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Morning we're in Luke chapter number 24 Luke chapter 24 in the Bible reads now upon the first day of the week very early in the morning they came under 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 he 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 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 the all the rest it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women there were with them which told these things on the Apostles and their words seemed to them as idle tales and they believed them not then rose Peter and ran under the sepulcher and stooping down he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed wondering in himself at that which was coming to pass and behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was from the Jerusalem about three score furlongs and they talked together of all these things which had happened and he came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were holding that they should not know him and he said unto them what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad and one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said unto him aren't they were only a stranger in Jerusalem and it's not known that things which are come to pass in these days and he said unto them what things and they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and now the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and having crucified but we trusted that had been him which should have redeemed Israel beside all this today is the third day since these things were done yay and certain women also of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulcher and when they found not his body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said but him they saw not then he said unto them Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken all not Christ who have suffered these things and entered into his glory and beginning of Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures that things concerning himself and they drew nigh unto the village whither they went and he made as though he would have gone further but they constrained him saying abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent and he went in to tarry with them he came to pass as he sat at meet with them he took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them and their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight and they said one to another did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures and they rose at the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and then that were with them saying the Lord has risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon and they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread and as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them peace be unto you but they were terrified and affrighted and suppose that they had seen a spirit and he said unto them why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have and when he had thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered he said unto them have you hear any meat and they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and of an honeycomb and he took it and did eat before them and he said unto them these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me then open to their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and the repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning of Jerusalem and year witnesses of these things behold I send the promise of my father upon you but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high he led them out as far as to Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them he came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God amen. Let's pray dear Lord God thank you for this day and for this opportunity to hear your word preached just thank you especially for the hope of the resurrection and we just ask that you would bless pastor here with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches your word unto us and in Jesus' name we pray amen. Amen. Okay we are in Luke 24 this morning and the title of my sermon this morning is looking for answers in all the wrong places looking for answers in all the wrong places if you look at verse number one we're going to read the first couple verses here six verses actually it says now upon the first day of the week very early in the morning they came into 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 he is risen remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee and I'm going to talk about this morning of how Christians non-Christians often are looking for the answers to all of their problems but they're always always looking in the wrong places now before I get into the actual sermon itself let me just explain why we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ thank God that we live in a country where we uphold and exalt the doctrine of the resurrection one day out of the year and even if it's not you're not a Christian you're not a believer most people in general believe that Jesus Christ resurrected after the third day and this is a very special day and you know you have people who may not go to church or they may not read the bible they may not adhere to Christian doctrines but they actually believe in the resurrection they know this day to be that they use it as a day to commemorate that and many of them come to church on that day they like to go to church to kind of honor this doctrine but it is an important doctrine of the Christian faith and in fact in fact it's one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith and in fact according to the bible listen to this you cannot go to heaven you cannot be saved if you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's what the bible actually teaches and the reality is this let's say Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross let's say he made these claims and he performed these miracles and he died for our sins and let's say everything that took place in the gospels actually happened except for the resurrection then you know what christianity is completely meaningless because everything really hinges upon Jesus Christ coming back from the dead because of the fact that he is god and as god he's able to give up his life and he's able to take it again and the fact that he conquered death the fact that he came back to life is ironclad proof that he is god and therefore our faith in this religion that we refer to as christianity is legitimate faith look what it's i'm going to read to you from first corinthian you don't have to turn there first corinthians 15 verse 13 says this but if there be no resurrection of the dead then is christ not risen and if christ be not risen listen to this then our preaching is vain that means i'm literally wasting my time up here talking to all of you every single sunday morning sunday night thursday for years on end it would be completely complete vanity and meaningless if jesus christ did not rise so he says and if christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain yea we are found false witnesses of god so he literally says hey if jesus christ didn't come back from the dead then we're actually bearing witness of something that did not happen because god is claiming that it happened so now we're bearing false witness 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 so in other words if jesus christ didn't resurrect then god is not powerful enough to resurrect his son jesus these are some pretty powerful claims if it did not happen for if the dead rise not then is christ that is not christ raised and if christ be not raised your faith is vain listen to this ye are yet in your sins the bible says now why is the resurrection of jesus christ important well because of the fact as i mentioned it proves that he's god it gives validity to the religion of christianity but also it gives us a future hope you know the bible refers to the resurrection of jesus christ as being the first fruits of the resurrection and what that means is that jesus christ's resurrection operates somewhat as an example of what's going to happen to us who believe in the lord jesus christ in the future when a person who's a believer in jesus dies their spirit according to the bible goes to heaven and the bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord the physical body remains here on this earth however the bible specifically tells us that in the future one day jesus christ will return and we will be reunited with our physical bodies the difference being our bodies will be completely glorified now what does it mean to be glorified it means it'll be completely absent of sin no longer struggling with addictions temptations whatever it is that the the the sicknesses health issues any problem that is attached to the physical body will no longer be there it's 100 absent and this is the promise that god gives us through the resurrection so in order for that to actually take place jesus christ would have had to have resurrected 2 000 years ago in order to be the first fruits of the resurrection you know if we didn't resurrect physically one day then it would be completely meaningless there'd be no you know people think that when we go to heaven it's just like we just kind of remain like casper it's just like a floating spirit for all of eternity but no that's not actually true one day our physical bodies will also be on this earth or even in heaven at that point and we will it'll be flesh and bone so to speak okay and so you know it's important for us to understand that because you know the doctrine of the resurrection is a key doctrine and you have a lot of religions out there that deny this they'll often claim that they are a christian organization but they deny the resurrection of jesus christ for example you have the joel's witnesses and i'm going to be preaching an extensive sermon tonight on joel's witnesses tonight but one of the points that i'm going to be talking about is the fact that joel's witnesses will claim that jesus christ resurrected in spirit only so his body didn't come out of the grave it was a spiritual resurrection but no the bible as we clearly saw in luke chapter 24 he said flesh he had flesh and bone he says the spirit hath not flesh and bone as he see me to have and in fact in fact he goes to thomas and he tells him put your finger in my wounds in my hand and in my side basically proving that it's not just some apparition that he's looking at it's not just spirit he's actually viewing a physical body and the promise there is that one day when we resurrect we will physically resurrect from the grave the bible says that the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the lord and at the end of the day the resurrection listen to this is the answer to all of life's problems it's the answer to all life's problems you know whatever physical element that you suffer from whatever temptation you suffer from most people are trying to figure out how to deal with that this side of eternity but it's actually 100 impossible to completely deal with because let's say you're just like the healthiest person you have no addictions you know you're just disciplined and you you know eat properly you exercise you have a great family history of just good health and you're just you know perfect okay well you got one problem and that is that you're gonna see you're still gonna die you're just gonna die healthy you're just gonna die a healthy person now you might outlive some of some people around you but no matter what you do you still have this one issue and that issue is that you're gonna physically die one day you say well what am i gonna do you know should i can we use ai or something to transhumanism to kind of keep me alive no the only thing that will keep you alive forever is the lord jesus christ and it's through the resurrection he says whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believeth thou this and he says you know though he were dead yet shall he live but then he says whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die so even whether you're dead and you believed on jesus christ prior to death or whether you are alive right now the bible promises us that belief in jesus christ comes with this you will never die now that doesn't mean that you're not going to physically die one day because you will but you will come back to life it's called the resurrection and so that is the promise that god gives us and this is why easter is so important to us as christians it's because it is an essential doctrine to the christian faith and it's important that we emphasize this doctrine especially on the day like this and obviously you know we had potluck and there's easter eggs that the kids are going to have but the the pinnacle of this day is the fact that we're recognizing the resurrection and don't let the white house or anything try to replace our celebration with perversion too by the way you know at the end of the day this is what the bible says this is something that we celebrate every sunday but particularly on this day and so praise god for the resurrection now what's going on here in luke 24 well jesus christ has been crucified at this point he's been in the grave for three days and what you have is the disciples coming to the grave with spices you have mary coming to the grave with spices and different ointments and they're coming to see the body the corpse basically of jesus christ and you say well what's wrong with that you know is there anything wrong with them wanting to come to you know the grave to see yeah there is a big problem with that and that is that jesus specifically told them that he was going to rise again the third day and so you have this issue where they're coming for a particular answer but let me say this they're looking in all the wrong places they're looking for jesus who's the answer but they're looking in the wrong place and this is why you know we obviously emphasize and we believe that the death of jesus christ is 100 important because the bible says that he was delivered for our offenses however he was raised again for our justification and we never want to just celebrate the death of jesus christ at the exclusion of his resurrection they're both equally important but one really kind of solidifies and confirms the other and so you have the disciples coming to the tomb they're going to the sepulcher they're looking for jesus the problem is they're looking in all the wrong places and that's what i want to talk about this morning and i want to apply this to believers in general and we'll apply this to some people who may not be a believer yet they don't go to church they don't believe on jesus christ they don't know for sure if they're going to go to heaven when they die but if you could turn with me if you went to first corinthians chapter number one first corinthians chapter one if you would let's talk let's talk to christians first and foremost regarding looking for answers in all the wrong places how are we going to apply this uh in different areas in our life well you know how about the fact that christians will often look for hope or slash closure in all the wrong places why are the disciples going to the sepulcher in the first place well maybe they're hoping to find jesus there maybe they're looking for some sort of closure you know they're devastated that their savior has been crucified it's been the third day and they can't seem to bring closure to this traumatic experience they're looking for hope but you know what they should have done is actually remembered what jesus told them in the first place and obviously when we think about the words of jesus according to the bible jesus is the word of god so whatever he says is authoritative it is the word of god right so the disciples are going to the sepulcher on the third day why because they didn't listen to the bible they didn't listen to the word of god and let me just say this is the bible has all the answers to all of life's problems and christians should know that but sometimes christians forget that you know following the simple instructions of the word of god really legitimately has a solution to all of life's problems and let me say this when prior to his crucifixion jesus told them after i am risen he tells him in matthew 26 after i am risen i shall go before the in galley so he's telling them like hey not if i resurrect after i resurrect i'll meet you in galley you know it's just like get the address put it in the gps the third day and it's not like they didn't know about the third day because jesus said for as jonas was three days and three nights in the well's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and of course this he spake of his death and his resurrection so this is something that he commonly taught he reiterated multiple times throughout his ministry he told them i'm only going to be dead for three days and three nights and when i am risen meet me up at galley but yet his disciples those who are closest to him who probably heard this sermon like multiple times by the way they're like i get it galley all right you know i get but why are you going to the grave why are you looking for the answers in all the wrong places you know at the end of the day looking for hope that jesus christ was going to be there where you should have done is gone to galley because that's where he was okay that's where he told you he was going to be that's what the word of god said was going to take place but he decided not to do that and here's the practical application to that is that christians will often look for the answers to all of their problems outside of the word of god outside of scripture they'll look to politics they'll look to the white house they'll look to philosophy they'll look to podcasts they'll look to secular sources but rarely if ever do they actually ever go to the bible whereas the word of god literally has the answers to all of our problems and one of the reasons why christians don't go to the bible because it takes work to actually find it you know the bible says to search the scriptures daily the bible says to study to show thyself approve them to god a workman that needed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth and the bible commands us to go to the bible and say what does god have to say about this not what is not what is uh what does joe rogan have to say about it or you know whatever other famous podcaster is out there what do they have to say they have some sort of christian value i should see what they have to say about it you know the greatest christian value you'll find is the bible okay let me read to you from second peter chapter one and verse three says according as his divine power have given unto all us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue he said the bible has everything that pertains to life and godliness now obviously the bible is not going to tell you what kind of shoes you should be wearing today right it's not going to get specific regarding what you should be doing today it gives you it puts you in the ballpark of what you should be doing it gives you the parameters and guidelines of what should take place and it endows wisdom upon the recipient to make decisions for daily living he goes on to say whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these he might be partakers of the divine nature haven't escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust the problem is that with the disciples is that they're kind of trusting in their own understanding they're just kind of like well that's where they put him in the sepulcher so that's where we're going to go to look from but they're looking for the answers in all the wrong places the bible says trust in the lord with all thine heart lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths look at first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 and let me just say this is that i'm not saying that secular knowledge is evil and bad and wrong but the priority should always for the christian should always be the bible filter everything that you believe or the decisions do you make based upon the bible and you know what if there's some secular book out there that is kind of you know it has good principles and it can teach you some good stuff that's great as long as it doesn't contradict the bible and as long as you don't prioritize that knowledge over the knowledge of the bible it says in first corinthians 1 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved is the power of god for it is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not god made foolish the wisdom of this world what's the bible saying god views the most excellent wisdom of this world and he says it's foolish in comparison to what he has to offer just for after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe you know it's interesting that you have all these universities that claim to have all this knowledge yet not a single aspect of that knowledge ever bring someone to the saving knowledge of jesus christ and jesus said i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me yet with all this the this uh plenty of knowledge and information that they give it can never really bring someone to the saving knowledge of jesus they're ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth go to colossians chapter 2 if you would colossians chapter 2 you say what's the point that you're making you know christians need to get back to just reading the bible to find the answers to all their problems hey make the bible readable again amen and we live in a a nation where there's an abundance of bibles but yet we don't really know if christians are really reading it and the way we know that they're probably not is based upon how christians behave and believe you know because if they're reading the word of god then they would be drawing the line in a lot of areas and again it's not like christians don't have a bible i mean recently donald trump is bringing out his own bible but it's a it's a king james version now he's doing it you know for all his legal fees or whatever you know but he he's bringing out a king james bible and i i i believe it has like the constitution on there i think it has the bill of rights and the pledge of allegiance and uh it's like 60 bucks i'm probably gonna get one okay i'm not a republican by the way i'm not a conservative i just think it's i just think it's cool because here's the thing is like you know who needs the bible the most sometimes are like republicans and uh conservatives they're actually the ones who probably need it the most so i rejoice in the fact that all these conservative houses are actually going to have a legitimate bible in their home and you know they're probably going to read it because it was given to them by their lord and savior donald trump they're like now we really got to read the bible you know because donald trump's given it you know he didn't give it to them he's selling it to them and you know i've had people ask me like so but you think don't you think it's wrong to have the constitution on there and and here's the way i see it okay let me just veer off a little bit and talk about this here's the way i see it okay you know mormons also give out king james bibles but when you get it you actually get it with like a picture of joseph smith inside so anytime i've ever gotten a bible from a mormon if i've taken one from a mormon i'll just kind of tear that part out okay and i'm not saying you have to do that with the constitution i'm just saying like just because you have extra things added on there doesn't mean it's blasphemous or anything like that it doesn't make it less holy and someone asked me like yeah but they're adding to god's word but obviously they don't read the king james because the king james comes with a letter to the reader from the translators right and you know it's always good to know about the constitution and you know all that and so i just rejoice in the fact that every republican home or conservative home or at least the majority of them because they want to support trump are going to have a bible in their household and if they choose to seek out the truth if they choose to actually read the bible it's going to be there for them you understand now it could work both ways if you think about it because if they have the the bible there and they're looking for the truth they're going to find it right there they'll read it it'll open their minds to the truth however it could also work to their detriment because if they choose not to seek out the truth you know it's like you had a bible you purchased the bible you know you put it on your coffee table for all to see and yet you chose not to read it the point that i'm making is that we have an abundance abundant supply of the word of god in this world in this country and so there should be no reason why christians don't go to the bible first make it as a priority if you're looking for the answers to all of your problems don't look in all the wrong places don't look at your favorite philosopher your favorite podcaster don't look at x y and z don't look at the white house you should be looking towards the bible the bible says in in colossians chapter 2 verse 7 rooted and built up in him established in the faith as he had been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving listen to this beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after what the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after christ isn't that a powerful admonition there because he tells us you got to be careful because people are looking to spoil you what does that mean well you think of uh one nation in the bible conquering another nation defeating another nation they often take captive the people right they spoil their goods they spoil the individuals there their their gold and silver that's what it means is to spoil them to kind of take them captive and the bible is saying here that there's people in this world that want to captivate you through philosophy and vain deceit you know through the wisdom of this world deceive you into thinking that this is the standard of truth and he says you got to be aware of these things and make sure that you're not just following fables and traditions of men you said well how do i know how do i differentiate if it's the bible or how do i differentiate if it's godly and not well does it get you to closer to the lord jesus christ does it push you to the bible right if it pushes you further from the bible further from the principles of the doctrines of christ it's probably not of god and so beware of the jordan petersons beware of the joe rogan's you say why because they seek to captivate you beware of the andrew tates they seek to captivate you and spoil you through the traditions of men and not after christ the bible says okay and andrew tate is nowhere near the example of biblical manhood that the bible actually teaches and this is something that needs to be talked about frequently because many young men are being taken captive by that philosophy in vain deceit the traditions of men the bible also says you don't have to turn in isaiah chapter 30 verse 1 god is rebuking his people he say woe to the rebellious children saith the lord that take counsel listen to this but not of me he's like woe unto you cursed are you judgment shall come upon you because you're looking for wisdom and counsel but not for me basically saying like i'm available you can learn counsel for me but you choose not to he says not of me and that cover with the covering but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin that walk to go down into egypt which by the way in the bible egypt is a picture of the world the world system satan's kingdom so to speak he says they walk to go down into egypt and have not asked that my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of egypt listen to this therefore shall the strength of pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shadow of egypt your confusion the bible says you better be careful what you rely on when it comes to the information of this world and who you're relying on don't look for the answers to your problems or look for wisdom in all the wrong places don't go to the tomb go to galley so how do i know because he told you he would be in galley say wow how am i supposed to like raise my kids in this wicked world right here the bible tells us how you don't have to go to some crunchy mama you can go right here how do i know how to have a godly marriage you go to galley listen to what jesus said and following him to galley instead of going to some secular person who doesn't believe the bible no what do i do how do i be successful at my job how do i make sure i have the right attitude when it comes to resources and money right here go to galley you don't have to go to the tomb because there's nothing there so make the bible readable by christians again christians need to make sure that they're seeking for their answers in all the right places and the right place is in the word of god go to matthew chapter 23 if you would matthew chapter 23 the title is looking for answers in all the wrong places how about this christians looking for biblical truth in all the wrong places it's great when christians are saved and they know they're going to heaven when they die but sometimes christians get caught up in some really bad institutions bad churches that espouse bad doctrine that actually teach contrary to the word of god and when you think about the story here in luke 24 here in matthew 23 you know the disciples came to the grave to look for jesus but he wasn't there he was absent and you know what sometimes christians well-meaning christians will join a church because they think they're going to find jesus there but they actually don't you know they don't find jesus christ they don't find biblical doctrine why because it's like a graveyard it's basically like a tomb okay look at matthew 23 verse 25 here's here's an extreme example in the bible jesus christ is rebuking the pharisees and he says in verse 23 wool or verse 25 excuse me won't use scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess thou blind pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside of them may be clean also woe unto you scribes and pharisees hypocrites listen to this for a year like unto whited sepulchres what is a wide it's like it's a white coffin right and the reason it says white is because it's kind of given the implication that it looks nice it's a nice little building i mean coffin right he says for a year like unto whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity let me say this is that christians need to make sure they find the right church you need to make sure you find the lord jesus christ through the right church and the reality is this is that a lot of christians end up going to the sepulcher end up going to the grave and it's like going to a pharisee who outwardly appears beautiful but inwardly they're full of dead men's bones and what i mean by that well you know the bible teaches us that when we go to a church there's some things that we should be looking for when choosing deciding to be a part of that church what's one of them well you know according to the bible the bible emphasizes an exalts the doctrine of salvation and so it's important that you join a church let me let me say this that not only believes the right salvation but talks about the right salvation and when i say talks about the right salvation i'm talking about they're talking about it from the pulpit meaning there should be no question in your mind as to what the pastor believes about salvation and what does the bible say about salvation it says that we're saved by believing on the lord jesus christ pretty simple you know the bible says for by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works that any man should boast the bible says but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of god even unto them that believe on his name verse 36 of chapter 3 chapter 3 says he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him i doubt there's someone in this room that says so what are you trying to say pastor are you trying to say i'm supposed to do good works you know the pastor obviously has to be very clear about what salvation is and the reason i say this because you know you might have churches out there that believe the pastor believes right about salvation it just doesn't like to talk about it because it might offend some people you know because you might have this group that thinks it's by grace through faith this group thinks it's by repenting of your sins this group we don't know what they believe that group over there is just like four different gospels and because he wants to keep the church house full he wants to just speak as cryptic as possible about salvation so as to not lose anybody but let me say this if you don't believe on the lord jesus christ exclusively for salvation you're not saved plain and simple that's what the bible teaches i mean the bible literally says that we have to believe on jesus christ which means to place our faith only in him that it's not of works and in fact the bible tells us not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us the bible says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness one of the most beautiful verses in the bible when talking about salvation is a verse that virtually everyone knows and that is john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever worketh whosoever repents of their sin whosoever keeps god's commandments whosoever adds works with their faith no it says whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life find a church that speaks clearly about salvation because what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul what shall it profit you if you join a beautiful church with a great building and it just your kids love the services they love the candy they give them the songs that they sing you love the music but you don't even know you're saved and you even know what the what the pastor believes about salvation leaving everyone in obscurity you talk to the members they don't even know if they're saved folks salvation is an important thing okay and so when you look for jesus make sure that the church you find talks about jesus the right way when it comes to salvation you know don't let jesus be an afterthought when it comes to salvation or that jesus is insufficient for salvation you're like no one would ever say something like that you think people would actually say that jesus would be insufficient for salvation well what if i told you that yeah you have to believe in jesus to be saved but you also have to do works as well you're basically saying that the sacrifice and resurrection of jesus christ is insufficient because you must add something to that what if someone said you know yeah of course you got to believe on jesus christ to be saved but you also have to be baptized you also have to keep god's commandments what's this also stuff you know if we have to do something for our salvation the death of jesus christ is not enough but you know what it is enough and the reason it's enough is because jesus christ who is crucified is perfect he's god and that's why he is the sufficient sacrifice for us and therefore you know look for a church that preaches the right gospel look for a church that has the right salvation but even on top of that look for a church where the pastor is willing to tell you to your face what the right salvation is and preaches it from the pulpit what the right salvation is you know if you find yourself in a sepulcher you got to get out of there there's no jesus there you need to go to galilee where he plainly told you what it is what it means to be saved okay but not only that you know find a church that has the right bible i'm sure there's churches out there that use a plethora of bibles you know whatever bible you have there is different from the one on the screen different from the one that the pastor's using everyone just kind of has their own but there should be a standard of a bible that's being used and according to what we know as far as biblical history in america's concern or even in england it is the king james bible it's the one that's the most clearly laid out and concise it is faithful to the original languages of hebrew and the original greek text and let me say this is it doesn't remove any verses from the bible which the vast majority of modern versions of the bible actually remove verses and they do it in such a way that it's so blatant because they probably think that you don't read it i mean think about that you say what do you mean well you know how about acts chapter eight where 30 verse 36 is there and all of a sudden you see the number 37 but there's nothing there and then it's verse 38 it's like you just trying to pull one on me where did this verse go they just remove it essential doctrines of the christian faith are literally removed from the modern versions of the bible that should raise an eyebrow that that's a major red flag when things are being added and things are being taken away from the word of god okay so find a church that has the right bible which is the king james bible and obviously this is not a sermon on on the king james bible but you know we can talk about that all day long to show you why it's superior to the other modern versions of the bible what's another kind of church what what what else should be you be looking for when it comes to a church well you know find a church that is actively evangelizing i mean we're christians right and we believe what we're saying right and we think that everyone else should know about it right and we believe in hell right we believe in heaven right we know that jesus can save right so why aren't you telling someone else about it right i mean the the commission has been clearly given by jesus christ in matthew 28 he's told everyone and by the way not just the pastor the pastor should be going soul winning the pastor should be involved in mission strips preaching the gospel winning people to christ on a weekly basis okay but so should the members that's the example that we see in the bible but there's a major issue if you find a sepulcher where no one's winning anybody to christ no one's sharing their faith and in fact it's almost offensive to ask someone to go soul winning and go evangelize and let me just say this if you're a visitor here i'm just gonna i'm just gonna prepare you right now okay someone in our church before you try to ninja your way out of here someone in our church if they don't know who you are they're gonna come talk to you and they're gonna ask you a really important question and that question is are you 100 sure that if you die today that you'd go to heaven don't be offended by that it's actually an expression of love from us to you because we we want you to know that you're going to go to heaven when you die and we don't want you to be uncertain about it we don't want you to doubt we don't want you to be afraid to die we want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved okay and so people are going to come to you after the service and they're going to ask you that you know why because our church is an evangelistic church we believe in preaching the gospel and we believe in training others people in our church to go out and win the loss to christ that's the kind of church you should be looking for not this us for no more type mentality but we don't want to reach anybody else we just got to keep growing here it's not the way it works god commanded us to go out and reach people for christ and to preach the gospel and then lastly here's another thing that you should be looking for when looking for a church and that is that the pastor is actually preaching the entire council of god you know are you learning doctrine at your church and i'm not saying it has to be super deep systematic doctrine but every once in a while it should be though and you should be learning about an array of different topics in the church that you're at whether it's topical sermons on doctrine or it's refuting false doctrine you know it's important for a church to actually tell you what's wrong and what's right it's important for a pastor to teach its members about the jehovah's witnesses about the mormons about the catholics about whatever false religion is out there you said why because the bible commands us to teach you about those things so that you're not deceived the lines are always being blurred they're always kind of being pushed and if the people in the church are not educated on what the bible says regarding these topics you might be deceived and so go to a church where they're actually preaching the bible where they tell you listen to this to open your bibles hey well they'll give you a bible not sell you a bible how about that it's like do you have a bible no well let me give you a bible not like oh you could purchase this one for 59.99 and and if you don't have that then hey well god bless you go somewhere they'll give you a bible the bible should be free amen it's the word of god what's the point that i'm making the point that i'm making is the church is the pillar and ground of truth so you better make sure that you're going to the right place don't find yourself at a sepulcher where there's it's just a building full of dead men's bones where the pastor doesn't even know if he's saved or even if you ask the pastor like hey what do you have to do to be saved you know that's a real personal question i don't really like to answer things like that you know i don't want to be offensive to anybody and that's not a good church for you to be in the pastor if anybody should know what it takes to be saved right and if everyone's like you're the spiritual leader you're the one preaching this is like your full-time job you don't even know how to be saved that's crazy find the church that's doing that fits those qualifications not a church that doesn't know what they're talking about about salvation about the doctrines of christ etcetera go to first samuel chapter 28 first samuel chapter 28 in the old testament first samuel chapter 28 we're talking about looking for answers in all the wrong places one thing i also notice with christians is that they look for peace in all the wrong places disciples are going to the sepulcher to find closure they're looking for peace we're hoping to find jesus there but it's the wrong place you know jesus says peace i live leave with you not as the world give giveth unto you give i unto you and he tells them that in this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer i've overcome the world and some people are looking for peace they're looking at all the wrong places but it's also because people are looking for answers to the wrong questions sometimes people just ask the wrong questions so what do you mean well let's just read a couple of uh uh verses here and i'm saying a couple but it's actually we're going to read a lot of verses here and this is about king saul how many you've ever heard of king saul raise your hand if you've heard of king saul he's actually the first king of israel the nation of israel and he started off really good you know he was a man who loved the lord he executed the judgments of god but he ended up getting away from god he ended up becoming very backslid in and at the end he didn't end his life well and in fact he ended up killing himself he ended up committing suicide but he was a saved man so according to the bible he is in heaven today because he he believed on the lord but he was just severely backslidden okay and it got to a point where even though he was still a king god forsook him not from salvation just from blessing him as a king you know because it's one thing to be saved but it's another thing to have god bless your life after salvation because that requires your obedience to his word well saul was just very disobedient he was just rebelling against god to the max and it came to a point where god just basically said like i'm not gonna bless him anymore i don't want nothing to do with him i'm just gonna leave him and so king saul has a kingdom to run he has all these decisions to make he has all these enemies that want him dead and so when he asks god what should i do he's just not getting an answer that's scary you know to have all these problems as a christian and to pray to god and god just never answers you because you're backslidden because you're not right with god that's a dangerous place to be so king saul is like doing his best he wants god to answer him but he's not right with god he's backslidden he's not listening to the lord so god's not listening to him and god is basically chastising him he's punishing him well he resorts to just the worst type of solution because he's just like i don't know what to do the philistines are going to kill me i got all these enemies that want to put me to death i need to figure out what to do well when he was right with god he actually removed all the witches from the land okay because god told him to do so he's like no witches allowed in the land okay and in fact he was following the command that you know suffered not a witch to live like they were put to death in those days and so he got rid of them all but you know there's like a little remnant there's people who you know got their side hustle as witches in those days and they're kind of it's the black market for witches or whatever so he basically inquires and he says i need you i need someone to find me a witch and i was like what you got rid of all the witches and he's just like well find me one and the reason he wants to find one is because he wants to inquire of the witch to bring up his former mentor samuel from the grave samuel had already died he was in heaven his course was finished but it's just like the only guy he can think of like they can help him with someone who's already dead right and so he finds a witch it's the witch at endor which is probably where star wars got the name from but it was a real place okay not in a galaxy far far away or anything look at verse 7 of first samuel 28 it says then said saul unto his servants seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that i may go to her and inquire of her and his servant said to him behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at endor and saul disguised himself and put on the raiment and he went to and two with uh two men with him and they came to the woman by night and he said i pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit and bring me him up whom i shall name unto thee and the woman said unto him behold thou knowest what saul have done how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die so what is taking place here well he knows what he's done in the past to get rid of the witches so now he's just saying like you know he's covering himself he's putting in disguise because he doesn't want this lady to know that you know it's saul and she's like are you kidding me you know what saul would do if you find out it's like he's saul like the man who you're talking to is him and saul verse 10 swear to her by the lord saying as the lord liveth there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing now this is really evil for him to say something like that then said the woman whom shall i bring up unto thee and he said bring me up samuel and when the woman saw samuel she cried with a loud voice and the woman spake unto saul saying why hast thou deceived me for thou art saul and the king said unto her be not afraid for what sawest thou and the woman said unto saul i saw gods ascending out of the earth then he said unto her what form is he of and she said an old man cometh up and he's covered with a mantle and saul perceived that it was samuel and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself last verse here verse 15 and samuel said to saul why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up and saul answered i am sore distressed for the philistines make war against me and god is departed from me and answering me no more neither by prophets nor by dreams therefore i have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what i shall do and we're not going to read the rest of the story but samuel basically tells him like i got news for you you're gonna die but he and he doesn't tell him you're gonna die he says he says it in a really nice way he says tomorrow you and your sons will be with me and of course samuel's in heaven right that's where that's where he abides and then it's just and you can tell like saul is just like that's not the answer i was looking for but basically he's just he's just gone too far so he's going to a sepulcher to inquire of a dead man what he shall do but the reality is this is that he was asking the wrong question the question is not hey samuel what should i do the question is how can i get right with god you know a lot of times christians who are backslidden they're always asking the wrong questions like how can i succeed here how could i make this work how can i make sure that i'm not being punished in this area what they should be asking is like how do i get right with god because at the end of the day you know he didn't ask samuel hey samuel can you inquire of the lord so i can get right with him because i repent i regret what i've done i want to get right please be merciful unto me he didn't say any of that he's like they're gonna kill me what should i do he wanted like some sort of strategy on how to fight the philistines or where to run to something practical but you know what it wasn't a practical answer that he needed what he needed was to get right with god instead of going to the sepulcher asking a dead person how do i win this fight what he should have asked is like i want to stop fighting against god and just get right with the lord again but that's not what he asked and you know what he ended up dying in a sin he died in that state and you know thank god he was saved the bible tells us it shows us clearly that he was saved but at the end of the day you know that's not how anybody wants to end their life he died a disgraceful death and here we are thousands of years later talking about him and we're not like yeah so it's cool you know oh man he loved the lord and i'm gonna name my son saul or something you know like no he's like a byword and a proverb now we use them as an example of what not to do we use them as an example you know of what rebellion looks like against the lord and you know what he's probably face palming himself and you know what he's probably face palming himself in heaven right now like man there goes another sermon about you know about and we're all gonna get to heaven we're like oh hey saul like hey at least you're safe brother you know he's like you know praise god for salvation but you know what he's he's a perfect example of a backslidden believer who asked the wrong questions and christians who are backslidden you're gonna keep having problems life is going to be miserable because you're a christian you're a believer you know what the bible says you know what the bible requires of you and you know that you should come back at any point in time to get right with god and you can don't ask oh man what should i do in this particular the the question you should ask is how can i get right with god and the answer is by just getting right with god you say lord i regret what i've done i repent of what i've done and i want to get right with you and from here on out i'm going to try to live to my best abilities according to god's word and do what i know i should be doing you say what if i don't then you might just end up like saul and so it's important for us to recognize go to roman chapter eight here's the last point i'm done looking for answers in all the wrong places i hope christians today under the sound of my voice start going back to reading the bible and finding the answers to all of life's issues in the bible i hope that if you're a christian and you're attending our church maybe for the first time that you either stay in our church or you look for a church that has those qualities that you need as a christian to grow in your faith i hope that if there's someone here who is backslidden maybe you're away from god that you start asking the right questions and that you just get right with the lord and be reinstated into fellowship with god and with believers it's easy to do so and here's the last point that i'm going to make and that is that when talking about looking for answers in all the wrong places people look for salvation in all the wrong places too it's interesting that the disciples went to the sepulcher where you're supposed to put dead people and yet the answer to life was not there and you know what the bible says is that people place their faith in their dead works for salvation all the time what does that mean what i mean is sometimes people look for salvation in their works well i got to make sure that i live a morally upright life i got to make sure i keep god's commandments i got to make sure i get baptized i got to make sure i go to church i got to make sure like the list just goes on and on and on and you know what the bible refers to that as dead works they can't save you you could live the most quote-unquote perfect life where you're keeping all of god's commandments you are reading the bible every day you're going to church you get baptized you look like a christian you talk like a christian but folks if your faith was never placed in jesus christ for salvation it's all in vain you're going to go to hell anyways that's what the bible teaches stop going to the sepulcher of your dead works to find christ to find life go to galley and just believe on the lord jesus christ look at roman chapter 8 and verse number six well i just think you got to have faith with your works though i think i think they're both doesn't somewhere in the bible to say that in the old testament doesn't you know where does it say that somewhere in the bible says you have to have both yeah you know as a christian you should add works to your faith in order to be a blessing to others but adding works to faith for salvation it can't get you saved because the bible says and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace so the the sure way to make null and void the grace of god to you is by adding works to your faith for salvation because grace is something that you don't deserve that you get that you don't deserve but if you're doing works you're implying i'm trying to do something to deserve it whereas the bible says the exclusive faith in jesus christ you say are you trying to tell me that if i believe in jesus i can just live however i want i'll never lose my salvation yes however it doesn't mean that life doesn't have consequences if you live however you want thereafter so people get this misconception like oh you could just live however you want you can but the reality is this is that you know you you're still going to pay the consequences of your actions and in fact it's going to be far more harsh on you as a saved person than someone who isn't necessarily saved on this earth you say well how do you know well look at saul that's a perfect example and so life does it doesn't come without consequences once you get saved there are consequences the difference is is the gift of eternal life has been given to you it's been paid for by the blood of jesus christ therefore you won't suffer in hell and that's the most important thing look at romans a verse 6 for to be carnally minded is death and to be but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can be so they that are in the flesh cannot please god so you know what you can go to the philippines and crucify yourself like many do on easter you can you can beat yourself you could fast twice a week you can give of all your tithes you can subject your body to all types of actions you can keep god's command but if you're not saved meaning you're in the flesh you can't please god god doesn't view that as anything legitimate in his eyes and in fact the bible says that they are as listen to this filthy rags in the eyes of god so when god looks at your righteousness meaning the good things that you do he's like ugh it's filthy it doesn't it doesn't meet up to his standard the best thing you can do won't meet to god's standard the greatest moral life you could ever live will not meet up to god's standard you cannot go to heaven based upon the best you can do what am i supposed to do then well luckily jesus christ does meet god's standard and so because he meets god's standard the bible says that he gives us of his own righteousness when we believe on him it's called the imputation of the righteousness of jesus christ so you could either try to use your own righteousness never works die and go to hell regardless of what you believe by the way or you can just humble yourself and say you know what i want salvation for free i want the righteousness of jesus i can't please god in my flesh therefore i'd like to believe on him today for salvation and you know what it's a free gift you can have it you don't have to do anything for it we don't have you sign papers here or anything like all right wonderful i'm glad you made that now can you please sign up the dotted line if you could add your social security and all let me just call upon the name of the lord and thou shall be saved go to roman chapter 10 this is the last passage and that's it but you know there's plenty of people out there that what do they do they're always visiting a sepulcher for for salvation they're always going to a sepulcher where christ isn't there they make a pilgrimage to mecca they go they move to a geographical location in order to find salvation they fast they go practical distances to earn salvation they have righteous living to earn salvation but what does the bible say though look at romans 10 verse 4 for the for christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth for moses described the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth those things shall live by them in other words all right if you want to live by the law for salvation that means you have to live by them perfectly that's the standard now who you don't have to raise your hand please don't raise your hand but who here would say like yeah i've kept all of god's commandments perfectly no one has no one has no one has kept all of god's commandments perfectly and in fact the bible literally says whosoever keepeth the whole law yet offended one point he's guilty of all you're like i've never murdered i've never committed adultery yeah but if you've even lied the bible says okay you're done then because god's standard is perfection but jesus christ he kept all of god's laws perfectly though that's why moses said like all right if you're gonna abide by the law then you need to do those things perfectly for salvation but doesn't exist verse six but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring christ down from above it's like man i want to be saved how can we get christ to come down here how do we get christ to come down here so i can ask him how to be saved to bring christ down from above verse seven or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up christ again from the dead but what saith it listen to this the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thine heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the lord jesus and shall believe in thine heart that god has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved so it's like you don't have to go geographical distances for salvation you don't have to go practical distances and righteous living for salvation the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth you can literally be saved today by asking jesus christ to save you and say lord i place my faith in you save me i want the free gift of eternal life it's like bing you have it right then and there why because the word is nigh thee even in thy that's how close it is to you it's like at the tip of your tongue not in a sepulcher not in a tomb in fact when it comes to this point you don't even have to go to galilee amen because it's nighing to you that's how close that's how close salvation is to you and to every person who doesn't have it that's how close it is i hope that if someone in here is not saved and it's likely that maybe someone here is not they don't know 100 sure i hope you get saved before you walk out these doors it'll be it'll be worth it for us all to have an easter service just to have that look for the answers in the right places let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the resurrection of jesus christ and what it means to us as believers lord and i pray father god that you'd help us as your people to continue to look for the answers in the right places in the word of god in the house of god and i pray that if there's someone here who has been away from the lord and they've been backslidden lord i pray that they would just reconcile their differences once again get right with the lord and get right with you lord and and not leave before they do so but more more than that i pray that if someone's not saved here that they would call upon the name of the lord jesus christ before they leave so they can be saved and may you bless our afternoon as we think upon these things and bless our evening service in jesus name we pray amen all right for our last song we're going to be singing he descended it's going to be one of the song sheets if you don't have this song sheet please hold up your hand hold your hand nice and high one of the ushers will come around and bring you one he descended we have one back there one over here all right he descended all together on that first verse the lamb of god was slain a burnt offering became the keys of death and hell he took to ban me from its flame oh death where is thy sting it's been removed by heaven's king this corn of wheat shall fall and die a new body shall spring he descended that i may rise he descended that i may rise he breached the lowest gate of hell for my soul of sin dispelled ain't he fell no one can tell that i may rise he descended that i may rise he descended that i may rise three days three nights in the heart of the earth that i may know the second birth he set aside joy and mirth that i may rise through death my sin did scar hell devoured though in body i'm weak and frail i shall be raised in power my fame in this world cannot be found no praise no glory and no crown world will forget my name my god won't blot it out he descended that i may rise he descended that i may rise he breached the lowest gates of hell for my soul of sin dispelled pains he felt no one can tell that i may rise he descended that i may rise he descended that i may rise three days three nights in the heart of the earth that i may know the second birth he set aside joy and mirth that i may rise amen wonderful singing you are dismissed