Transcript

Turn to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, a little band of temple terrorists otherwise known as the Sanhedrin guards, show up to arrest Jesus. They bring torches in the night to arrest the light of the world. They take him in and he is subjected to a series of kangaroo courts. Hired liars are brought forth to testify falsely against him. Because of the outcry of the Jews, Pilate, showing his true colors, yellow and more yellow, turns him over to crucifixion. They take him out of the court and he’s beaten with a cat-of-nine tails until the back is scarred and scraped and broken open so you could see the bone. They pluck out his beard. They spit in his face. They punch him with their fist. In mockery, they put a robe on him because he said he’s the king of the Jews and crushed a crown of those long, hard Judean thorns down on his head, marched him out to the Villa de la Rosa where he was required to carry his own cross beam until he couldn’t carry it any longer and Simon of Cyrene was required to carry it the rest of the way. He was taken outside the gate. That’s where the unclean are, the defiled are. And he was lain on the ground on top of a beam. They call it the place Calvary, Golgotha, place of the skull. And there they hammered nails through his hands and nails through his feet, suspended him vertically while they scoffed and ridiculed and mocked and demeaned. The thieves on each side of him began doing the same. The Father darkened the earth because there was a a divine contract about to be carried out, a contract from the Father’s wisdom, a contract fulfilled through the Son’s willingness. And there on that cross the raging wrath of an almighty God against sinners was put on Christ, and as he received and, if you will, extinguished the wrath of God in our place, the atonement became effectual, completed, nothing else to do and he cried, “It is finished. And Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.” His physical life left him and they took him off the cross and two men boldly asked for permission to take his body and put it in a tomb. It was getting dark, that means the Sabbath was beginning. And then we come to Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse 1.

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

5 Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. 7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.'” 8 They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. 9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. 12 After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. 14 Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

There is nothing, there is no event more important than Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection is the hinge on which our redemption turns. Without the resurrection, the cross is void. Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless. Without the resurrection, the cross is powerless. 1 Corinthians 15:17 says, “and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you’re still in your sins.” We do indeed meet on Sunday. It’s the first day of the week, not Saturday, which is the old Jewish Sabbath because he rose again on Sunday. All four gospels tell the resurrection story. The resurrection is just not one feature of the gospel, it’s the main event. It’s the cornerstone of gospel truth. The resurrection is not an epilogue or an appendix or a postscript. It’s the climactic high mark of the gospel message.

You know, it’s interesting that the gospels really give us hardly anything on the actual bodily resurrection. Now, the gospels talk a lot about what led up to his resurrection and like our text today has a whole lot to say about those he appeared to right after his resurrection, but as far as giving us a play by play of the actual things that were taking place as he was resurrected from the dead, we have nothing about that in the Scriptures. There’s no attempt to explain the inexplicable. You can’t explain it.

Jesus taught clearly of his own resurrection. In John 2:19, Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple,” talking of his body, “and I will raise it up in three days.” In Matthew 12:40, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” And in his high priestly prayer, John 17:5 and 24, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” In other words, “I’m going to the cross, but I will live again, and We will be glorified together.” Then, 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am,” that’s after his resurrection, “so that they may see My glory which You have given Me for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

The resurrection is foundational but I want to give you what the text gives us, an understanding of the resurrection centered on the meaning of all of these resurrection appearances. Now, once again, this is a section that could use many sermons. I’m not going to do that, but let’s talk about what the resurrection appearances teach us. Why are they so thoroughly laid out in the text. Well, I., to confirm the historical fact of the resurrection. To confirm the historical fact of the resurrection. Now, the gospel of Mark, it’s actually Peter’s gospel, he’s dictating it and Mark is writing it down, and it’s called the gospel to the Gentiles because uh the Gentiles are fast moving and fast paking pace and and so Peter and Mark just kind of hit point after point and run on to get the whole storyline. But Mark uh uh gives us three of the 10 appearances of Jesus. Uh Mary Magdalene, when she returned to the tomb in verse 9, then the appearance of the two on the Emmaus road, verses 12 and 13, and then the appearance of the 11 while they were reclining at the table, and that’s verse 14.

But look at verse 8, if you will, of our text. The Bible says these ladies fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had gripped them. I mean, it it it’s hard to really grasp. Matter of fact, I don’t know that any of us could possibly grasp the emotional rush that these believers had when they’re first trying to grasp the tomb is empty. What does this mean? We do know for another gospel writer at the beginning, Mary Magdalene believes somebody had stolen his body away. So there’s just a a mixture of emotions and thoughts. They’re tormented in their souls over this and slowly they begin to realize he has been risen from the dead. And Christ wanted these first believers to be assured, be under shadow of any doubt that he indeed had risen, he indeed is alive because these are the folks that are going to be responsible for establishing the doctrine of the resurrection, Christ superintending through many of them to write the New Testament. They had to know that they knew that he was indeed alive. It’s not just enough just to believe something, in Christianity it has to be true and we believe it. Always in that order.

Just real quickly, the 10 resurrection resurrection appearances that we see in the New Testament. First of all, Sunday morning, again, the Passover’s over. They finally get to come and anoint Jesus’ body with with spices. And Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have already done this, by the way. Matter of fact, uh according to Jewish uh uh custom, they had put 65 pounds of anointing spices on Jesus’ body. So it’s not like he needed more anointing. These ladies were just passionate in their hearts and said, “Nobody’s going to keep us from doing something precious for our Savior.” So when the Sabbath is over, it’s legal for them to go out and do this anointing work. They arrive and Mary Magdalene got there first and the other women, Mary the mother of James and Salome and Joanna show up. Thirdly, Jesus appeared to Peter a little later on. And then Sunday afternoon, he appears to the two men on the Emmaus Road, Mark 16, Luke 24. Sunday evening, um Jesus appeared to the 10 apostles with Thomas absent, and that’s in the Upper Room. The following Sunday, Jesus appeared to the 11 apostles, including Thomas this time. The following 32 days, he appeared to the seven disciples by the sea and performed the miracle of the fish, his seventh appearance. Number eight, Jesus appeared to 500 on a mountain in Galilee. Number nine, he appeared to his half-brother James, according to 1 Corinthians 15:7. And then at Jerusalem, he appeared again to his disciples. And in this th 10 appearance, it was on the Mount of Olives and he ascended back up into heaven while the disciples watched. Why so many eyewitness accounts? He was confirming to all of them, “I am alive.” The historical fact but not just to them, but for all of us. Our faith is based on the historical fact of Jesus’ death in our place, his burial in a real body, a dead body in a real tomb, and his resurrection on the third day.

Lord Lyndhurst, High Chancellor of Great Britain said in 1846, “I know pretty well what evidence is, and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet.” You know there are more written documents of eyewitnesses that Jesus lived and that he rose from the dead than there are written documents that George Washington ever lived. Notice how convinced Paul was as he talks about Christ being alive after he was crucified. Acts 25:18 and 19. ” When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.” Now, they didn’t say Paul said it was just practical or or likely that he was alive. Paul didn’t argue the resurrection, he just stated it because it was just a fact. He dealt with it like any common sense person would deal with any other fact of history. His witnesses, that is the Lord’s witnesses of his resurrection, were common, honest, fair men who all dared to go to prison and 11 of the 12 were martyred rather than deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s a fact. Our faith is based on fact.

Now now, through the years, the liberal theologians and liberal pastors, it’s amazing to me, what do these guys preach on days like Easter Sunday in their churches? They don’t believe in the bodily resurrection. They don’t believe in the miracles of the Bible. Maybe they’re celebrating celebrating Transgender Visibility Day with our president right now. What a vile, repulsive, blasphemous, evil thing. What kind of vile, idiotic foolishness is taking over our country? Merciful heavens. Thought I’d get that in somehow on this sermon this morning.

Liberals through the years have come at what they call the recitation theory, um resuscitation, I should say, sorry, that Jesus was resuscitated in the grave. Somehow he was just kind of knocked out uh and he just uh came back and kind of came to himself. Then there’s a subjective visual theory that the disciples believed so bad, they just so wanted him to rise again, they they hallucinated and they all just thought they saw him in all these different places, hundreds of them, by the way. Then there’s what the liberals call the, if you will, the just believe it theory. That means it doesn’t matter if it’s fact, doesn’t matter if it really happened, if you just ought to believe it. That our psychological makeup means we need to believe in something outside of ourselves and for Christians, that’s a belief in Christ, in particular in Christ’s resurrection. But a hollow belief in that which is not factual is no true belief at all and it’s certainly no saving belief.

Why do you think the church, here we have this cold, hard, enforceable fact of the Jewish Sabbath being on Saturday and immediately the church begins to meet on Sunday. Not the last day of the week on the Jewish Sabbath. They immediately switch over to the first day of the week. It’s because Christ rose on the first day of the week. That’s why they did it. That’s why it all changed. I think you’ve studied some about that. Old Brother David’s been trying to put some lessons together on these studies, I should say, and been talking about the Sabbath. And uh some people say, “Well, we’re not under law anymore. We’re not under the Sabbath anymore. We now meet on the first day of the week. And so, we don’t really have to go to church because we’re not, we’re free.” No, we don’t go to church and meet together under law, we go to church and meet together under love. We love him and we love others who love him. That’s more powerful than the law ever was.

But Jesus was resurrected on Sunday so the church meets on Sunday and, you know, there’s no record in the New Testament text of anyone seeing the dead body of Jesus after he was laid in the tomb late on Friday. I mean, the women who showed up to the tomb said, “He’s not here, He’s risen.” And then later on, the the men, the disciples begin to hear and one by one, they came to the conviction he’s risen. Of course, he he appeared to them too later on. So the women said he’s been risen. The disciples say he’s been risen. The Jewish religious authorities heard the report from the the soldiers that he’s not in the tomb, he’s risen, and so they bribe the soldiers and say, “Well, tell everybody uh they came and stole His body away.” They bribed the soldiers because he wasn’t there and the soldier says he’s risen because they went to the Jewish authorities to say, “He’s risen, He’s not here.” And that’s why they bribed them. So the ladies said he is risen, and the disciples said he is risen, and the Jewish authorities said he was risen, and the soldiers said he was risen, and the angel at the tomb said he is risen. Everyone said he’s not here except God the Father, because God the Father said he’s right here. He’s right here, he’s the right hand of the Father, the Bible says, where he ever intercedes for us. What a glory, what a truth.

So first of all, the resurrection appearance is served to convince them and us his resurrection is a historical fact. II. Secondly, on a more personal level for them and for us, his resurrection appearances were to console them and restore their hope. To console them and restore their hope. Can you imagine how they felt? Peter in particular, after denying the Lord three times, look at verse 7 in her text. “But go,” this is the angel speaking to the ladies, “go tell His disciples and Peter, He’s going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see Him just as He told you.” Oh, that we could enter into that and sense what they were sensing. I mean, their faith had been shaken so badly. They all had fled and forsaking him, fearing for their lives. I believe it without a doubt they really loved the Lord, but in their immaturity, they fell away during the bittle bitter trial of everything that was going on. Their Lord is dead. People are probably turning on them. And if it hadn’t already been declared, very soon it’d be declared that Christianity is an illegal religion in the Roman Empire, which is why Paul was martyred in prison for being the head of an illegal religion. But here the Lord, through the angels, speaks to these dear ladies, and in his great grace, mercy, and love, through the agency of the angels says, “Go tell His disciples that everything’s good. I’m alive and I’m going before them in the Galilee.” His concern for us, brothers and sisters, listen to me, his concern for us to console us, to restore us is not dependent upon our performance, but on his faithfulness. He knows our hearts. The Bible says he didn’t need anyone to testify to him about what was in man. He knows what was in man. He knows what we are. As the Psalmist says, the Lord knows that we are but flesh, prone to fail, prone to weakness, prone to fall away. How can we empathize with these disciples? Well, don’t we truly love the Lord, but find ourselves falling weak sometimes in difficult seasons? But our Lord who died for us, called us to make us his own, comes to us even in our weakness and even in our failure, so powerful that he says the angel to the ladies, “Go tell His disciples and Peter. Make sure you tell Peter.” Peter needs to know because Peter’s a spokesman for the 12. Peter was, in effect, the leader among the equals, if you will, of the disciples, the original apostles. And Peter boldly during the Lord’s earthly ministry proclaimed that if all others forsake the Lord that he would not do it. Then the Lord is arrested. Nightfall comes. He’s died on the cross. They’re in the courtyard. And Peter denies the Lord three times cursing and claiming to have never known him. Peter thought Jesus was dead and gone. He thought it was all over. I mean, in the deepest hour of need, Peter failed the Lord totally, if you will. He must have felt like a permanent castaway. But immediately, the Lord says, “Peter, I’ve got grace even for your sin. I’ve got grace even for your sin. Go tell the disciples, it’s all good. It’s all good. And make sure you tell Peter, it’s all good. I’m going before you to Galilee. I’ll see you there.” The Lord has such a gentle way of reassuring and establishing us.

It’s interesting the phrase here in verse 7, if you go to the last part, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee.” The depth of our Lord’s concern, the depths of of our Lord’s desire to bring to us consolation, encouragement, and hope in difficult times. “I’m going ahead of you.” You see, If he’s not alive, he can’t go ahead of us. If he’s not alive, he can’t meet us and console us and comfort us. You show us that tender, loving care. Hebrews says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” that’s the Lord speaking. In Matthew, he said, “Lo, I’m with you always, even to the end of the age.” And brothers and sisters, wherever you go in his will, he’s already gone ahead of you to meet you there. You may be going through the valley, he’s already gone ahead of you and he’ll meet you there. You may be going through the difficulty of sickness in this season of your life, but he’s already gone ahead of you to meet you there. You may be going through betrayal or persecution or abandonment of some kind, but he’s already gone before you to meet you there. You may be soon facing the door of death, but he’s already gone there already. He’s already been to the tomb and he’ll meet you there. I love to picture it this way that when Jesus went into death’s house there in the tomb, he just had a fit. He tore the whole house down. He left the door of death but once you walk through the door of death, the side and back wall are blown out and the glory of God is there before you and the Lord Jesus already there waiting for you.

Oh, what a picture. What a consolation. Whatever lies ahead of us in life’s journey, he is already there and he waits to comfort you and to care for you. It’s the consolation. We see it so clearly in the text to restore their hope that their faith, their love, their devotion to Jesus Christ is not in vain. And can I say that to you, child of God, this morning, keep enduring, don’t quit, don’t give up. Say no to the world, give up that sin, turn from that waywardness, turn from your laziness, turn from worldly amusements that’s keeping you from faithfulness to God’s work and God’s church. It’s worth it, because he’s still here and he’ll meet you here. You say, “Well, I’m going through some things and I don’t know that the Lord’s near.” Maybe you’re not in God’s, maybe you’re doing your thing instead of his thing. He didn’t say, “I’ll go meet you in Pittsburgh. I’ll go meet you in New York.” He said, “I’ll meet you in Galilee. You go to Galilee, I’ll be there.” That means his will. If you’re striving to honor his will, the Lord will meet you there with consolation to restore your hope.

Well, first of all, to convince them that it was a fact he’s alive, and secondly, to to console them and restore their hope, but thirdly, and lastly, the resurrection appearances are to the end to compel them in their evangelistic mission, to compel them in their gospel or evangelistic mission. Our Lord first, if you look at verse 14, he convicts them. He has a reproof for them, “Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.” You see, these are the very men that will be taking the message of the gospel, including his resurrection to the ends of the earth and they’ll be calling on men to believe who’ve not seen. And he said, “You guys gotta stay with it. You guys can’t quit. You guys gotta believe. And now that You see me, may this compel you with new boldness and new strength, new perseverance.” What I, I’m in my 44th year of ministry and and it’s just amazing how you get tired and you think, is it worth it? But there’s not a half a second after that you say, “No, I’m not here about what I feel. It doesn’t matter what I think about it. God’s called us to a work and it’s worth it.” And it’s worth it.

Seeing him alive from the dead would bring conviction in their hearts necessary to make the sacrifices they would be called upon to make to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Matter of fact, just listen to the the bold confidence. Now thinking just a few moments ago, bewilderment. The text here says they were mourning and weeping. The text says they were terrorized about the whole event. They see the empty tomb and they’re still just blown away. They didn’t know what to think. Now, not only are they thinking the the secular and religious authorities of the day are against us and our leader is gone, and they’ll probably imprison us or kill us all, and then when they see the empty tomb, one of their immediate thoughts is, now Jesus is going to be against us because we’ve forsaken him at his hour of need. I mean, they are beside themselves. But Jesus shows up and said, “Now go into all the world and preach the gospel.” Is that not amazing? Here’s what Jesus is saying. “I’ve let you see what you can do. I’ve let you see your weakness. Now you’re ready to go out in My strength and fulfill this gospel mission.” It’s not by might and not by power, but by the Spirit, saith the Lord.

Notice the change in these men now after the resurrection, proving again the fact of it. Acts 2:14, uh, then going down to Acts 2:23 and 24, “But Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them,” notice the boldness, “men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. This man delivered over,” this is bold, “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and you put Him to death, but God raised Him again,” the confidence, the change, “putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” Acts 3:12 through 15, “But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, ‘Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?'” That’s a healing that they had performed. “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate.” That’s bold. He’s not running around timid cursing and saying he didn’t know the Lord anymore, even though he’s in more danger now, humanly speaking, than he was before. The boldness, the calm. Why? They saw the resurrected Christ, “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One,” this is verse 14 of Acts 13, “and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.” Son, I’m telling you what, they’re peeling the skin off and rubbing salt in it. This is hard preaching, “but you put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.” Acts 4:19 and 20, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen,” they’ve seen Jesus, “and heard.” Saw him resurrected. Acts 5:27 through 32. “When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching,'” or your doctrine. Well, that’s what we want to do this world, brothers and sisters. We want to fill Jerusalem with our doctrine, “and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Verse 29, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.” Notice the resurrection again, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus.” That’s where the boldness came from, “whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted,” resurrected again, “to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

What is compelling them with this new confidence? They’re not trembling in a courtyard over some little woman, a a girl who said, “Well, you’re one of his followers,” and then lying and cursing. No great, new, honest, bold, strong preaching all centered on, “We’ve seen Him alive. We’ve seen Him after the tomb. You killed Him. God’s raised him from the dead and we’re confident you’re going to kill most of us, but we’ll we’ll be raised too.” And all of them were but John, all the apostles, the original apostles were martyred according to church tradition and John was exiled to Patmos. Tradition says they tried to boil him in oil and he didn’t die. I don’t know how that works, but he lived out his life in exile on the Isle of Patmos for his beliefs.

The resurrection is the central, all-important place in Christian doctrine. Each gospel ends with the climactic truth that he is risen. In Acts, the early church’s message held it as a fact, repetitively, that he is risen. Paul’s writings have a strong and central theme of the resurrection, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians. Revelation is the returning of the resurrected Christ as he comes revealed, unveiled it means, unveiled of all the things that limited his glory while he was on the earth the first time, and that will be pulled back and we will see him in all of his power and might and his glory because he is the risen Savior. And since he died to take away our sin, he can live to impart forgiveness, justification and eternal life to all who believe.

So like the first disciples at this point, now that Jesus has arrived and they see him and there are no longer any doubts that he’s been raised from the dead, verse 15 of our text, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” This should compel you in your mission’s gospel emphasis. Whether it’s witnessing to a friend next door or going to the ends of the earth, that’s part of the reason for this thoroughness about his resurrection appearances.

If you come into the, excuse my pointing, the east end of what we call the mall area back there, you’ll notice there’s 10 Commandments in the mall area. When you come in that door, if you look on your left, you’ll see, “Thou shalt not make an idol. You shall honor your father and mother.” Then if you look on your right and keep going, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You shall not steal. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.” Continuing on from my right to left, then you’ll come to, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Then the commandment, “You shall not covet.” Then look back to your right in the mall, that’s kind of over here now, “You have no other gods before me.” And then off to the left, “You shall not bear false witness.” And if you have an active conscience and an honest heart and you stop to contemplate any of those commandments, you will hear the voice, “Condemned, guilty, condemned.” Jesus said there’s an all-inclusive nature to these commandments. He says, you know, if you’ve, broken just one of them slightly, you’re guilty of all of them. And Jesus says there’s a comprehensive element to these commandments. If you break it in your heart, you’re guilty as if you did it. If you have anger or hatred, you’re guilty like a murderer. If you lust with your eyes, you’re guilty like an adulterer. So if you have an active conscience and a honest heart, by every commandment the voice says, “Guilty.” That’s why Paul wrote in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh,” my natural ability can’t fulfill all of this, “for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not.” And then Romans 7:24, he said, here’s the conclusion of my my situation, naturally speaking, “Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?” But look, look, look above my head. Look at the words above the baptistery, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” You see, you can leave the mall of commandments, you can leave the mall of condemnation and come into the sanctuary of grace. Now, I’m speaking metaphorically. We don’t believe there’s a building or priest-craft where you come in and get God’s grace. It’s figurative speaking. But the only way you can leave the mall of commandments and leave the mall of condemnation and come into the sanctuary of grace is through the door. Jesus said, “I am the door. He who comes in through Me, he will be saved.”

Have you come through the door? He’s offering that to you. On the other side of the door is only condemnation. You come through the door to the grace that saves you, where God, listen, where God says to you, “Listen, no matter where you’ve gone, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how long you’ve been there, I freely forgive.” That’s the sanctuary of grace if you come through the door of Jesus. You see, he lives today to the end of glorifying God the Father by perfectly and effectually carrying out the Father’s will to save the children and secure the children for their own glory. He lives today available to forgive our sins to any and all who ask. A dead savior can’t do that. He lives today to be our faithful and unfailing high priest where he ever sit to the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. And he lives today ever ready for the Father to look at him and say, “Son, go get Our children.” And in faithfulness to the Father’s will, as he always will, he’ll return and we will meet the Lord in the air. The dead in Christ will rise first. We who are alive and remain will meet them together in the Lord to have beautiful, glorified, resurrected bodies and thus we shall always be with the Lord. And all of this is available because he lives. It’s all in Christ alone. It’s all, it’s all, it’s all in Christ alone. The songwriter said do you know him today? You can’t turn him away. Jesus, O Jesus, it’s available in him alone.