Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Happy Easter.
It's great to see everybody here this morning.
We can go ahead and find our seats.
We will get started.
Once we've all found a seat, let's go ahead and grab a hymnal,
and we will start this morning's service in song number 33.
Christ the Lord is risen today.
is risen today. Hallelujah. Song number 33. Let's all sing it together real loud on that verse.
So much for this church.
Thank you for rising from the dead
and saving us from our sins, Lord.
We love you.
We just ask that you fill this room with your spirit
and bless this Easter service, Lord,
and send Jesus' name we pray.
All right, for our next song,
let's go to song number 36.
Song number 36.
Christ of Rose, song number 36 as I'll sing it out again.
Amen, 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 ushers can come by and get you a bulletin
and we have a special service today for you.
We have our kids' choirs that are gonna 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
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 the prizes for the last one
I'm gonna hold off and I'm gonna wait a few days just like you had to wait for the resurrection
You have to wait for the prizes and we're gonna give those out on Wednesday
So I already have them, but we're just holding back. All right, so
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.
Please be in prayer for our expecting ladies.
Down below yesterday,
we had over 100 people come out for soul winning.
And all the soul winning for a church yesterday
was 48 salvation.
So praise the Lord on that.
That was great work.
Also, we got at least one trespass warning, brother Ben helped us out on that and but
it was an assist because he ran interference so I could get a lady saved and so praise
God for that.
Tonight, we're going to be having our Lord's 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.
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 message in the ladies chat.
Either way, you don't have to do both. If you do one, you are in.
Also, there was a new soul-winning marathon
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 is 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
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.
We've been told about like 1,000 people show up
for this particular event.
And 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-winning over there.
And the people from this area
just seem to be very receptive people.
And so,
It's just kind of a special, unique opportunity to reach some foreigners that seem to be pretty receptive.
And so, if you have questions about it, I'm probably not the expert.
You could ask Brother Sam or Brother Evan.
They have been spearheading this idea,
but we just want to come alongside and offer the opportunity.
We'll probably just meet...
at the park directly.
So if you want to go soul winning 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 gonna be kind of a targeted soul winning
at this park location.
There's not gonna be maps or anything like that
because we're all just kind of,
we're just like bees swarming this event, okay?
So, 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 we 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 Oz 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, get to see those people in Oklahoma and give them a hard time,
remind them that Texas is better. And, but we're going to go and meet them on the other side
and go into Oklahoma. Now, some areas of Oklahoma...
We're mostly populated or heavily influenced by 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 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 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 Annalise Marie.
She was born on the 14th, 9 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 RSVP, please do that to Ms. Milstead.
Down below is our prayer list. If you have any additional prayer requests, you can see me.
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.
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, 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,
Kids Choirs perform for us.
All right, that was Where the Spirit Blows.
Where the Spirit Blows.
It's all singing out together.
choir come on down
Great job.
Thank you so much to both of our choirs.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate all of the parents
and everybody for doing that.
The Bibles is out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings, thou has perfected praise.
And that was really special.
We really appreciate that.
Thank you so much.
Thank you to my wife for doing such a great job.
At this time, we're gonna turn to our Bibles
to Acts chapter number two,
and we're gonna pass our offering plates,
and our ushers are gonna come down.
We'll read the entire chapter, as is our custom, before the preaching of God's word.
The 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
And how here we every man in our own tongue were when we were born.
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and in
Cappadocia and Pontius and Asia, Fergia 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
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.
Sayeth 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 determinate 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 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, 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 sepulchre 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.
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus, that God raised up, were of we all our 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 saith himself,
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had 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, into 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 promise is 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 3,000 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 Shelley 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 and 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 as 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 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.
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 on the 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
for all of our sins, but without the resurrection,
the Bible makes it abundantly clear
in 1 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 and hell, having the keys of hell
and of death, which gives us the hope
that we will never go to hell
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
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 are still able to go to heaven because God already foredained 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,
having loose 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 as 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 all sermons on this but
Essentially the Passover week starts with this 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 comes 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 of 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
and make up lies about him,
and their witness did not agree.
And they asked 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 priest,
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 confer with pilot and finally pilot 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 under you
What 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 Rome 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
Pilate 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 Passover 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
Barabbas where essentially he's a murderer and they want the murderer over the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the gospel message 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
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 God
having loosed the pains of death.
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 by holy one to see corruption
So he's saying the soul is not going to just stay in hell
The body's not going to perish, what's going to happen?
He's going to be raised again from the dead in the same body.
This is important Jesus Christ 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 a another person
If someone died
and then another random person shows up
in a completely different body,
you're not gonna 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 sepulchre 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's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ
that his soul is not left in hell,
neither is fleshed as corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses.
What does 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 going to 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 and come 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 for you 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, you know 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 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 and 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 now.
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 this is someone he died.
It's not that someone substituted 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 in hope.
So this is what was being quoted in Acts chapter 2.
For that will not leave my soul in hell, neither will it though suffer thy holy one
to see corruption, that will show me the path of life, in thy presence and fullness of joy
at thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.
So this is what's quoted in the book of Acts chapter number 2.
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, 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 seen this before spake of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Some people 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 believe in the deathbed resurrection.
I mean, there's no way to believe that doctrine.
The Pharisees confirmed the resurrection.
Are you going to tell me that the disciples and the saved Christians in the Old Testament
didn't understand the resurrection, yet the Pharisees confessed 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 going to 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 see corruption,
but he would be victorious.
Now, go through 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 in 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 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 fishes 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 heard us 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 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 were 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, okay?
No, it's called Bible.
You know, 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 cry die 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 mind 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 Welles 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 his Jonah's was three days and three nights and the Welles 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 Welles belly
Just like Jesus would have to go into the heart of the earth would have to go to hell for our
You know 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 hathest cast me into the deep
and the midst of the seas,
and the floods compass me about.
All thy billows and thy ways 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 encompassed him about.
He's literally got the billows
and the waves passing over him.
Verse four, then I said I'm 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 five, the waters compass me about even to the soul the depth close me round about the weeds are wrapped about my head
So again literal about Jesus. I'm sorry Jonah again litter about Jonah. He has weeds about his head
He's in the he's basically got waters just everywhere. He's closed in everywhere
Verse six, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me forever
Yet has they'll brought up my life from corruption. Oh 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 well'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 those 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 rebar is 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 seven, when my soul fainted within me,
I remember the Lord and my prayer came in
under the end of thy holy temple.
They that observe lying vanities for sake their own mercy,
but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
I'll 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 a salt in America if you spit on someone
I don't like that he was light about.
I don't like that he was betrayed.
I don't like that a crowd 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,
prophesy!
And they were making fun of him saying like,
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 gonna not believe it.
And you know what? 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,
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'd be any other way,
let this cup pass for me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
And 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 6, the Bible says,
the sorrows of hell compassed 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 6, 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.
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 two, the pains of death.
The Bible tells us in Psalm the sorrows of hell.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 116, look at verse one,
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
gathold upon me, I found trouble in 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 mind affliction. The Bible couldn't paint a clear 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.
Oh Lord, I beseech thee to 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,
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,
dieeth 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 other than God.
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 7, 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 have no more
Dominion over what does more imply that at a period of time death had dominion over him
There was a point when darkness had their moment in the Sun
Hey, even said unto the Romans and a 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.
Gov'u had 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 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 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 Lord the 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 and 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 for evermore.
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, is 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.
You can't go to hell. You can't go there where the lake of fire is.
Obviously we all shed this physical body.
every person will shed the 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 loose 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 helped 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 ascended 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.
Did you see in verse 8, he gave gifts?
Notice the word gift is plural.
There's an S.
He gave gifts, undiminished.
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 profits 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
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
It was 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 this is not the only gift that God gives us.
God gave us the gift of life.
God gave us the gift of parents.
God gives 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.
Hey, Evangelist Duncan Urbanic is a gift from God, folks.
Evangelist Tanner Furr 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 gonna 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 there's 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, really let me do 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.
It 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.
You know what?
Today was a special day, and I loved hearing this kid's choir.
I loved 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,
Verse 13,
Now, I want you to go to Exodus 12 if you would, Exodus 12.
For a second time, I'm not going to go to every verse I want to do this morning,
but we learned some great things.
What did we learn 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 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,
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 to with
Abram taking Isaac his son now. I'm just gonna 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 there for 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?
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 8, it 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,
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 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 not tell?
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 3, I'm just reading some things for you,
but he had in the book of Daniel, his from friends,
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, walk 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,
astonished and like,
you know, just crazy impressed about this,
asked them to come out, but you know,
the only people that come out are Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed and go to the fourth stage,
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 6,
and you shall keep it up under the 14th 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 posts 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 going to 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 burnt 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 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 inwards 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 that happened after 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 now, so take all the fat, the coverth, notice this,
the inwards 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, it's 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 need 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're received 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 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
shout thou, burn with fire without the camp
and his ascent 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 you start
Not reading your Bible when you get to this part because you're just like oh man another burnt offering
I mean you start reading the Bible of viticus and numbers are doing all the burnt offerings
It gets kind of tiring you 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 burn offerings
Why would God just hammer burn offerings just so much in the Bible if it had no significance?
It has great significance because it pictures him going to hell and his resurrection from hell
Exes 32 the verse 15 this is cool
Moses turned and 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
Grave in 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's 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 under the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing in 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 burn it with fire burn it in the fire and grounded a 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
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 in resurrection here. Why because of Manson?
What's interesting is how the children of Israel,
if you think about this,
they were there to sacrifice that,
or they were there to worship this calf innocence,
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
Burt 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 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 a picture that's that
brazen serpent on the sick, 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 of 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 spring 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.
Think like, who wants to drink metallic or gold water?
But it's it's showing the significance of what the gospel message how we drink the gospel message in a sense
Metaphorically how we receive Jesus Christ through this and I think that you know if you if you kind of just think from a pragmatic
perspective if someone mixed something like that in the water it would probably 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 the 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 them 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.
Song number 38. Hallelujah. We shall rise. Song number 38.
Let's all sing it out.
In the resurrection morning, when the trump of God shall sound,
We shall rise, we shall rise.
When the saints will come rejoicing, and our tears will air be found,
We shall rise
We shall rise, we shall rise, we shall rise, we shall rise.
This morning, 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 likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
James, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Buried and lightened to the death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
All right.
And 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 likes of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
APPLAUSE
I don't know.
Is it cold in here?
It's pretty good.
We'll just have you sit all the way on your bottom right here.
Baptism, have you trusted Christ your Savior?
Yes.
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.
Thank you.