And okay, so Luke chapter 24, we're in here on this fine Easter Sunday morning.
I just want to have a look at the first sort of dozen verses here.
If we have a look from verse one, where the Bible reads from Luke chapter 24 verse one.
Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the
sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.
And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
And it came to pass as they were much perplexed there about, behold, two men
stood by them in shining garments.
And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto
them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen.
Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The son of man
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.
And the third day rise again.
And they remembered his words and returned from the sepulcher and told all these
things unto the eleven and to all the rest.
It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and other women that
were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
And their words seemed to them as idle tales.
And they believed them not.
Then a wise Peter ran onto the sepulcher and stooping down, he beheld the linen
clothes laid by themselves and departed, wondering in himself at that which was
come to pass.
I want to focus on verse number five there, which reads, And as they were afraid
and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the
living among the dead?
And the title of my sermon today is Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer before we get going.
Father, I thank you for your word.
I thank you for this Easter Sunday.
Thank you for everyone here.
Please just fill me with your spirit now.
Help me to preach boldly.
Help me to preach accurately.
Help me to preach what you want me to preach and help people to just have
attentive ears and help them to just stay focused on what your word has to say to
them today.
And in Jesus name, we pray all of this.
Amen.
So Jesus has been crucified, hasn't he, and put in this sepulcher owned by Joseph
of Arimathea.
And early in the morning on the Sunday, the Marys, Joanna that we've just seen
here and other women, they brought spices and ointments to the tomb.
The huge stone that was covering the entrance has been rolled away, and
apparently it was a pretty big stone.
And Jesus' body has gone and they're perplexed, aren't they, or confused.
Yeah.
So we've just seen here in those opening few verses, these, these two angels appear.
And as is often the case in scripture, it's not that they're kind of these baby face
little things that they're going, how cute.
They're, no, they're in fear.
They won't even look up at them.
Yeah.
Their faces are bowed to the ground.
The angels then said, why seek he the living among the dead?
They say, why are you looking for him amongst these tombs?
Why are you in a cemetery?
He told you that he was going to rise again, right?
Verse six, it says, he is not here, but he's risen.
Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, the son of man
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third
day rise again.
Now keep a finger there and turn to Mark nine, which is a time that the angels are
alluding to.
Mark nine is one of the, uh, one of the accounts of this.
They've just said, remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be
crucified, and the third day rise again.
In Mark nine and verse 30, Mark nine and verse 30, it reads, and they departed
thence and passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it.
For he talked to his disciples and said unto them, the son of man is delivered
into the hands of men and they shall kill him.
And after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
So Jesus had already clearly told them what would happen.
Yeah.
What was the problem?
Well, look at verse 32, but they understood not that saying and were
afraid to ask him.
They didn't understand.
And what should they have done?
They should have asked him, shouldn't they?
They should have asked him.
We don't always understand what God, what God's saying or what God wants of us, but
what should we do?
Ask him.
He wants us to ask him, doesn't he?
Turn to Matthew chapter seven.
And while you turn there, I'm going to read James chapter one, verse five, which
says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
He's not going to upgrade or reproach, tell you off if you ask.
Yeah.
If you don't understand, ask.
Matthew seven and from verse seven reads, ask and it shall be given you, seek and
ye shall find, knock and it shall be open unto you.
For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
We only have to ask.
Yeah.
We only have to ask.
They had Jesus Christ, the son of God there, and they didn't ask him, did they?
Turn back to Luke 24.
They were afraid to ask him, weren't they?
Afraid to ask.
But if they had, maybe they wouldn't have spent three days mourning.
Yeah.
Maybe they wouldn't have spent those three days mourning in bits
about what had just happened.
They wouldn't have been down at the sepulcher seeking the living
among the dead, would they?
They wouldn't have been down at the sepulcher seeking the living among the dead.
Luke 24 verse 8 says, and they remembered his words.
Oh, okay.
Now we remember what he said.
Yeah.
They remembered what he said.
But you know, he'd also told them earlier as well in Caesarea, Philippi,
in Mark 8, 31, you don't have to turn there, but it says,
And he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things
and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes
and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Okay.
He was teaching his disciples there.
That was before, if you remember before Peter famously rebukes him
and then gets rebuked harshly back.
Yeah.
Maybe they also remembered him saying to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew
12, 40, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the world's belly,
so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Well, maybe they thought on Psalm 16, 10, where David prophesying of Christ said,
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Jesus Christ's soul wasn't left in hell, was it?
Because he was resurrected on the third day.
Yeah.
Jesus Christ was resurrected on the third day.
They remembered his words.
Yeah, they remembered his words.
And sometimes we just need to remember his words.
When we remember his words,
we won't be wasting our time preparing spices and ointments for a glorified resurrected body.
Yeah.
What a waste of time that was.
When we remember his words, we won't be mourning as those that have no hope.
When we remember his words, we won't be seeking the living among the dead.
And everyone has times when they could be asked, why seek ye the living among the dead?
Yeah.
Everyone in their life,
And there are many people all over the world that seem to seek the living among the dead, don't they?
Why does a Muslim seek the living among the dead?
The Muslim seeks the living among the dead.
They claim to believe parts of the Bible, don't they?
They claim that it's an upgrade on the Bible.
I was at soul winning the other day,
knocked on a door,
a guy opens the door and I try to preach him the gospel and he says he's a Muslim.
Guy wearing a dress and he says he's a Muslim.
And I try to preach him the gospel and he says he's a Muslim.
Guy wearing a dress, actually,
which I found a bit strange.
And he said that he's a Muslim.
And I said to him, would you like to know what the Bible says?
He said, well, the way we said, he said, the Bible is like the GCSE
and the Quran is the A-level.
Honestly, what he said, yeah?
And I tried, it was one that he didn't really want to hear what I had to say.
He just tried to come out with his funny, what he thought.
I mean, this guy seemed to believe that.
What a load of nonsense, eh?
Can you imagine doing GCSEs and them being presented with that rubbish for A-level?
What a joke that would be, wouldn't it?
You'd be quitting school and going into an apprenticeship straightaway, wouldn't you?
What a load of nonsense.
But yeah, that's what he thought.
But the Muslim does seek the living among the dead, don't they?
The Muslim wants eternal life
and he's going to some dead false prophet that's burning in hell, isn't he?
He's going to a dead false prophet that's burning in hell, trying to seek eternal life.
Why is he going to the living?
Sorry, why isn't he going to the living?
Why is he going to the dead?
He's going to the dead.
And look, there's no doubt, isn't there?
There's no doubt that that wicked, wicked, paedophile Mohammed is burning in hell.
OK, and we'll call it what it is in this church, yeah?
We're not going to hide behind, oh, well, you can't say, you've got to respect all religions.
No, I respect the fact that it's wicked, yeah?
It's wicked.
I respect the fact that people want to follow that wicked, wicked, pervert Mohammed, because he is.
And they don't even argue this, do they?
Yeah?
I don't respect them, but I respect the fact, yeah, it's true, it's true.
That's what people do.
It's true there are other religions, yeah.
It's true there are some pretty wicked religions out there.
And that is one of the wickedness, isn't it?
Yeah, how on earth do you openly say, yeah, this prophet, so-called prophet,
this false prophet, that we're going to hang off his words and claim that he's upgraded and given us new revelation?
Yeah, and we just accept the fact that he had a six-year-old bride,
that he apparently consummated the marriage at nine.
That is disgusting, isn't it?
And we were recently, weren't we?
We were out soul-winning and we had, like, a problem, Muslim.
We had this guy, he was banning us from going into the tower block.
He was then outside trying to just distract us, trying to be a problem.
And eventually, Brother John went for the diplomatic angle and he pointed out Ayesha was six years old.
And about that, you know, he thought, you know, we'll just try and appease him here a little bit.
Brother John got annoyed in the end, the guy was just trying to stalk us.
It was hard, we were trying to preach the gospel to people.
Eventually he said, well, what on earth, yeah?
And the guy was like, she was 12!
That makes you OK.
Oh, OK, yeah, we were just like, what, what?
But that's the mentality.
That's dangerous, isn't it?
That is a dangerous religion.
That is a wicked religion.
And that's a dangerous religion where people...
And by the way, she wasn't 12, but is that OK if she was 12?
What on earth, yeah? What on earth?
But that's the mentality there, isn't it?
But those people, they're seeking the living among the dead.
They claim to be seeking eternal life, they claim to be working for eternal life.
But where are they seeking it amongst the dead?
Amongst some dead, wicked, false prophet and his incoherent ramblings.
The guy was illiterate.
I mean, wow, you're following an illiterate false prophet.
But that's Islam, isn't it?
That's Islam. But it's not just Islam, is it?
What about the Buddhist?
Why does the Buddhist seek the living among the dead?
Because they're bowing to a graven image of a man that died over 1,000 plus years ago.
Thousands of years ago.
Anyone know when Buddha was meant to be around?
They claim that they're worshipping him all day long.
I've been to Buddhist countries where they're literally prostrate in front of that weird, fat image of Buddha.
These guys are worshipping that guy.
Look, that's a dead man, isn't it?
That's a dead man. That's another man burning in hell.
In fact, it's a bit of a bizarre one, actually,
because they're seeking new life from a man that they believe is extinguished.
Because they believe that he reached nirvana.
So they believe that Buddha reached nirvana at 30-something, spiritual nirvana,
and he's basically extinguished.
I mean, what a bizarre cult that is anyway, isn't it?
And they're basically seeking better life.
They're seeking some form of amazing life from a man that they openly believe is dead.
But if only he was extinguished for him, eh?
Because, no, he's in a fire that never shall be quenched.
He's in a fire that never shall be quenched is what the Bible says.
I had another email from this person trying to tell me that it's not eternal.
It's just a fire that never shall be quenched.
But apparently it is eternal.
The Bible's clear it's eternal.
Forever and ever.
That's how long people are burning for, unfortunately.
And look, someone like Buddha, though, they deserve to be burning there, don't they?
That's a man, again, who's lying, who's teaching a false way,
and they're seeking the living amongst the dead.
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
And that basically goes for all the false religions out there, doesn't it?
All the false religions out there.
Hinduism, Sikhism, Spiritism, Judaism.
They're worshipping devils.
Every single one of them is worshipping devils,
and all those devils are dead men walking, aren't they?
All those devils are dead men walking.
Matthew 25, 41, you don't have to turn there, says,
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels.
So where's the devil and his angels going, everlasting fire?
So when you're worshipping any of the many different false religions
with the devil and his angels behind them,
you're seeking the living among the dead, aren't you?
And that goes for many, many,
that goes for every single false religion,
and that's every single religion out there, barring biblical Christianity.
But there are those that seek Jesus himself among the dead, aren't there?
There are those that seek Jesus himself.
All of the so-called Christian religions out there,
the biggest one being Roman Catholicism.
Turn to Matthew chapter 23,
because you're not going to find the real Jesus
in a Roman Catholic church, are you?
You're not going to find the real Jesus amongst the Roman Catholic nuns
and the monks and their weird dead saints
and all the rest of the idolatry.
That's not the real Jesus there.
You're not going to find the real Jesus amongst the Roman Catholic artists
who paint some effeminate, queer ideology of their own of Jesus.
You're not going to find the real Jesus in the Catholic church, are you?
Matthew 23, and from verse 25,
this always makes me think of the Catholic church.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for ye may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter,
but within there full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,
that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.
Sounds like a Catholic church to me, doesn't it?
And that goes on with all the other false versions of Christianity,
which basically are versions of Catholicism.
Yeah, like the so-called Protestants, you know,
oh, yeah, yeah, we're protesting Catholicism.
How far did they move away from it?
Hardly any at all, did they?
But look at verse 28,
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men,
but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
And look, that's a Catholic church, isn't it?
Full of hypoxia, that's all these.
Let's add the Orthodox church, let's add the Anglican church,
let's add all these versions of Catholicism.
Yeah, they all believe in their Catholic universal church,
whatever they call it.
We believe in one Catholic and apostolic church is their creed,
they like to chant in all their services.
And it's all the same stuff, isn't it?
All the same stuff, and what is it?
Oh, yeah, they appear beautiful outward, don't they?
Wow, there's some beautiful buildings, aren't there?
Beautiful buildings where the few people left in this country
that still get married who decide,
yeah, I'd like a church wedding,
well, they'll be seeking that beautiful building, won't they?
Why do they want the church wedding for the beautiful building?
Next thing you know, they're having to turn up for 8, 12,
or however many services it is to be able to qualify for a wedding in the church,
and they'll go through all this stuff,
they do the same for their kids to be in some silly school somewhere,
where they're teaching a load of lies, a load of Catholic lies,
a load of C of E lies, and they'll turn up at their church
for however many times they have to for their child to qualify,
but what a beautiful building.
And then they actually look at someone like this,
they think, well, this isn't a church, it doesn't have stained glass.
It doesn't have a steeple.
It is a steeple, isn't it?
It doesn't have a steeple.
It doesn't have some weird vestry
where all the guys in dresses hang around outside,
before they go into the, who knows what goes on in there.
You know, they don't have any of that, can't be a church.
Well, you know, they appear beautiful outward,
but are within, full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness,
and that's what they are, aren't they?
Because the whole place is full of dead men walking.
And in fact, it literally, a lot of the time is full of dead men's bones
because they all love to have these weird artifacts of what they,
someone, some guy sold them in the Middle East,
ripped them off, saw them coming and said,
oh, here's one of the apostle's bones or something.
Oh, yeah, we'll just stash it off in a vault somewhere.
Absolutely ridiculous.
But people go to those churches, don't they?
People go to those churches seeking eternal life.
They're seeking the living among the dead, aren't they?
There are people that go there to seek salvation.
Don't forget that.
There are people that have times in life that have had times
where, yeah, they're seeking.
They're thinking, yeah, I want salvation.
You know, I want to know more.
I want to go to heaven.
I know God's real.
You can't look around and go, God's not real.
You know God's real.
You know the word of God's real.
Yeah, everyone deep down knows the word of God's real, don't they?
That's why they hate it when we come with the word of God.
That's why they'll chat to you on the doorstep
the second you start opening up the Bible.
A lot of the time it's like, ah!
And they just don't want to hear it.
They want to run away.
They just, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Anything but that.
Oh, no, no, I've got to rush.
And then if you don't actually start preaching the word again,
they'll start having another chat with you
until you start trying to preach the word of God again.
People know, they know the word of God's the truth.
And look, people might go to these churches,
but if you want salvation,
you'd better find someone else that has it, yeah?
You don't have to turn there.
John 5.24 says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life.
When you get saved,
you become the living among the dead, don't you?
Yeah, you become the living among the dead.
Don't you?
Yeah, you pass from death unto life.
That instant, that instant,
when you call on the name of the Lord in faith,
when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you are saved, yeah?
You pass from death unto life.
But those that don't believe,
they don't have everlasting life.
They're dead, yeah?
They're dead.
There's only one place they're going.
And that, by the way,
includes anyone that doesn't believe in eternal security.
Let's just hit that again quickly,
because there's more and more of these people around.
There's more of these so-called churches
claiming that people can be saved
without believing in eternal security.
What on earth is that? What is that?
You cannot be saved unless you put your 100% faith
in Jesus Christ, okay?
And you can't have your 100% faith in Jesus Christ
if you think you can lose your salvation.
Just make that straight.
If you're sitting here and you're thinking,
oh, but if I did a bad crime,
if I did a bad sin, I'm going to lose my salvation.
You're not saved,
because you're still trusting yourself.
You have to put your trust in Jesus Christ.
And how on earth you have places that call themselves
independent Baptist churches
that claim to believe the Bible's the word of God,
that claim to believe grace through faith,
and then say someone can be saved
without believing in eternal security
is mind-boggling, isn't it?
Absolutely mind-boggling.
And there's quite a lot of these around.
But how about those that are saved
that attend false churches?
How about those?
You know, the sort of, well, I think he's saved.
Well, he only says you've got to repent your sins sometimes, you know?
Then he reads Ephesians 2, 8 and 9,
so he must be saved, yeah?
What about those?
He only sometimes tells you
you've got to give up all your sins to go to heaven.
Oh, he only sometimes says you've got to give up certain sins.
He only sometimes says, well, the alcoholic couldn't get saved
without giving up drinking or something else.
Well, it doesn't really matter, does it?
It doesn't really matter.
It doesn't really matter how far the nearest real church is,
why seek ye the living among the dead?
Why are saved people in this nation still going to unsaved churches?
Why are you going to a church where the guy behind the pulpit is dead?
In fact, let's be honest, he's twice dead, yeah?
Let's be honest, he's twice dead.
He's preaching a false gospel.
He's accursed.
But people around this nation,
there are saved people around this nation that are still going to those churches.
But still, oh, well, it's a bit far.
I'm not saying they have to come here.
Surely there are churches that have the right gospel in this nation somewhere.
I've heard of a few that seem to be all right.
Go to those churches.
Stop.
Oh, well, yeah, but that would be a two-hour drive.
Go for the two-hour drive then.
Well, that would be an extra half an hour.
That might mean I have to think about a new job.
Doesn't God want you in church?
Isn't that what we're here to do, to serve him?
How are you going to serve him in a wicked false church?
Oh, well, as long as he doesn't meant to repent your sins too much.
If you're sitting here going, what's he talking about repenting your sins?
Basically, the vast majority of so-called independent Baptist churches in this nation,
and sadly probably in the world now,
are so apostate that they've got to this point
where they've taken where the Bible says repent and believe
and added in their own mind,
and I wouldn't be surprised if something would probably scribble in into their Bible,
of your sins after the word repent
and have changed it from changing your mind from what you did believe to faith in Christ.
They've changed that to basically giving up whatever number of sins they feel
and they've designated you have to give up to get saved.
Or, well, at least wanting to give up certain sins
or at least trying to give up certain sins.
That's got nothing to do with salvation.
Salvation is faith alone in Christ alone.
The Bible is clear as day about that, yeah?
It's clear as day, isn't it?
Verse after verse after verse.
But what are they doing?
They're basically just another work of salvation.
It's another work of salvation.
But repent's a biblical word.
Yeah, repent is.
Repent of your sins isn't a biblical phrase.
It's nowhere in the Bible.
But how many Christians still go to these churches who know that?
They know that, and they know that's what they believe.
Sometimes they have it in black and white.
That's what they believe, and they still go to these churches.
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
If you're going to church, what are you going to do?
You're going to worship the Lord.
You're going to be basically around like-minded, saved people, aren't you?
Yeah, you're not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as a manner of summies.
That's why you're coming together.
You're there to worship God.
You're there to be around the Holy Spirit, moving around.
How are you doing that in a dead church?
How are you doing that?
Their works are called dead works, aren't they?
Their works-based salvation in the Bible is called dead works.
It's dead works.
If that candlestick was ever there in those churches, it was removed a long time ago.
When you look in Revelation, he's talking about because they're not out preaching the Gospel.
Repent, yeah?
Basically change turn from what you believe and what you're doing, what you're thinking there,
and preach the Gospel is what he's telling them to do.
Or I'm going to remove the candlestick.
Let alone you preach your false Gospel.
What on earth is that about?
But people still go there.
Now, you might be sitting here going, you're preaching to the choir brother here.
Well, how about those that get their ears tickled online by false prophets?
How about those?
I bet many people here, I hope not, still to this day will get their ears tickled online by false prophets.
Gross.
And it is. It's absolutely disgusting.
Because God makes it clear what he thinks of these people, doesn't he?
Yeah.
God makes it clear yet people still sit there and still, well, I like...
Okay, here's one for you, Jordan Peterson.
How about Jordan Peterson?
I bet there are people sitting here that still sometimes listen to Jordan.
Oh, well, the way he puts it, the way he words it, he's a false prophet.
Because he's claiming to teach the Bible.
He's claiming to teach the things of God.
I see these clips pop up.
If ever I go on YouTube saying, you know, Jordan Peterson on, something about the Bible.
That's a false prophet, isn't it?
I don't care how...
And someone once described this, I saw in a newspaper article once about...
It was to do with climate change about whatever word salad he's come up with, yeah?
And it is a word salad this guy produces, yeah?
Doesn't matter how many long words he uses.
The guy's an imbecile.
He is a moron, yeah?
He's a drug addict as well and he's a moron.
Yeah, how do you sit...
Oh, well, he's so impressive because he uses long words.
He's so stupid, he can't even use words that the layman can understand.
How stupid do you have to be?
You call yourself a teacher and all you're doing is using words that people can't understand
and basically completely abusing the Bible.
Completely abusing the word of God and getting it completely...
The guy's a false prophet.
And if you sit there and you still listen to him, you think, oh, but he's so clever.
Then you're a fool, yeah?
You're a fool.
Sort yourself out, repent of your foolishness.
How about that, yeah?
Repent of your foolishness and listen to preach and listen to men of God.
This is a men of God.
Not to that false prophet, Jordan Peterson.
Psalm 119, turn there, verse 99.
119, 99 says, I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for thy testimonies are my meditation.
That's where it all comes from, the mouth of the Lord, doesn't it?
That's where it comes from.
That's where the understanding is.
Not some idiot that can't even answer a simple, straight question.
Because he can't.
You see, if you ever watched that guy get interviewed by someone,
or someone asks him a question, well, what do you think of this?
And then, it's like, oh, well.
And then he just goes off in this roundabout tangent for about 15 minutes
and he never even answered the question.
I mean, it's ridiculous.
But it says here, I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for thy testimonies are my meditation.
It's a word of God, isn't it?
It's a word of God that gives us understanding.
And I'm sure there are many people here that, you know,
probably would accept that by the world's standards,
yeah, they're no brain box or anything else.
But I'll tell you what,
when you start reading the word of God more and more,
doesn't your knowledge, your understanding,
your intelligence increase, yeah?
And that's where it all comes from, the mouth of the Lord.
You want wisdom seeking from the Lord, right?
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Why are you seeking wisdom from the dead?
Why are you going to these people?
Why are you going to the unsaved theologian to learn about the word of God?
And I bet there's people that have done that here,
that have sat there, oh, I just don't know what this means.
I'll just Google it, yeah?
And then suddenly it's some unsaved theologian somewhere
telling you all sorts of nonsense.
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
What about the Jewish rabbi?
The Jewish rabbi, how many so-called saved Christians
will go to the Jewish rabbi to be explained what the word of God says?
He's unsaved, he's dead.
Why are you going to, why are you seeking the living among the dead?
Why do you seek the living word of God among the dead?
Psalm 119, 104 says, through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way.
I hate every false way, and yep, in this church,
we hate the lies that the Jewish rabbis teach,
we hate the lies that the imams teach,
we hate the lies that the Buddhist monk teaches,
we hate the lies that the pervert Catholic priest teaches,
we hate the lies that they all teach.
Because the Bible tells us to him, because the psalmist,
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost said,
therefore I hate every false way.
And if you're right with God, you're going to hate every false way, aren't you?
And that leads on to another one, going to dead Bibles
when you want the living word of God.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 4.
Now you might be sitting there going, of course brother Ian,
I only read the King James Bible.
Yeah, I wouldn't think of anything else.
Look, if you don't only read the King James Bible,
you need to sort yourself out and only read the King James Bible.
There is only one word of God, yeah?
God said in Matthew 4, 4, thou shalt not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Okay, we have to have every word, don't we?
We can't have every word in 400 languages.
When God made it clear, he said that he would preserve his word
from this generation forever, didn't he?
Yeah, God promised to preserve his word, he preserved his word,
there's no doubt about that.
Or he's lying, or he lied when he said he'd preserve it,
when he said heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.
He wasn't talking about the general gist, his words,
the words of the living God.
You're in Hebrews 4, and you're thinking,
well, what are you talking about here, brother Ian?
Well, why are you listening to preachers quoting false Bibles then?
There are people here that will still listen to preachers quoting false Bibles.
I remember a while back hearing some people,
this is when soon after the church started,
recommending some sort of sermon series, I had a quick look at it,
it was some guy quoting false Bibles.
The guy with some sort of NIV or something like that.
How on earth would you even recommend that to anyone?
How would you even listen to that?
I can't remember what the, I'm a Scottish guy, if I remember right.
What on earth? Hebrews 4-12 says, for the word of God is quick,
that's alive and powerful.
It's not talking about it being fast, it's not fast.
It's powerful, it's quick, that's alive
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discernant of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
There's only one word of God, isn't there?
One word of God.
Like I said, quick is alive, it's living, yeah?
That word of God is alive, isn't it?
And when you read the word of God, you start to realise how alive it is,
when it just applies to your life, when it seems to convict you,
when you hear it preached.
And it's, wow, was that written for me?
My morning Bible reading, was I just meant to read that this morning?
Because it feels like it's alive, it knows, it knows.
The word of God is amazing.
Here's a simple lesson in discernment.
If someone can't discern the living, powerful, sharp word of God
from a cheap gimmick, from a cheap imitation,
they aren't qualified to discern any of the other things of God, are they?
They can't be.
Because if you can't even discern the word of God,
if you can't just discern that this is the word,
if you can't read the King James Bible and read all that other junk
and just know that something's up,
one, I would say you need to start making sure you're safe to start with.
Because my sheep hear my voice, yeah?
And I know them and they follow me.
But secondly, if you still can't, then I would say,
look, you are a serious babe in Christ
and you need to start getting onto the milk of the word,
let alone be qualified to be teaching it.
How on earth does someone stand behind a pulpit
with an NIV, an ESV, an RSV, you know, all the whatever,
like, how do you do that?
All the other perversions, that's what they are.
They shall be PV's, shouldn't they?
But look, you're not qualified.
You don't have the discernment.
You don't have the understanding.
You're still a spiritual babe in Christ
and no one here has any business listening to people like that.
You have no business.
Well, I just want to know what they say.
Well, that's a bit of a different preacher.
If you can't even discern the word of God,
why are you listening to him teach you about the word of God?
Yeah, look, yeah, you go to the world,
you want to be taught about worldly things.
But you're being taught about the word of God,
it better be the word of God, right?
Yeah.
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Because that's what it is, isn't it?
Go back to Luke chapter 24.
Luke chapter 24, where we started and from verse 5.
It says, Luke 24, 5,
And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth,
they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen.
Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying,
The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
And they remembered His words.
Why do you go to dead churches?
Christian.
Why do you listen to false prophets?
Why do you let the world educate you about God?
Why do you allow those with dead Bibles teach you the things of God?
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Because you don't remember His words.
That's what it comes down to,
That's what it comes down to, because you don't remember His words.
You're talking to the safety, because they don't remember His words.
His words, you don't have to turn there saying,
Titus 3.10, A man is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject.
So why are you still going to that pastor's church?
So why do people still go to those pastor's churches?
Yeah, he's an heretic, first, second admonition, reject.
His words say, again, you don't have to turn there, Matthew 7, 15 or 16,
Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
So why are you listening to random people online that you have no idea about their fruits?
Yeah, we're told to beware of them.
We're told to know them by the fruits.
So why are you just clicking on YouTube videos and listening to people?
You've got no idea what their fruits are, do you?
You've got no idea.
You don't know what they do and don't believe really from some YouTube clip.
And look, there are plenty of people that you do have an idea of their fruits, don't you?
There are people that at least your pastor knows,
that other people know that you know that they're bearing proper fruit.
His words, you don't have to turn there, saying 1 Corinthians 3, 19,
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,
for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
So why are you going to the world for wisdom?
Why are you going to the world for wisdom?
Why are you going to these worldly intellects and everyone else for wisdom?
Their wisdom is foolishness with God.
His words say in Psalm 12 verse 6,
The words of the Lord are pure words,
as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified seven times.
So why are you listening to fools with dirty Bibles?
Why do people listen to fools with dirty Bibles?
He said the words of the Lord are pure words,
as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified seven times.
His words say, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
That's what his word says.
Because you don't remember his words.
That's what it comes down to.
Because you don't remember his words.
Because if you remembered his words,
then there's two options, or there's one option really,
because when you remember his word and you still do it,
you're basically saying, yeah, whatever.
You're just saying, yeah, I know you said that, but I don't care.
Yeah, I'm not interested in what you say.
I'm going to do what I want to do because I don't submit to you, God.
I don't do what I want.
I'll be okay. I'll be okay.
I know you told me to beware of false prophets, but I'm all right.
I'm discerning enough.
I know more than most, so I'll be all right.
He made it clear, didn't he?
It's because you don't remember his words.
I hope that's why.
Let's hope that's why.
It's just because you don't remember.
It's not just because you're saying, yeah, whatever, God.
Because you've got to read it, haven't you?
You've got to read it.
You've got to study it.
You've got to memorize it.
And if you don't understand it, you've got to ask it.
If you don't understand the word of God, ask it.
But ask him, not your favorite preacher.
Don't go on a ten-hour kind of search for the sermon
that's going to explain it to you.
Oh, well, if I put into YouTube the right term with NIFB or something,
I'm going to find someone who's going to explain it.
No, ask him.
Don't ask whoever your guru is, whoever your late...
Ask him.
Pray to him.
Search and study the word of God, and he will reveal it to you.
Look, he might reveal it to you through a preacher.
He might do that.
He might reveal it to you in your morning.
He might reveal it to you through someone in the church.
But, look, you need to ask him, though.
Ask him.
Yeah, that should be your first point of call.
Because they didn't understand, they didn't ask him.
Yeah, they could have asked him, couldn't they?
They could have asked him.
And when you understand his words, when you remember his words,
when you apply his words,
there will be less time when even you ask why.
So instead of the angels asking you why,
there will be less time when you ask why, won't there?
Yeah, why this, why that, why is this happening?
Because you understand.
Because you know, because you remember his words.
And when you do all that, then you know why it was essential
that Jesus Christ had to rise from the dead, yeah?
You know why it was essential that he was alive,
that you didn't need to seek the living among the dead.
Turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15.
1 Corinthians and chapter 15.
And from verse 13.
Paul's rebuking damnable heretics that are amongst the Corinthians here.
And he says from verse 13 in 1 Corinthians 15,
But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen?
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain
and your faith is also vain?
That's empty, that's point of call.
Yea, and we have found false witnesses of God
because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
And for all those out there that try and claim
that Jesus Christ didn't rise from the dead,
how many witnesses were there?
Yeah, what are you saying?
That the apostle Paul, who wrote all of this
and the men that supported him
and the men that were witnesses with him
and the 500 witnesses, what, they're all just liars?
They're all just liars.
They all just made it up that all those prophecies
and everything else was just a lie?
It's the truth, isn't it?
It's the truth.
And they weren't false witnesses,
for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised?
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain,
ye are yet in your sins.
Without the resurrection, we would still be in our sins.
Without the resurrection, we're still in our sins.
That's how important the resurrection is.
Oh, yeah, well, it was, you know,
just a few years ago,
Oh, yeah, well, it was, you know, just his blood
or it was just his death.
No, it's a whole package.
Yeah, the resurrection is essential.
Then they also, which have fallen asleep in Christ,
are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.
So if you were just sitting there,
oh, I just hope the rapture maybe comes in this life,
and say, oh, that's it, I'm done,
well, you would be pretty miserable, wouldn't you?
Especially as you're getting older and older,
thinking it might not come, it might not happen.
But now is Christ risen from the dead
and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Yeah, he's the firstfruits.
We're all to follow after Jesus' resurrection, aren't we?
Yeah?
Amen to that.
Yeah, he's the firstfruits.
Every single person, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ,
then, look, you can look forward to a resurrection as well.
And I'm looking forward to that new body.
Verse 21, for since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ,
all, sorry, shall all be made alive.
Obviously, that are those that have put their faith in him.
But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits,
afterward they that are Christ's is coming.
That's a rapture, okay?
That's a rapture.
Okay, that is one event.
Christ, him coming is when the rapture happens as well.
And look, and at that point, you're going to,
if you're saved and you've died, you're going to be resurrected.
And if you're alive, well, you're going to receive that new body anyway.
So either way, you're quenching.
Yeah, and either way, what a result.
And what an amazing thing.
And it's not just, oh, well, yeah, I'm not going to hell.
That's amazing, isn't it?
Because every single person here deserves to go to hell.
But it's not just that.
It's that you're going to receive a glorified body,
that you're going to be resurrected.
You're going to have that resurrected body,
that amazing resurrected body that we've seen glimpses of
just now in that chapter that was read by Brother Charles.
And just seeing what, you know, Jesus Christ suddenly appearing places.
He's eating still.
They can handle him.
They can touch him.
But it's a glorified body, isn't it?
It's a body that's defeated or will no longer ever, ever die.
See, without the resurrection, we would all still be dead men walking, wouldn't we?
Without the resurrection, everyone here would still be a dead man walking.
Thank God that we serve a risen Saviour, the only Saviour.
And everyone here can say, you know, hopefully say, look,
we don't need to seek the living among the dead.
On that, let's pray.
Father, I thank you not only for your word,
not only for what is, you know, that itself is such a great chapter of the Bible,
but just the great truths there that we've only just touched on today
and the truth that, you know, you've paid it all, you know, all to thee we are.
And that you've just been, you know, you're our Saviour,
you're the only Saviour that is something that not only do we need to tell other people about,
but we also need to just be aware of that as well, that you are living,
your word is living and we need to just remember that
and not seek that around the dead in all its many different ways that we've talked about today.
We pray that you help us to have a great afternoon now celebrating your resurrection.
And it's a great day to do that, Easter Sunday.
And we pray that you'll just help us to have great fellowship,
help us for those that go soul winning as well to show other people that truth
and to all return back for this evening's Bible study.
And in Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen.