Amen. Okay, so we're in Matthew chapter 28 on this Easter Sunday morning, and we're just
going to look down at that verse of the week again, Matthew 28 and verse number 9,
Matthew 28, 9, which says this, and as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus
met them saying, all hail, and they came and held him by the feet and worshipped
him. And the title of my sermon this morning is responding to the resurrection.
I'd like to pray before we get going with this message. Father, thank you for your word,
thank you for, well, the fact that you sent your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die,
not only to die, not only to be buried, but to rise from the dead, Lord.
And I thank you for this truth that we're going to look at today and what
it means to us, Lord, and help me to just preach this message clearly and
accurately and boldly, Lord, and in a way that everyone would just really listen
to what your word has to say, Lord, and take it into their hearts, Lord, and in Jesus'
name we pray all this. Amen. Okay, so it's Easter, which means that we're thinking
specifically, aren't we, about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay, that's what Easter is about. Something that wasn't only witnessed by
a load of people, 1 Corinthians 15, 6, that says that he was seen of the
12, and I think perhaps probably talking about Matthias at this point, then
after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. But the
resurrection was also prophesied about in various ways long before Jesus
Christ came to die for our sins. Okay, so there's many prophecies of the
resurrection in the Word of God. Last year I preached on 12 of the clearest
prophecies for me on the resurrection in Scripture on our Easter Sunday
morning service, of which I included six from long before the event in
the Old Testament, okay, and I just found them interesting. Jonah chapter 2,
Isaiah 53, Psalm 40, Psalm 16, Psalm 2, Job 19, among many others. There are many more,
especially when you include various pictures that you see in the Old
Testament as well of the resurrection as well. And six of them
I preached which came straight out of the Lord Jesus Christ's mouth as well, as
he carried out his three-year ministry. So there's prophecy after
prophecy after prophecy of the resurrection, some dating back thousands
and thousands of years, and if you want to know about those, please look back at
that sermon that's on our YouTube channel from a year ago, if you're
interested in those prophecies. But for anyone genuinely investigating, so
genuinely investigating the Bible, because some people claim to
investigate something, but really they already have a view, something they're
just trying to, they're trying to just support their already preconceived
idea, okay, but if you're genuinely investigating the Bible, and particularly
the resurrection, you would have to acknowledge two truths. Okay, so truth
number one, that the much prophesied Christ was also much prophesied to
rise from the dead, and then point number two, truth number two, is that many
eyewitnesses attested to the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Okay,
so two truths, you got one, that the Christ was going to rise from the dead,
number two, that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. With Paul going as far
as naming some of the many eyewitnesses in 1 Corinthians 15, and some of these
men writing accounts of the resurrection in Scripture, but there
being many others, and with most of these eyewitnesses then going on to
choose serious persecution, not the sort of persecution that maybe
we'll all complain about, serious persecution, rather than deny what they
had seen. Okay, and if you acknowledge these two truths, then there is one
obvious conclusion. What's the obvious conclusion? That Jesus of Nazareth was
that prophesied Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Now that's the thing about the
resurrection, it's not just some cool miracle, or some random bit of power
shown for no reason. The resurrection is the final piece of validation for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, it's the final piece of proof, if you
like, that he was, as Peter said in Matthew 16-16, which reads, and some Peter
answers said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Christ could
only be the Son of God. In Romans 1, Paul starts his epistle to the Romans
with this truth. Romans 1 starts with verse 1, saying, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised to fall by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. So he was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection
from the dead. I mean, that's some power, isn't it? That was the final, that
was like the icing on the cake, if you want. The resurrection is
an essential part of the gospel, not just because he's the first fruits with
our resurrection to come, our physical bodily resurrection to come as well, but
because the resurrection of Jesus was the final proof that he was the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. Without the resurrection, he wouldn't have been
fulfilling all the prophecies, would he? Without the resurrection, he would have
been a liar. Without the resurrection, we would all be on our way to hell, every
single one of us, because we've all sinned to come short of the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 15, 17, you have to turn there, says, and if Christ be not raised,
your faith is in vain, you're yet in your sins. It's as simple as that. If
Christ is not raised, well you can write off half of this, it's all a waste
of time. The whole lot is a waste of time. And of course our faith is in
the inspired, preserved words of God, okay, just to make that clear. But one of
the integral parts of this book is the resurrection. That's integral to the
Bible, integral to Christianity, is the resurrection of Christ, and in fact it's
described as being, there being many infallible proofs of the resurrection.
The resurrection is an essential truth, and there are a few ways that people
respond to that truth that we see in Matthew chapter 28 that I want to go
through today. Because in Matthew 28, it's early in the morning, okay, and
this angel, the messenger of God, says this to the two Marys, in verse 5, it
says, and the angel answers, said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said,
come see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples
that he is risen from the dead, and behold he goes before you into Galilee,
there shall you see him, lo I have told you. And they departed quickly
from La Sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples. Word of the title is Responding to the Resurrection, and point number
one is Respond by trusting him. Respond by trusting him. Verse 6 said, he is not
here, for he is risen, as he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay.
The angel, the messenger of God here, reminded the Marys of the words of
Christ, of the many times that he prophesied of his resurrection that I
mentioned. As recently as a day or two before his death, he said this to his
disciples in Mark 10 34, after saying about being condemned to death and
delivered to the Gentiles, he said in verse 34, they shall mock him, and shall
scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day he
shall rise again. He said it clearly to his disciples. The angel of God also
told them how to see him. It says in verse 7, and go quickly and tell his
disciples it is risen from the dead, and behold he goeth before you into
Galilee, there shall you see him, lo I have told you. Now this was
something else that Jesus himself had said this, this time on the final night,
okay, he said this in Matthew 26 and verse 32, if you want to flick back to
chapter 26 and verse 32, but after I am risen again, I will go before you into
Galilee. So the Marys trusted what Jesus had said, as relayed by the
messenger of God, okay, and of course they were already saved, but isn't
that also what is required for salvation? Trusting the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ as relayed by his messenger, as relayed by a messenger of
God, and in our case, in the case of people in this world, it's not by an
angel, it's not by a supernatural being, the messenger of God is a soul
winner with the King James Bible preaching the Word of God. Trusting the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ as relayed by his messenger, and if you're
unsaved, okay, and I don't know if there's anyone here that maybe is
unsaved and I'm not trying to scan to look at particular people, and I've
just got to be careful when I preach, sometimes I just preach, I just glance at
someone and I think, oh no, it looks like I'm trying to say it, there we go, I'm just saying, look, maybe there are people in a room this size,
there's gonna be people unsaved in here, sadly. If you're unsaved, if you
haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, respond to the resurrection by
trusting him. Respond to the resurrection by trusting him. Turn to John
chapter 11, trust that death, that burial, that resurrection as payment for your
sins, trust him. Trust the words of Christ who said in John chapter 11, John
chapter 11, when speaking to Martha in verse 25, John 11 25, Jesus said unto her,
I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever, that's anyone, liveth and believeth in me,
shall never die. Believeth thou this? Do you believe him? Do you trust him? Or
are you trusting yourself? Are you still trusting your works, in one of the
many ways that people trust their works? There are many, many ways. People trust their
works in obvious ways, in blatant ways, like all the false religions of the
world, the open ones, the five pillars of the monstrosity of Islam, the
seven sacraments of the monstrosity of Roman Catholicism, one of the many
just obvious, you have to work your way to heaven, are you trusting your
works? Or are you trusting your works in the more subtle ones, where you've
got to at least turn from your wickedness, you've got to at least give
your life to Christ, you've got to turn from your evil way. And I had a guy, so I'm
just gonna go for a quick tangent here, it's not really a tangent, because it's
in line with what we're talking about here, I had a guy contact me the other day,
what's his name, Steven Calder, I think his name was, was that Clayton?
Steven Clayton, this guy emailed me, said, it's about evangelism,
he said, could Ian Taverner call me? So I replied, you know, he's left his
number, I said, what's it concerning, please? And the email was evangelism in
Southend, so I replied, what's it concerning, please? He said, we're doing an
evangelism event, we're aware that Strong Tower evangelises in Southend,
correct me if I'm wrong, and we would like to invite you to partake in
our evangelism event, you and your church members. So this will be
interesting. So I went, I tried to look in, and I spoke to a brother who had
a bit of time, said he'd have a look as well, and I looked into this guy, and
I found a video of him standing on a soapbox type thing, with a loudspeaker
very early in the morning in Clacton on sea, with a couple of crackheads and
drug addicts walking, different types of drug addicts walking around, no one else
pretty much, shouting about, apparently preaching the gospel, and there's a guy
in the background just going, wow, amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, while he's preaching, and it
sounded at the beginning, it's like, it's none of your works, it's grace through
faith, but he's quoting dodgy Bible versions, you're thinking, okay, well let's
wait for it, let's wait for it, and I had to sit through 24 minutes of this, I
think I was at work or something, so at least I just had it in my
headphones, thinking, wait for it, wait for it, sure enough, you need to turn
from your wickedness and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you've got to turn
from your evil way, it's grace, and only by faith in Christ, it's like these guys
literally contradict themselves in the one sentence, it's faith alone in Christ by
turning away from your wickedness, what on earth, because turning away from your
wickedness is odd, in fact Jonah 3 10 clearly says that God saw their works
that they turn from the evil way, and God repented the evil that he said he
would do unto them, and he did not. Turning from your evil way is works, and my
Bible says, for by grace you say through faith, that not of yourselves
it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man she boast. These guys just,
and it's so funny, so I looked, so I just looked at this video, and he
had all this other stuff, and if you want to, and it is all about Zion,
because they're always just so off on everything else,
Zionism, like Zionism on steroids, I mean stars of Rem fan behind him
while he preaches, you know, all this sort of wickedness, the Jews are amazing,
the Jews this, I love the Jews, shalom, shalom, yeshua, you know, all that stuff,
you know, all that, I'm gonna pretend I know Hebrew when I don't, you know,
and when you go back to the Hebrew, all that stuff, because they just, when
you're off on salvation, you just go off on everything, don't you? Yeah, all
over the place and everything, and obviously I didn't sit through that
stuff, but anyway, so I just replied and said, thanks for the invite,
however, we don't agree with your message, you know, etc, you preach your
work salvation, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 are left at that. The reply was, he said,
no, he said, I said, having looked at your online content, could you tell me
what you looked at? So I just said, this one has it all, this one is full of
it, and then that was the last message I sent, and sent him a
screenshot of this, of this video. I don't know how you took that message as
being work salvation, we completely agree with what you believe, that it's
grace through faith, and it's, they just, it's complete denial, they're
completely mad, because they're so given over these false prophets, they
can't understand that telling someone they've got it, I even quoted, turn from
your wickedness, turn from your evil ways, that's not the gospel, that's not what Jesus
Christ died for, he didn't die and go to hell and rise from the dead for you to
earn your way to heaven, otherwise why did he die on the cross? He died to pay for your sins,
not for you to add a bit to it, and these people are everywhere, and they're
so subtle, because they say this, oh no, grace through faith, they quote
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, they quote John 3, 16, they quote all the, all the verses,
it's belief, belief, belief, and then they go, oh but you've got to just turn
away, you've got to at least give up this, no this or that, no drunken, no, with
a loud hailer, some poor old lady's walking by going, what's this guy on about, you
know, he's like, no drunken, shut it Eric, the king's got to be, wow, he's so brave, so brave,
preaching the same message everyone else does in the world, your works will
get you to heaven, but it's not by works, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Where was I? Okay, yeah, so emails, annoying, but if you
haven't trusted Christ, okay, you need to put your trust in Christ, and, and you
need to respond to the resurrection by trusting him, okay, how do you trust him?
You put your faith that his death, burial, resurrection paid for, not just your past
sins, not just your present sins, but also your future sins, because my
Bible says when someone asked, when that Philippian jailer asked Paul and
Silas and brought them out and says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and the house.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's how you trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
you put your faith in that death, that burial, and that resurrection to have paid
for your past, present, future sins. Go back to Matthew 28 and verse 8, which
said, and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy and
did run to bring his disciples word, and as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail, and they came and held him by the
feet and worshipped him. The title is responding to the resurrection, number
one, respond by trusting him. Number two, respond by worshipping him. Respond by
worshipping him. Two separate things, they're two separate things, just to
make that clear. Just because you're trusting Christ doesn't mean you're
going to go on to worship Christ. Just because you're worshipping Christ
doesn't mean that you're trusting Christ. But if you're trusting Christ, you
can respond to the resurrection by worshipping Christ. And I hope most
people in here are trusting for salvation, but are you bowing at his feet
and reverently worshipping him too? Are you doing that as well? You might be
trusting him, you might be appreciating salvation, but are you worshipping him as
well? And by the way, only God receives worship, right? Should receive worship.
Jesus Christ had no problem being worshipped because he is God. He's a son of God.
He's God in the flesh. They didn't lift up his legs, by the way, so
they didn't have to put too much effort in. I don't see any indication of that.
They didn't, kind of, grab his leg and lift it up and go, I don't want to have to
get on my knees, it's a bit dirty down there, a bit sandy. Probably a bit sandy,
wasn't it, or something. He didn't do that, I don't think. They didn't ask him to
pop round the house so they could be a bit more comfortable when they did
worship him. If you could come to us, Jesus, yeah, I know you're here right now,
if you could just carry on walking for another mile or two, come round to
where we're staying, then we could worship you in, you know, where we
have our creature comforts. You could work in our way, you know,
according to how we want to worship you. They dropped to their knees, they
held his fee, and they worshipped him. They dropped, they saw Jesus Christ, they
dropped to their knees, held on to his fee, and worshipped him. And doesn't he
deserve that? Doesn't the Lord Jesus Christ deserve worship? He died for you.
He descended into hell for you. He paid every single bit of your sin debt for
free. He did the whole lot for you. Yeah, how many believers refuse to worship him?
So many will only worship him on their terms, as long as it doesn't
require too much of their effort. As long as they don't have to put in too
much effort, they'll do a little bit of worship, but he said to worship him.
You say, when you say to worship, well turn to Psalm 95, he commands worship.
The risen Savior of the world commands reverent worship. And when was the last
time that you got on your knees and worshiped God? Who this morning, you'd have to
raise your hands, but this is just a rhetorical question out there. I wonder
who this morning dropped on their knees this morning before coming to
church at some point and worshipped God. Yet Psalm 95 and verse 3 says,
for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. Talking about false
gods, talking about whatever people set up and make as gods. No, he's above them all.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth, the strength of the hills is
his also. The sea is his and he made it. In his hands form the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
That's the Psalm, it's telling us to get down and kneel before the Lord our maker,
getting on your knees when you pray to God, okay. You know what, it puts you in
the correct reverent frame of mind. If you don't do that, if it's something that
you don't do, okay, and it's not something maybe only when things are
really bad or maybe you just don't do it for whatever reason, can I
encourage you to do it? Please, can I encourage you to get on your knees and
worship God? Not right now. We haven't got any of those kneeling cushions
I'm kidding, okay. Okay, they need them in there, they got their dodgy heart
floors, right. No, I'm joking. You don't have to do that now, but you know what,
why not when you get up in the morning get on your knees and worship
God? You know when you get on your knees and you pray to God and you bow
your head and you pray to God, it makes, it encourages you to be more
humble than maybe the flesh wants to be. It encourages you to put him in the
right position rather than your sort of, yeah, oh yeah, can you give me this, can
you give me that. It encourages you to pray, not just a genie in a lamp type
prayer. It encourages you to, when you get down on your knees and you bow your
head, to apologise to come to him to confess and forsake your sins. It
encourages you to pray for other people. It encourages you to beg for the
things that you want from God and not to treat him like you just click your
fingers, he gives you what you want. Bowing your knees to God
for me is a must in the Christian life and it's something that if you don't do
or sometimes you fall out of doing it a bit, maybe a bit rushed and everything
else, you quickly appreciate why you should be doing it when you start doing
it again. But it's not just about prayer time. Did I tell you to turn to John
chapter 4? Turn to John 4 if you haven't. God wants us to worship him
properly, okay. He's looking for people to worship him properly, that's what he
wants. He doesn't just want you to, okay, well I'd say a few prayers, okay, yeah,
got in a kneeling position now, okay. He convicted me of that. Now he wants you to
worship him in all ways properly. John chapter 4 says in verse 23, John 4.23
says, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship
him. God is the spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Where do we worship him in truth? Well you don't have to turn to 1st
Timothy 3.15 says about the house of God which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Go back to Matthew 28, there
isn't any truth at repent of your sins Baptist. There's no truth there. It's
done, it's not a house of God. There's no truth at Bible of the
month community church where they're chopping and changing and they use a
bit of this Bible, a bit of that, whatever suits them so they can be the
final authority. That's not the truth. That's not the Word of God.
They're not the house of God. You're turning back to Matthew 28, Psalm 5
7 says, but as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. It's in the
house of God. That's where he wants us worshiping him. As a collective
together, lifting up our voices in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, praying to
the Lord, honouring his Word, preaching his Word, reading his Word. That's how
God wants us worshiping in spirit and in truth. Not on YouTube. And again I
know, look, I know we have people watching and some people can't get
here for whatever reason. Some people have problems in life when they can't
get to the house of God. But for many, for many out there, it's not because
they can't get here, it's because they choose not to worship him. Sometimes you
just got to put some effort in for the truth. And back in Matthew 28, Jesus
demanded some effort. He said in verse 10, then said Jesus unto them, be not
afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall
they see me. There shall they see me. Do you know how far Galilee was? It's
about a hundred miles. It was a hundred miles from where they were. They've come
and worshipped him and he said, you tell my brethren to get themselves into
Galilee. A hundred miles. A hundred miles at approximately a walking pace of four
miles an hour is about 25 hours. That's a lot of walking. That's a big
travel. That's a big distance to go and see the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it?
Oh well, you know, I don't have to go anywhere because church is at home.
Well, he told them to go to Galilee. And you know what? God wants us to put some
effort in to go and worship him in spirit and in truth. Sometimes you've
got to travel to worship the Lord. That's just the way it is. Sometimes
there are people that will change their whole lives, that will
shift things, that will move, that will relocate, that will do long
journeys, and we have many of those types of people in our church. And do you know what
it is? It's an even more damning indictment, sadly, on
those in this town and all around, really, the London area,
who are that close to a genuine house of God. And look, maybe there are
others up around that we just don't know of in other places, and they
just refuse to worship him. They've got someone which has the Gospel, has the
Word of God, has the King James Bible, and does some sort of preaching of
the Gospel out and about, and at least you can do that from
that church. That's a house of God, why aren't they worshipping it? Why aren't they going and
doing that? And sometimes you've got to put the effort in. It's said in verse 10,
that Jesus said unto them, be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into
Galilee, and there shall they see me. Let's keep going, verse 11 says, now
when they were going, behold some of the watch came into the city and
showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when
they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large
money unto the soldiers, saying, say ye his disciples came by night, and
stole him away while we slept, and if this come to the governor's ears, we
will persuade him and secure you. The title is respond to the resurrection.
Number one, respond by trusting him. Number two, respond by worshiping him.
Number three, don't respond by hating him. Don't respond by hating him.
Imagine that, okay, they showed the truth. It says all the things that were
done. Some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief
priests, this is verse 11, all the things that were done. They could have got
right with God, couldn't they? Put their trust in the Savior. No, instead
they use their money to hide the truth. They're using their wealth, their
money, to hide the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And 2 Timothy 3 8 says of
these types of religious psychopaths, now as Jannes and Jambis with St. Moses, so
do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concern the
faith. These are wicked people. This is the type of people being described here.
Wicked God haters. They know the truth and they're promoting a lie. They know
the truth, they're promoting a lie. And that is every false prophet out there
today. Every false prophet in their various ways, they know the truth,
they're promoting a lie. That's your vicars, your priests, your imams, your
rabbis, your monks, your Pentecostal pastors, your, you name it, you repent of
your sins, so-called Baptist pastors, whatever, whoever. Anyone that's
not preaching the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, if they're teaching a lie,
if they're teaching, they're preaching, they're a false prophet. And that's the
sort of people that we're seeing here. They're covering up, they're changing
the truth of God into a lie. They want to hide the truth, they want to promote
lies. They want to falsely accuse his disciples. And how often will we get
falsely accused in various ways? Falsely accused of teaching something that
maybe we don't? Falsely accused of this, falsely accused of that, because
that's what they do. It's the ad hominem attack, it's the attack the messenger,
it's to claim the disciples are liars, are this, are that, are bad people, you
know, they're a cult, they're this, they're that, whatever they can to try and stop
people then listening to the message and putting their faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to 2 Peter 2. Do you know, though, what all these
people were before they were false prophets? Do you know what these, these
Jews here, these leaders here, these elders, these chief priests were? Do you
know what the vicar was before he was a false prophet? What the priest was, what
the imam, what the rabbi, what the Pentecostal pastor, what, whatever these
guys are, do you know what they were before they were sometimes open obvious
false prophets? I mean, some of them are just wearing a dress and a magic hat
and it's like, it's just ridiculous, but some are more subtle. Some try and look
like us, dress like us, carry a Bible like us, pretend they're studying the
Bible, pretend they're, they're doing exegesis of the Bible and they care so
much about what the Word of God says. Do you know what they all were? They
were unsaved people before that. They were unsaved people who rejected the
truth and eventually were given over to a reprobate mind. That's what they
were. They had the chance to get saved and they rejected it and hated the way
of truth. That's what happened. And look at second Peter 2, talking about these
types of people. It says, for if after they have, verse 20 sorry, second Peter 2
20, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so the knowledge, it doesn't say
they've put their trust in him, they are again entangled therein and
overcome, so they've had the, the ability, they've had something that means
they could have, they could have accepted the truth in one way or another,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, then after they have
known it, they know the way, there's some amount of truth that's been made
known unto them, even just the knowledge of the Creator, to turn from the Holy
Commandment given unto them. They've turned away from it, they didn't seek,
they didn't, they didn't therefore then go, okay I've got an idea, I'm gonna go this
way, they've turned the other way, but it has happened unto them according to
the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again and a sow that was
washed to a wallowing in the mire. And my point is this, if you're still
privately rejecting the Gospel, and there will, there'll be people in the church
like this that are privately rejecting the Gospel, denying the truth, let me tell you
how you should respond to the resurrection, don't respond by hating him.
This is a risk for every unsaved person out there, it could get to the
point where it's too late, if it's too late you're done, you're twice dead. If
you're rejecting the truth, you had it, you have that and you reject the
truth and you're turning and basically going to that lie, you can get to the point
where it's too late for you. Said in verse 11 in Matthew 28, now when they
were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief
priests all the things that were done and when they're assembled with the elders
and take accounts they gave large money unto the soldiers saying say ye
his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept and if
this come to the governor's ears we will persuade him and secure you. So
they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is
commonly reported among the Jews until this day. The title is responding to the
resurrection, number one respond by trusting him, number two respond by
worshipping him, number three don't respond by hating him and number four
don't respond by denying him, don't respond by denying him. The watch
showed all things that were done, maybe some of them believed on him,
maybe not, I don't know, we don't really know but when they were
offered large money to deny the truth what happened? Look at verse 15, so they
took the money and did as they were taught. They sold Jesus out for cash,
well they did, they chose to deny Christ so they would be richer. They
denied the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, they denied the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ for money, to get richer, to be more wealthy and isn't
that a choice of so many today and this applies to both unbelievers and
believers. Unbelievers who chase money, make mammon or the god of money their
God, yeah, and reject anything to do with the true God. So many are like that
aren't they? Turn to John chapter 3, they deny the truth of the word, they
even deny just basic common truths of life like the fact of their being a
creator. People will go that far because instead they want to chase money
and it's a convenient excuse. I mean that's got to be one of the worst ones.
I mean it's one thing to everyone like it seems, all of us here probably at some
point believed in some form or even as a young child some form of work
salvation, but to just deny the fact of a creator is so bizarre, it's so
moronic and so many do it it seems. It seems to be growing because it's a
convenient excuse we can tell yourself how clever you are, you're just
clever now. I had a guy when we did the soul of William Anthony last week and he
started by saying he's raised a Catholic and then suddenly when I
started trying to explain to him the gospel he suddenly decided he now no
longer believes in God because he's learnt so much now
about science. He said he's a scientist, I said oh well,
I said okay, what field of science you in? Computer science.
Wasn't it true Father Clifford? Computer science was his field of science, he solved it.
We were talking about this, is it just computer science what they called it at
school or is there even such a thing? I thought that's just what they
called like playing games on the computer and the one that he went to
I said well at least it's computer science today, this will be easy, we just sit there and play some games and stuff.
I don't know, so I was like oh wow, computer science.
So I gave him this analogy which many of you are here that you know
similar sort of thing I just said okay so you just had like the most powerful
most amazing most intelligent computer in the whole world and I had it here in
front of you I said look at this and you being a computer scientist you
really appreciate this right I said and you said to me where did you get that
from and I just went it made itself you call me a complete moron wouldn't you
you call me an imbecile and I said oh but but but there's a missing
ingredient it happened over billions of years you'd still call me an idiot and
I don't know what he said to that he kind of wanted to have a debate
anyway come on let's go you don't want to hear but but being that
people will come up with the most bizarre outlandish ideas and really a
lot of the time it's because they just want to reject God and chase
whatever small God small G God it is of their own hearts their own minds and a
lot of the time it's money isn't it they're chasing money and denying the
Lord for money to be wealthier John 3 you in on you I think deep down the
conscience is pricked by the covetousness I think this is part of
it the idolatry that because it should look we're given an innate conscience
right so unless you're given over and your conscience is seared you're going
to be pricked by that you'd be pricked by that covetousness so so you kind of
got two choices you either start going okay yeah you know this is wrong and
accepting that you're that you're that you're sinful in that way or you
just deny the Lord and you hide from him and any you keep you can be even
more covetous and just pretend he doesn't exist and John 3 says this in
verse 19 this is condemnation that lights come into the world and men love
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone
excuse me that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light
lest his deeds should be reproved but he that doeth truth cometh to the
light that his deeds may be made manifest but they are wrought in God
choosing money and denying the Lord Jesus Christ is hiding from the light
isn't it yeah they deny the Lord they deny the truth they deny the
resurrection they deny all these things they deny even the fact there is a God
they I mean they go into cloud cuckoo land type stuff and just go it all
came from nothing therefore I can justify my sin even more therefore I
could try and get even richer and just money money money and just
completely completely not even think about God will turn to Matthew 6 so
because this is also something that believers do the world over so it's
not just the unbelievers your turn to Matthew 6 there are believers that
choose careers they choose cars they choose houses they choose lavish
lifestyles over serving God in their nearest New Testament Church all over
the place they choose it's whatever well I can't go to church on a Sunday
because I've got to go to work do you really though do you have to is
that your do you have to choose that job could you not maybe choose a new
career could you not choose a new job could you not do something different
because it's an excuse really isn't it or at least you're saying no I like
this number and I like the money I get from that so I'm not serving God they
choose many many ways they choose the money instead of serving God or some
will just be so covetous they can't even bear going into the house of God
because they know that they're going to be reproved they know that
eventually that's going to get preached and so they hide from the
preacher high from the word they'd only want to read their Bible
because their sins going to be pointed out to them they choose money over God
they choose bare minimum Christianity rather than telling others about the
resurrection because it might dent their wallets because maybe that's not
going to work so well in this job it's not going to work there it's not
going to work here Matthew 6 24 says it eventually becomes one of the other
it says in Matthew 6 24 no man can serve two masters for either he would
hate the one and love the other or else he will hold the one who despise
the other ye cannot serve God and I'm on my mom being the god of money you
can't serve both it won't it won't work in the long run eventually you'll
end up choosing money usually that's the truth isn't it don't respond to the
resurrection by denying him and that's what we see with the with the watch
here they end up denying the Lord Jesus Christ for money verse 15 back in
Matthew 28 said so they took the money and did as they were taught in
this saying is commonly recorded among the Jews to this day then the eleven
disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them
and when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted and Jesus came and
spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go
ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you all way even
until the end of the world our men the title is respond to the
resurrection number one respond by trust him number two respond by
worshiping him number three don't respond by hating him number four don't
respond by denying him and number five respond by sharing him respond by
sharing in verse 17 shows that they didn't all have the same unwavering
faith he said and when they saw him they worshiped him but some
doubted some had doubt some weren't as strong in their faith as others did
Jesus tell those guys to go home and do a bit less he didn't did he to
leave the important work for the top guys leave the important work for the
guys with the strongest faith the rest of you don't worry no he spake unto
them it said and Jesus came and spake unto them in verse 18 he said go ye
which is a plural form of you in verse 19 he's talking to all of them
go ye therefore and teach all nations he said to go and teach all nations that's
all people and what's the first thing to teach them what's first thing to
teach all nations but surely it's the will of God what's the will of God John
6 food says and this the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise
him up at the last day that's the first thing to teach isn't it the
gospel I remember a pastor that I was at I was at a church a while back
who I was you know green and just really zealous that this church go away
they got the King James Bible they seem to God do some sort of outreach
soul-winning whatever they call it you know they seem to believe the gospel I
was like yeah the Great Commission as I've got to preach the gospel don't you
know I'm looking for to preach the gospel and he was like it's only half
of the Great Commission it's only half of the Great Commission you gotta
it's it's teaching them it's teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you it's discipling as well what's he really trying to say
should I tell you what he's really trying to say I don't like soul-winning
that's what he's really trying to say he's trying to put a downer so how
can you teach someone the rest of Bible if they ain't saved you gotta go
and get him saved in the first place all it is it's another one of these
guys who's like no no no no it's all about the discipleship because they
don't really believe the gospel saves that's the reality they don't they
don't believe that you can go out and get someone saved and they won't be
going to hell they believe they have to be in church and they don't want to
then go out soul-winning because well what happens if they don't come to
church they're still saved they're still not going to hell you need to
get him saved to be able to teach the rest of the Bible because they don't
understand it otherwise because the natural man receiveth not the things
does he they're foolishness unto him neither can another because they're
spiritually discerned they have they have to be saved to be able to
understand the Word of God and without being saved you ain't teaching him
nothing worthwhile it's pointless they don't even get it you try and
teach and you've got to remember this when you're out preaching the
gospel and stuff don't start trying to get in debates and teach people
truths of the Bible they don't want to hear the gospel they don't want to
hear the gospel it's a waste of your time complete waste of your time they
need to but they need to understand the gospel to then start
understanding other things sometimes it can be hard for them then as well
because it's not just straight away all right now they're saved I could teach
them all sorts of you know in-depth things in the Word of God no but you
know what without salvation ain't gonna get it they won't get it and they
also flip-flop chop and change believe this for a bit believe that for a bit
change to this for a bit change for that for a bit but it's about the
gospel and and that's why nearly all four gospels climax with the
resurrection followed by the Great Commission with John with the gospel of
John just having an extra chapter at the end we've just read Matthew 28 which
said go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I've command you a lower and with you all
way even until the end of the world amen and by the way what's one of those
things for them to go and preach gospel as well how can you teach
someone to to observe all things if you're not even going out preaching the
gospel we most teaching comes from example doesn't it but turn to Luke 24
well I read Mark 16 15 which says and he said unto them again the last
chapter of Mark halfway through the last chapter mark go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature Luke 24 and from verse 46 again
the last chapter of Luke and he said unto and said unto them thus it is
written and thus it behoved Christ or behooved Christ saw ye to suffer and to
rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem for
any that have been conned by the repent of your sins lie repentance is
a change of mind for what they did believe it's that repentance that
brings you to faith in the Lord it's changing your mind about your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ and remission of sins that's a cancelling out of sins
how's that done by the Lord Jesus Christ death, death and resurrection and John 20 is
the second last chapter of John with the Sea of Tiberius in chapter 21 it
says in John 20 21 then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you as my
father sent me even so send are you and when he had said this he breathed
on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost whosoever sins ye
remit they're remitted unto them and whosoever sins you retain they're
retained how does that work by preaching the gospel by preaching the gospel
because without people getting saved there is no teaching them to observe all
things and with that in mind where he said in Matthew 28 go ye therefore and
teach all nations baptize them in name of the Father and the Son of the
Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you
lie and with you always even until the end of the world our men how do we
respond to the resurrection we respond by sharing the good news we respond by
going out and showing people what this means for them by showing them that
what the resurrection really means that Jesus Christ the Son of God died for
their sins that all you have to do is put your faith your trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ and you're saved again and repentance and faith are two
sides of the same coin it's the same thing you stop trusting what you
did trust you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that happens the day
you trust Christ alone for salvation you really trust him you know add him on
well I think I was already going to heaven but now I'm gonna call the name
the Lord as well no you turn for what you did believe you put your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ that's true salvation and by the way there's
a three third side of that coin that's calling the name Lord they're
all the same thing you repent you believe you call name the Lord they're
all the same thing it's putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and stop
trusting what you did before but we respond by sharing it we respond by
showing people what it means for them okay and how can we not really
think about it like that how can we not share the gospel how can we keep
our mouth shut how can you know the gospel how can you know that your
neighbor your friends your your your family members the people you come
across your colleagues the people that walk past here the people that live in
this area around this church pretty much the vast vast majority of them
are on their way to hell they're gonna die and go to hell because
they're sinners and the wages of sin is death because death passed upon all
men for the all have sinned everyone's a sinner the punishment for sin is
death it's eternal death in hell how can we not preach the good news because it
doesn't matter what religion they're in it doesn't matter what they're doing
doesn't matter how sweet and nice they might be it doesn't matter any of
that they're sinners on their way to hell how do how can we not we have
the good what because we might sound a bit silly because and you know what
you don't it's not these idiots standing in because I've just been
thinking about this guy these idiots standing in town centers just shouting
some garbled message even if you preach the gospel so you say I stood
yeah in a town center and just preached the gospel to you know all the
way through and I made it a bit of a longer gospel presentation we're like
20 minutes 20 minutes plus most of those people only hear part of it
most those people are gonna miss the beginning the people that hear the end
they're gonna probably miss the beginning when I pointed out that
they're a sinner when I point out that all sin takes them to hell the people
at the end will have miss that bit the people at the beginning might miss
a lot it's just complete nonsense all of that's a load of nonsense but
all we really need to just ask someone if they want to hear the
gospel that's all we're called to do we should be doing is just with his
loud halo going would anyone like to know how to get saved would anyone
come over here will actually show you properly that's really about as far
as the street preaching for me should go because it's just a waste of time
people trying to get aroused and trying to look tough and shout at queers that
they need to repent honestly had one of those but apparently they believe
that same as us I believe same as us you're right mate
it's got videos like mocking like trying to knock pastor Anderson and
stuff but apparently I believe the same as I say just you just you know
what they want they want access to the sheep they always want access to the
sheep to sow some seeds to turn some heads oh we'll all do a group thing
together great yeah but anyway back to this how can we keep our mouth shut
say Corinthians 5 27 says now then we are ambassadors for Christ you're
saved you're an ambassador for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we
pray you in Christ stead be ye reconciled to God we're praying with
we're pleading with people we're imploring them to get saved be
reconciled through Jesus Christ just put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
yeah how many refused to even attempt to get someone saved how sad is that now
it's not to shame people you know it's the point in messages like this
just to encourage anyone listening to this whether you're online whether you're
sitting here whether if you're if you're not saying get saved and if
you're saved you have one the most one job and it's the most important
job in the world that God's given you and that's to get other people saved and
whether that's by being part of a pair and just being silent and just being a
support to someone else doing it going out and preaching the gospel or whether
it's to learn and hopefully with that they'll in time you'd learn to be able
to do the same is there anything more important in the world than to preach
the gospel and get other people saved how can we celebrate the
resurrection and not tell others about so great salvation but you know
there are around this world right now around the South End right now there
are churches everywhere celebrating Easter and they don't even tell anyone
about it not just today not just in the week not just next week they'll
go year after year after year without actually going out and telling
anyone the good news about what that resurrection means what on earth is that
about they call themselves a church but we respond by sharing him with all
nations that means going out to all people and preaching the gospel the
title is respond to the resurrection number one respond by trust him number
two respond by worship him number three don't respond by hate him
number four don't respond by denying him number five respond by sharing him
and and and that's hopefully you know something to think about as we think
about you know as we as we dwell today especially on it being Easter Sunday on
it being the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ what that means for other
people and how can we respond to that and make make use of that truth and
not just yeah great okay Easter Sunday let's eat some Easter eggs and
get back to the daily grind tomorrow but we're gonna hopefully do that
starting this afternoon on that let's finish in a way to pray thank you for
your word thank you for well the the you know just the truths that we know
here and we know by faith Lord that we don't need all the evidence all the
you know the the infallible proves but they are you know they're they're
obviously a faith strengthener sometimes as well those prophecies that I
preached about last year all being fulfilled that the many eyewitness
accounts I'm of seeing that there is a Lord Jesus Christ Lord over that 40
day period and we thank you for all of that we know that our faith isn't
just upon the ramblings of some madman somewhere our faith doesn't rest upon
just what people have told us our faith rest upon the the truth of your
word and and with that the truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ Lord proving that he is the Son of God the Savior of the world
the Lord Jesus Christ we we pray that you just help us to make that truth
clear to people this afternoon's we've got so many bless our food together
bless our fellowship time Lord bless our time just just celebrating that
resurrection and help us to just show other people about that not just a day
but as we go forward into our week and beyond just known for all this