctrines here.
And Jesus Christ was crying unto him.
Look at verse three.
"For thou hadst cast me into the deep
in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about,
all thy billows and thy waves passed over me."
So we're going back and forth from Jonah to Jesus Christ,
right?
Number one, verse one, he's in the fish's belly.
That's Jonah.
Number two, metaphorically, Jonah is in the belly of hell.
But literally, Jesus is in the belly of hell.
Then we have in verse three, Jonah is literally
cast into the deep.
He's literally in the midst of the seas.
He's literally got the floods compassed him about.
He's literally got the billows and the waves passing over him.
Verse four, then I said I am cast out of thy sight,
yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
This is, of course, a metaphor, and it applies to both.
Because the cool thing about the Bible
is God can use these phrases to describe the prophet
in a sense, and then also apply to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ was cast out of God's sight.
He had to turn away from him.
He had to send him to hell.
But he would be resurrected, and he would go back
into the heavenly places.
He would go back into the temple,
and he would be back in God's sight.
Why?
He had to enter into the presence of God for us
with the blood of his own sacrifice
to sprinkle on the altar to give us eternal salvation.
And so this is why it's so significant.
Verse 5, "The waters compass me about, even to the soul.
The depth clothes me round about.
The weeds are wrapped about my head."
So again, literal about Jesus--
I'm sorry, Jonah again.
Literal about Jonah.
He has weeds about his head.
He's basically got waters just everywhere.
He's closed in everywhere.
Verse 6, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God."
So again, this is, for Jonah, metaphors.
This is not literal for Jonah, because Jonah never died.
Jonah is just talking about, though, hey, I don't really
want to die in this.
I don't want to see corruption.
I don't want to just, you know, slowly just rot in this
whale's belly and die.
He's obviously, probably that whale took him down to low parts
of the ocean.
So he's near some of the low parts of the earth.
So in a sense, it's kind of metaphoric and a simile for him.
But about Jesus, this is literal.
For Jesus Christ, he was literally below all of the mountains.
He was literally the earth with her bars was about me forever.
And you know, some people get confused about bars and all this kind of stuff.
But just because the earth is a sphere does not mean it doesn't have some kind of foundational
bars in the midst of them.
You know, you think about concrete or stuff.
We have like rebar and rebars in there to hold that concrete together.
We don't completely understand the construction of the earth, but it's not unreasonable to
believe that God has some type of construction in there and some forms of the rocks and different
things are the bars that are holding the entire earth together.
And Jesus Christ with being in the center of the earth, the bars are about him forever.
Now that's a picture of the globe.
That's a picture of the circle of the earth because there's not a direction that Jesus
Christ is not surrounded by the bars of the earth, basically by the rock formations of
the earth.
He's encased in that tomb of the earth and he's in there.
You know, a lot of people on Easter like to give out eggs and hey, that's not a bad thing
because the earth in a sense is like an egg and in the inside is, you know, some kind
of a treat or something special and in the same way, Jesus Christ was hidden in the egg
of the earth, was hidden in the circle of the earth and so he had the bars about him
forever because the earth is a globe, it's not flat, alright?
And then of course he was brought up and his life didn't see corruption.
Jesus Christ literally came back from hell and his flesh did not rot.
Verse 7, "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in
unto thee, into thy holy temple.
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee
with the voice of thanksgiving.
I will pay that that I have vowed, salvation is of the Lord.
And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."
So for Jonah, he's vomited out of the whale in the same way Jesus Christ was resurrected
and shot out of hell and his soul returned into his physical body.
He came back to life.
He walked out of the tomb and that's why we have the victory is the death, burial and
resurrection from hell.
Go if you went to 2 Samuel chapter 22, go to 2 Samuel chapter 22.
What I've also noticed is people who disagree with what I'm saying right now, they never
can explain to you the significance of Jonah chapter 2.
They can never explain to you what all the symbolism is.
They can never explain what it means that "out of the belly of hell cried I" and they
don't show the significance of how Jesus is quoting that in the New Testament and how
it applies to Jesus.
If you deny that Jesus went to hell, explain to me what Jesus meant when he's comparing
himself to Jonah.
And look, it's so obvious a five-year-old could figure it out.
A six-year-old could figure it out.
And so we should understand that we should just believe the Bible.
We should throw out whatever doctrines we've been taught or brought up to believe when
it's just contradicting just clear, plain readings of the text.
"Well, I don't like this doctrine."
Why?
I mean, I just love the Bible no matter what.
You know, here's the thing.
I don't really like the idea that Jesus has to be whipped and scourged.
I don't like the fact that Jesus was spit on.
I mean, that's gross.
That's assault in America if you spit on someone.
I don't like that he was lied about.
I don't like that he was betrayed.
I don't like that a crown of thorns was shoved on his brow.
I don't like that he had to be mocked and spit upon.
I don't like that they put a robe of purple on him and they were bowing down and making
fun of him being the king of kings.
I don't like the fact that they drug him out the city
and they're just making fun of him.
I don't like it that when the chief priests
were smiting him on the head and saying,
"Prophecy!"
And they were making fun of him saying like,
"Who hit you?"
He knew who hit him.
I don't like the fact that he had to go up
and carry his own cross.
I don't like the fact that he was put his arms on the cross
and someone had to drill a nail through his hand
and then drill a nail through his other hand
and then stack his feet and drill a nail through his feet.
I don't like the fact that he had to hang on a cross
for six hours and excruciating pain, gasping for breath.
I don't like that.
I don't like any of it.
I'm not going to not believe it.
You know, I don't like the fact
that Jesus had to go to hell for me.
I don't like the fact that he was suffering there.
I don't like all these things.
You know, we don't like these things.
It's the ugliness of our sin.
But you know what?
I also just love the Bible and I love the Word of God
and I love that Jesus loves me so much
that He would do all of that for me.
And He would do all of that for you
to show the love that God has for us,
that He'd be willing to take such ugliness
and despise the shame.
He would endure the cross and He would do that.
But not only that, He would suffer death for us.
I can see why in the Garden of Gethsemane,
He was praying and sweating, as it were,
great drops of blood.
I could see why He was nervous.
I could see why He's asking if it be any other way,
let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
Hey, you know what?
That's the attitude we should have about the Bible.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
I don't get to make up the gospel.
I don't get to decide what's true.
I just get to believe what the Bible says.
And you know what the Bible says?
Out of the belly of hell cried I.
The Bible says that He was loosed from the pains of death.
So we need to believe those verses
just as much as John 3, 16.
Second Samuel 22, verse six, the Bible says,
the sorrows of hell compass me about.
The snares of death prevented me.
In my distress, I called upon the Lord
and cried to my God and He did hear my voice
out of His temple and my cry did enter into His ears.
Notice where God is, the Father is in the temple.
He's in the temple in heaven
and that's where Jesus was crying to.
But notice what it says in verse six, the sorrows of hell.
Hell is not a cool place, it's sorrow.
It's described as pain.
Go if you went to Psalm 116, go to Psalm 116.
How many verses would you need to even believe this?
I need one.
Some people need five and they still don't believe it.
The Bible says in Acts 2, the pains of death.
The Bible tells us in Psalm, the sorrows of hell.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 116, look at verse 1.
I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice
and my supplications, because he hath inclined his ear
unto me.
Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
The sorrows of death compass me, and the pains of hell
gatholed upon me.
I found trouble and sorrow.
What does the Bible say?
The pains of hell.
It doesn't say it's cool, it's not fun.
It's not an enjoyable experience.
It's the pains of hell.
It's the pains of death.
It's the sorrows of hell.
Out of the belly of hell cried I.
Why?
By reason of mine affliction.
The Bible couldn't paint a clearer picture.
Plus, for nobody else would we ever say that hell was a fun place or experiencing any kind
of joy.
No, the only joy was that he would not be left there.
Says in verse four, "Then I called, then called I upon the name of the Lord.
O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul."
Now, go if you would to Romans chapter number six, go to Romans chapter number six.
I already quoted for you, but I want to quote it again because the Bible says in Matthew
12, "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet, Jonas.
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the well's belly, so shall the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Some people criticize my soul winning method and say, "How dare you talk about Jesus going
to hell when you're trying to get someone saved."
But what did Jesus say?
He said, "Hey, to this generation, I'm only going to tell you one thing, and you know
what I'm going to tell you?
The sign of Jonah."
And you know what the sign of Jonah is?
That he was in the well's belly for three days and three nights, which is this picture
of what?
Jesus Christ being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So if it's good enough for Jesus to go out and only preach that, then it's good enough
for me to go out and preach that Jesus Christ went to hell too.
And I'm not afraid of the text of scripture.
You know what, I love this text of scripture, I love the Bible, and I believe it by faith.
Romans 6 verse 8, the Bible says, "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more.
Death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died in the sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."
Now, some people would say, "Oh well, as soon as he died, he got the victory.
As soon as he died, that's when he was loosed from the pains of death."
That's not what the Bible says.
In Acts chapter number two, it said, "Him being raised up is when he was loosed from
the pains of death."
Additionally, the Bible does not say he went to hell as a victor.
He came out of hell as a victor.
And here's another clear text.
Notice what it said in verse number nine, "Death hath no more dominion over him."
When did the dominion start?
The dominion started as soon as he gave up the ghost.
As soon as he gave up the ghost, now death had dominion over him.
But it wasn't for forever, why?
Because he rose again from the dead, conquering death and hell, and now death hath no more
dominion over him.
What does "more" imply?
That in a period of time, death had dominion over him.
There was a point when darkness had their moment in the sun.
He even said unto the Romans and the Judas, he said, "Hey, this is the time of darkness."
They got their moment, they got their few days or whatever to celebrate, but you know
what, after he rose again from the dead, death hath no more dominion over him.
You cannot kill the Lord Jesus Christ.
He could not go to hell.
It's over.
He's already conquered it.
He has the keys of death and of hell.
Go to Revelation 1, let's see that.
The Bible also says in Hebrews 2, "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."
Taste means something that lasted a short period of time.
Just a taste is just a sampling.
So Jesus Christ wasn't there forever.
He was only there for three days and three nights.
That's why he tasted death and he did it for every man because we also are not Calvinists.
We believe when the Bible says that Jesus died for every person, that he died for every
person.
It's that simple.
We don't have to explain how all has some context that this basically gets rid of all
there.
No, all really means all.
Every man really means every man.
For God to love the world really means the whole world, not just the saved.
Jesus Christ loved every man and Jesus Christ tasted death for every man.
And of course, the Bible says that he was made lower than angels.
Why?
For the suffering of death.
The suffering of the cross is different than the suffering of death because he's not dead
on the cross.
The suffering of death was the pains of death that he was loose from when he was risen again
from the dead.
So he had to become a mortal man so he could do what?
So he could suffer death.
So he could die, he could take our place, he could become sin for us who knew no sin,
and we could be made the righteousness of God in him.
Revelation 1 verse 17, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his
right hand upon me, saying unto me, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the
keys of hell and of death.'"
To be dead is a state of being, but death also has a location.
The location is hell.
If you are dead in a sense, you are in hell.
Now of course, the Bible uses the word dead or death multiple ways.
Sometimes the Bible describes death as just being separated from your physical body.
That's another way you could describe death, but in many places in the Bible when it's
describing death, it's a state of being and it means you're in hell.
The Bible says that he's going to resurrect the dead and it simply says that the dead
is going to give, like hell, and the sea is going to give up the dead which are in them.
Because the dead is a state of being, hell is its location.
The Bible makes it clear that God is not the God of the dead but of the living.
And we have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as being described as living even though we know they're
physically dead, they're still alive in their new man and their soul and their spirit and
they're in heaven.
Because in heaven you're alive and hell you're dead.
That's why you've been passed from death unto life.
What does that mean?
You've been passed from hell unto heaven.
So that's why it's accurate when we say, "Hey, if you died today, where would you go if you
said heaven?" that's because you have eternal life because you can't die.
What does it mean to have eternal life?
You can't perish, meaning you can't go to hell, meaning you can't go there where the
lake of fire is.
Obviously, we all shed this physical body.
Every person will shed this physical body or have it be changed, but not everybody's
going to hell.
Those who have eternal life will never even taste death is what the Bible says.
Jesus Christ tasted death for us and we will never even taste of death because as soon
as we take our last breath we'll be carried up into heaven and we'll never have to experience
hell for one second.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ has the keys of hell and of death.
He's already conquered that for us and of course this is a metaphor for the fact that
he's conquered death and hell and in a sense he's opening the key in the sense of hey,
we were destined for hell but he's loosed us from that prison, loosed us from that captivity
and we don't have to go to hell because he can put whoever he wants in and out of hell.
Go to Ephesians chapter 4, go to Ephesians chapter number 4, this is a doctrine that
we need to constantly teach and what's a great thing is when we teach this to people it probably
help them to stay away from false teachers because false teachers love to deny what I'm
saying right now.
Ephesians chapter number 4, look at verse number 8, "Wherefore he saith when he ascendeth
on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts
of the earth.
He that descended is the same that also ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill
all things."
So before Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, he did something first.
What did he do?
He first descended into the lower parts of the earth, which we would know as hell.
Now it says that he gave gifts.
Do you see in verse 8, he gave gifts?
Notice the word gift is plural.
There's an S. He gave gifts unto men.
What are those gifts?
Verse 11.
And he gave some apostles.
So as soon as Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, then he showed himself to the disciples,
ascended back into heaven.
But after he ascended, he did something.
What did he do?
He gave gifts.
What are some of those gifts?
Peter.
What's another gift?
Paul.
What's another gift?
John.
He gave gifts.
He gave the apostles to men.
Not only that, he gave some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
So let me tell you something, pastors are a gift.
There's this old clip of me where everybody gets their feelings hurt, where I said that
me coming to be the pastor of this church was a gift.
That's what the Bible says.
You can get mad at me all you want, but you know, it wasn't about me, it was about getting
a pastor.
Because, you know what?
It's not about me and it's not about my personality, but look, any church that gets a pastor when
they're without a pastor got a gift, and you know they got that gift from?
From God.
That is a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ.
A pastor is a gift.
You know there's thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people in this world that
would love to have a gift of a pastor come to the area and start a church, and that is
a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do not try to trash the office of a pastor by saying it's not a gift, it is a gift.
Now look, there's other gifts in the Bible.
The gift of God is eternal life.
That's the greatest gift anybody could ever get, but it is not the only gift that God
gives us.
God gave us the gift of life, God gave us the gift of parents, God gave us all kinds
of other giftings that we've had in our life.
And here's a gift that God gives people, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
That's what he gives.
You know what?
Some of the guys in this room who are never going to be a pastor, but get up and teach
you good sermons, they are a gift from God.
They are a gift from God.
There are people that just teach the Bible and they're a gift of God.
Evangelist Duncan Urbanek is a gift from God, folks.
Evangelist Tanner Fur is a gift from God.
Pastor Dylan Oz is a gift from God.
And you know what? Praise God for the gifts that he's given us.
We should never throw that away.
He ascended and then he gave us this.
We celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know when he left us, he didn't leave us bare.
He gave us something.
Hey, I'm going to leave you, but I'll give you something.
I'll give you some apostles. I'll give you some prophets.
And of course, we don't have apostles.
That's way better.
Hey, the Apostle Paul, way better than me.
Way better than any pastor.
But you know what? We don't have those either.
We don't have the Old Testament prophets.
But you know what we do have? Pastors.
And you know what? I think they're pretty great anyways.
I love pastors.
I love that God gives us these things. Why?
For the perfecting of the saints.
For the work of the ministry.
For the edifying of the body of Christ.
Now, riddle me this. If pastors aren't really special,
and if pastors aren't needed in this world,
then why don't we see huge groups of people
doing great things for God without a pastor, right?
I mean, if pastors aren't special,
if pastors aren't doing the work of God,
then wouldn't we just see all these people
being successful without a pastor?
Because I'll say this.
Isn't there a lot of people that make tons of money
and are successful and never went to college?
Who in here would say, "Hey, I do pretty good financially
and never went to college."
Yeah, amen.
There's lots of people that can say that.
There's lots of successful people in this world
that didn't go to-- why?
Because college isn't necessary.
But you know what?
Show me the people that are dedicated to serving God
and getting scores of people saved
that don't have a good pastor in their life.
Doesn't exist.
And I would say the few people that
are out there in the dark places of this world,
they're probably listening to good pastors online.
You know what I mean?
There are not just people just going out
serving God on their own.
No, no, we need pastors for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ.
This is what builds up the body of Christ.
And you know what?
This church is a great church.
And today was a special day.
And I loved hearing this kid's choir.
I love getting to see your faces.
Our church is so healthy right now.
And you know, it's better than it was.
You know why?
Because we had a pastor.
If this church did not have a pastor come in
and try to help take on this church,
it would not be where it is today.
And it's not about me.
It's about a pastor.
We need a pastor for the churches.
We need to love the pastors.
And we need to empower the pastors
to do the work of God.
Verse 13, "Till we all come into the unity of the faith
and the knowledge of the Son of God
and to a perfect man under the measure of the stature
and the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together
and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth,
according to the effect you're working in the measure
of every part, make it increase of the body
under edifying of itself in love."
Now, I want you to go to Exodus 12.
We would, Exodus 12.
For the sake of time, I'm not going to go to every verse
I wanted to this morning, but we learned some great things.
What have we learned so far?
Well, we learned a little bit about the Passover week.
We learned that the Lord Jesus Christ went down into hell,
but that he did not stay there.
He rose again victorious from hell
and he conquered hell for us.
And he has the keys of hell and of death.
Now, when we understand all this great doctrine,
then the Old Testament just starts coming alive.
And like I said, for the sake of time,
I'm not going to go to these places.
You can go there yourself.
I'm just going to read a few places.
But, you know, the Bible says about Noah
in Genesis chapter number 8, verse 20.
It says, "And Noah built an altar into the Lord
and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl
and offered burnt offerings on the altar."
That's the first mention of burnt offerings in the Bible.
And if you just look up burnt or burnt offering in the Bible,
there's hundreds and hundreds of places in the Bible
where there's a burnt offering.
Riddle me this, why?
It's because Jesus Christ went to hell
and was a burnt offering for us.
Now, Genesis 22 brings us up, too,
with Abram taking Isaac his son.
Now, I'm just going to read some verses for you,
but it says this, God talking to Abram, "Take now thy son,
"thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
"and get thee into the land of Moriah,
"and offer him therefore a burnt offering
"upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of."
What is he supposed to do?
He's supposed to take his son, put him on some wood,
and how does he kill him?
With a knife.
That's how he would die, he would slay him.
After he does the knife, he's dead.
It's over, but then you know what he's supposed to do?
Burn him.
Why?
Because it's not just the death,
it was a burnt offering.
Isaac was to be a burnt offering unto the Lord.
He was not only to kill his son,
he was also to burn him on the altar.
And the Bible says that the angel came
and stopped him from doing this, and he spared him.
Why?
Because man isn't to die for our sins,
Jesus is to die for our sins.
He was just a picture.
And in verse eight, it said,
Abram said, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb
"for a burnt offering."
So they went both of them together.
So God ended up providing himself,
and you could read this either way,
I don't care, both make sense,
that God the Father provided himself a lamb, Jesus Christ,
or you could look at it, Jesus Christ provided himself
a lamb for a burnt offering.
That is what he did, and that was the foreshadowing.
Genesis 37, the Bible talks about Joseph,
and it says it came to pass when Joseph
was coming to his brethren,
that they stripped Joseph out of his coat,
his coat of many colors that was on him,
and they took him and cast him into a pit,
and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
You know what's special about the Lord Jesus Christ
is they took his garment, his coat,
and they stripped it of him,
and then they even cast lots for his special garment.
Just like they took the garment from Joseph,
and of course, then he's thrown into a pit
where there's no water.
That's hell.
How do you know it's hell?
Well, the rich man lifted up his eyes,
and he was begging Abraham for a drop of water,
because guess what?
There's no water in hell.
And another picture of the Lord Jesus Christ,
how he would be taken by his own brethren,
and just basically killed for envy's sake.
The Jews, the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ,
killed their brother for envy's sake.
Why?
Because he testified of their works that they were evil.
Joseph told his father their evil report.
Jesus Christ testified of the Jews of their evil.
That's why they hated them,
and that's why they threw him in the pit.
Why do people hate the new IFB?
Because we testify of their evil, that's why.
Oh, why do these preachers get mad at you?
Because we testify of their evil report.
And you know what?
Even if they're brethren, or brethren so-called,
you know what?
Why do they hate us? Because we testify of their evil
and their evil works, and for envy, they hate us.
Just like they hated Jesus Christ,
and just like they throw Jesus Christ into the pit.
And let me tell you something,
even some of your brethren so-called,
if they got you in a dark alley,
they might throw you in a pit.
You gotta be careful.
Daniel chapter three, I'm just reading some things for you,
but he had, in the book of Daniel,
his friend Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they were thrown into a fiery furnace.
And the Bible says, and he answered and said,
"Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of fire,
and they have no hurt,
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
Now, in the story of Daniel,
then Nebuchadnezzar, astonied,
and like, just crazy impressed about this,
asked them to come out.
But you know, the only people that come out
are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the fourth days.
Picturing what?
That Jesus Christ would take our place in hell,
and that they had no hurt.
There was no fire, there was no sins,
there was nothing on their clothes.
Why?
Because we can't even taste of hell,
whereas Jesus Christ took that for us.
All these pictures in the Bible
about Jesus Christ going to hell.
Exodus 12 also gives us this picture,
look at verse six,
"And ye shall keep it up
"under the fourteenth day of the same month,"
talking about the Passover lamb.
"And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
"shall kill it in the evening."
Just like Jesus was killed at 3 p.m.
"And they shall take of the blood and strike it
"on the two side posts,
"and on the upper door post of the house,
"wherein they shall eat it.
"And they shall eat the flesh in that night,
"roast with fire and love and bread,
"and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
"Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all,
"with water, but roast with fire,
"his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof.
"And ye shall let none of it remain until the morning,
"and that which remaineth of it until the morning
"ye shall burn with fire.
"And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded,
"your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand,
"and ye shall eat it in haste, is the Lord's Passover."
They have to eat it in haste,
just like they had to bury the Lord Jesus Christ in haste.
And of course, we see that it was roast with fire.
So they weren't allowed to cook it in water,
they had to roast it in fire.
Signifying that Jesus Christ
would have to suffer in hell for us.
Go to Exodus 29, go to Exodus 29.
I'm gonna read for you in Leviticus 9,
the Bible says, "And the sons of Aaron
brought the blood in him,
and he dipped his finger in the blood
and put it upon the horns of the altar
and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar,
but the fat and the kidneys and the call above the liver
of the sin offering he burned upon the altar
as the Lord commanded Moses.
And the flesh and the hide,
he burnt with fire without the camp."
Now you'll see consistently in the Old Testament
burnt offerings that they would separate the animal.
They would take all the inward parts of the animal
and they would burn it on the altar.
And it says specifically things like the kidneys,
call of the liver, that's burned on the altar.
But then it says the skin and the flesh,
all the outward parts were taken without the camp
and they were burned without the camp.
Now in the book of Hebrews,
the Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ,
just like the burnt offerings were taken out of the camp,
went without the camp and suffered on the cross.
But we have to realize there's two pictures here.
He didn't only go without the camp
and suffer without the camp,
he also had the N words burned on the altar
to signify that his soul went to hell
and suffered in hell as well.
Exodus 29 verse 11 says the same thing.
Look what it says,
"And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock
and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger
and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.
And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth,"
notice this, "the N words and the call
that is above the liver and the two kidneys
and the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar."
So again, signifying fat and all these parts of the animal
that you wouldn't normally use,
because fat is kind of like a loose picture of sin.
Jesus Christ became sin for us
and then that fat is burned on the altar
and they weren't supposed to eat the fat.
You know, Native Americans would eat the entire animal.
We don't eat the entire animal, okay?
There's certain parts of the animal that we, you know,
get rid of and dispose of because it's not useful.
People always try to tell me like,
"Hey, do you want to eat cow's tongue?"
And I'm like, "I'm not into that, bro."
You know, like give me the filet, you know what I mean?
And look, if you eat that,
everything is sanctified by the word of God, okay?
If you receive with thanksgiving, okay?
But I'm just not that into it.
And you know, they were taking these parts of the animal
and they were just burning them.
You know, I don't consider it wasteful.
I just consider it an offering to the Lord, all right?
But they took the inwards, they burned that.
Notice in verse 14, "But the flesh of the bullock
and his skin and his dung shalt thou burn with fire
without the camp as a sin offering."
So they would take all these outward parts,
take them without the camp, and just burn them.
So they didn't eat the entire animal.
All the inwards and gross parts, they burned on the altar.
All the outward parts, they burned on the altar.
And then all the good meat,
that's the parts that they ate, okay?
And they didn't burn it to a crisp.
I heard a pastor say that they burnt the food
and then ate it.
I'm just like, that's weird, okay.
You didn't eat burnt food.
Go to Exodus 32.
I'm just gonna basically end with this story
here in the Bible, but there's so many great pictures
here in the Bible.
And again, for a second time,
we can't go through all the burnt offerings.
The burnt offerings are just endless.
You get to, you start not reading your Bible
when you get to this part,
'cause you're just like, oh man, another burnt offering.
I mean, you start reading the Bible,
Leviticus, and Numbers, all the burnt offerings,
it gets kind of tiring.
You'd think God's trying to drill in a point, huh?
Yet again, the people that don't believe in this,
they have no explanation for the burnt offerings.
Why would God just hammer burnt offerings?
There's so much in the Bible that had no significance.
It has great significance because it pictures
him going to hell and his resurrection from hell.
Exodus 32, the verse 15, this is cool.
"At Moses' turn, it went down from the mount,
and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand.
The tables were written on both sides, both their sides.
On the one side and on the other, they were written.
And the tables were the work of God,
and the writing was the writing of God
graven upon the tables.
And when Joshua heard the noise of the people,
as they shouted, he said unto Moses,
'There is a noise of war in the camp.'
And he said, 'It is not the voice of them
that shout for mastery,
neither is it the voice of them
that cry for being overcome,
but the noises of them that sing do I hear.'
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp,
that he saw the calf and the dancing,
and Moses' anger waxed hot.
And he cast the tables out of his hands
and break them beneath the mount.
And he took the calf, which they had made,
and burned it in the fire,
and ground it into power, and strode it upon the water,
and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Now, this is what's so cool about the Bible,
is some of the layers and some of the significance
that's understood spiritually in here.
What is this picturing?
Well, number one, it pictures that God gave us the law.
God gave man the law through the Ten Commandments,
and this is a picture of God giving us commandments
that we are to observe God's commandments.
But what happens is man breaks God's commandments,
and we see that through the children of Israel
breaking God's commandments and worshiping false gods
in this picture to signify how man breaks God's commandments.
And we see this through Moses coming down
and breaking the tablets, showing that the law
has been broken.
And there's a problem here.
The children of Israel have broken God's word.
They've broken the commandments.
And then we see that they have this calf.
This calf is a picture of what's going to happen
with the Lord Jesus Christ, because notice the calf
is then sacrificed, isn't it?
The calf is then going to be destroyed,
and it's going to be grounded in a powder,
and it's going to be burnt in the fire,
just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because man broke God's commandments.
The calf has to be offered.
The calf has to be burnt in the fire.
And then it's put in the water,
and then they have to drink the water
in order to basically be restored
in the same way that the gospel message
is like this water that's been put in there,
and we drink of this living water,
which gives us salvation.
So we have this incredible picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
death, bear, and resurrection here.
Why? Because of man's sin.
What's interesting is how the children of Israel,
if you think about this,
they were there to sacrifice that...
they were there to worship this calf, in a sense,
but then essentially they end up sacrificing it
and it gets burnt in the fire.
Just like the children of Israel at first,
they kind of received the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what is a golden calf picture? Sin.
Just like Jesus had to become sin for us
and he had to take that place.
This golden calf, which is a sinful image,
which is obviously wicked,
is showing how Jesus Christ had to become sin for us
and then become what?
A burnt offering and to be ground in the powder
and mixed into the water.
Go if you would to John 4 and we'll finish.
Go to John chapter number 4.
Look, the word of God is not written by man,
it's written by God.
And how we've broken the Ten Commandments
and God has to then offer a sacrifice for us
and that calf, that golden calf,
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like Jesus Christ is pictured as that brazen serpent
on the stick, how he became sin for us
and how it's gonna be destroyed
and then it's put in the water
and they have to drink the water.
Look what it says in John 4 verse 14,
"But whosoever drinketh the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
The gospel message is like that calf being mixed in
with the water and then they had to drink it.
Every time I read that, I was just like, this is weird.
Thinking like, who wants to drink metallic or gold water?
But it's showing the significance of what?
The gospel message, how we drink the gospel message
is in a sense, metaphorically, how we receive
Jesus Christ through this.
And I think that, you know, if you kind of just think
from a pragmatic perspective, if someone mixed something
like that in the water, it would probably be kind of bitter.
But that's how the gospel message is a little bit.
There's a little bit of the bitterness of the set
so that we have to realize that Jesus Christ died
on the cross for us, that we have to realize
that he went to hell for us.
And you know, the resurrection of the hell
is kind of like bitter waters, isn't it?
It's bitter in the sense that we have to understand
what Jesus Christ did for us and the sacrifice
that he made for us, but at the end of the day,
that water is gonna give us salvation.
That water is gonna give us the newness of life
and we can be right with him.
And it's gonna spring in us a well
that we can go out and we can also give the gospel
to other people and we can get them saved.
And you know what?
The best thing you can do on Easter
is preach the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not only to just say thank you and appreciate it,
it's to use it.
We need to use the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if Jesus Christ can die on the cross,
go to hell, and then come back,
don't you think you could like come back to church tonight?
Don't be this like Easter only Christian.
Don't be this Sunday morning only Christian.
I mean, if Jesus Christ can take the journey from hell
all the way back to the earth,
can't you just come back to church on Easter of all days
and celebrate with us and celebrate the Lord's Supper
and celebrate the communion of His death?
And what He's done for us?
You know, if Jesus Christ can do those things for me,
then we should, this is our reasonable service
to come to church and to worship God and to serve God.
And you know, it's a beautiful Easter morning.
We need to go out there and preach the gospel.
And you know, when I preach the gospel,
I preach not only did Jesus die,
but He rose again from hell.
And let us not be afraid of this doctrine,
but let us embrace it and be thankful.
If Jesus Christ went to hell,
don't you think He wants people to understand that
and appreciate that for Him,
appreciate that about what He did for us?
Let us appreciate everything that Jesus Christ did for us,
not just the parts we like.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for the gift of your Son,
the free gift of eternal life.
Thank you so much that your Son was willing
to not only die on the cross,
but take a place in hell that we deserve.
Thank you that you heard His cries out of the belly of hell
and that you loosed Him from the pains of death
and that you gave Him the victory,
that you allowed Him to conquer death and hell,
that you gave Him the keys of hell and of death
and that you offer that to us for free
to anyone who just simply believes in Jesus Christ.
Thank you for giving us such a free salvation.
Thank you for not just leaving us on the earth
with nothing but giving us all kinds of gifts
and giving us pastors and teachers so that we could grow.
I pray that you would also just embolden us
to go out and preach the gospel
and to preach the resurrection from hell
so that many other people could be saved
and appreciate the works that have been done for us
and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
All right, in closing, let's go to song number 38.
Song number 38.
Hallelujah, we shall rise.
Song number 38.
♪ Action morning when the trump of God shall sound ♪
♪ He shall rise ♪
♪ Joy sing and no tears will e'er be ♪
♪ He shall rise ♪
- We have some baptisms.
We have Sister Rose coming for baptism.
Sister Rose, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Also have James coming for baptism.
James, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
We have Paisley also coming.
Sister Paisley, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Have you sit all the way on your bottom right.
We have Sister Caitlin coming for baptism.
Have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Make sure to congratulate our baptisms.
God bless you are dismissed.