I want to pose the question today. What's the big deal about resurrection? What is the big deal about resurrection? Let's read the scripture together today. First Peter, chapter one says this, “praise be to God, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Did you all see that? That's pretty interesting. “And into an inheritance.” Everybody say inheritance, “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade away.”
That's pretty awesome. Listen, over in Corinthians, we're going to move over into Corinthians. And they had been having this big debate over the validity of resurrection from the dead. And in first Corinthians, chapter 15, the 16th verse, it says, “for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Even though he went to the cross, even though he was beaten for us, even though he shed his blood, the scripture says that if the teaching of resurrection is a lie, there's a reason that we are still in our sin. That's pretty powerful there.
Verse 18 says this, “then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death by a man has come also the resurrection of the death.” Verse 22 says this, “for as in Adam, all die.” How many know that scripture is talking about our old Daddy, Adam? All right. “As in Adam, all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.” Now, they were having this debate, remember, they were having this questioning about the resurrection and they were saying, well, how are people raised from the dead? And Paul was trying to explain, you're not thinking correctly. He said, just like a kernel of corn is put in the ground, one thing is put in the ground, but then a stalk of corn comes out of the ground.
They said, just like a human being is put in the ground. Something like it, something similar to it. Something will come out of the ground, but it will be different. It says, farm as an item, all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. Let me jump down to 23. It said, “but each in his own order, Christ the first fruit. And then at his coming, those who belong to Christ” I want to pose the question today. What's the big deal about resurrection? What is the big deal about resurrection? Let's read the scripture together today. First Peter, chapter one says this, “praise be to God, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Did you all see that? That's pretty interesting. “And into an inheritance.” Everybody say inheritance, “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade away.”
That's pretty awesome. Listen, over in Corinthians, we're going to move over into Corinthians. And they had been having this big debate over the validity of resurrection from the dead. And in first Corinthians, chapter 15, the 16th verse, it says, “for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Even though he went to the cross, even though he was beaten for us, even though he shed his blood, the scripture says that if the teaching of resurrection is a lie, there's a reason that we are still in our sin. That's pretty powerful there.
Verse 18 says this, “then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death by a man has come also the resurrection of the death.” Verse 22 says this, “for as in Adam, all die.” How many know that scripture is talking about our old Daddy, Adam? All right. “As in Adam, all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.” Now, they were having this debate, remember, they were having this questioning about the resurrection and they were saying, well, how are people raised from the dead? And Paul was trying to explain, you're not thinking correctly. He said, just like a kernel of corn is put in the ground, one thing is put in the ground, but then a stalk of corn comes out of the ground.
They said, just like a human being is put in the ground. Something like it, something similar to it. Something will come out of the ground, but it will be different. It says, farm as an item, all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. Let me jump down to 23. It said, “but each in his own order, Christ the first fruit. And then at his coming, those who belong to Christ” and then jump down to verse 53. And it says, “for this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Death is swallowed up in victory. O, death.” I love it. It sounds like he's taunting. I really love it when Paul is writing this. “O, death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” would you give him a praise offering this morning? Amen.
The key thought that I want to give you this morning is that the Stinger, the Stinger that gives death power is sin. The Stinger that gives death its poison power is sin. That is just a powerful thought. Listen, there's a portion of the death and resurrection of Jesus that I've always kind of scratched my head a little bit on in years gone by. But remember that Jesus, obviously, he was beaten and he was tormented. And then he was hung on a cross. And after several hours of hanging on the cross, they didn't want to leave him. The Jews didn't want to leave him on the cross because it was the Passover feast, and they didn't want to be unclean by touching dead bodies on Passover.
So they sought after pilot that they would break the legs. And when they break the legs, they couldn't raise themselves up on their toes to be able to get oxygen in. And when they would sink down, the blood was so filling the lungs that those that were on the cross couldn't breathe. And so they would literally suffocate to death. And so they broke the legs of the two thieves on either side.
But when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead. And so the Roman soldier just pierced him in his side. And water and blood flowed out of Jesus. And they took Jesus down off the cross, and they put him in a tomb nearby. And the scripture tells us that on the third day, Mary Magdalene came, and she went early, early in the morning, and she was going to the tomb.
And when she got there, she found that the stone had been rolled away. And she turns and hightails it back to the house where the disciples were. And she starts beating on the door before they had their first cup of coffee. It was early in the morning before the sun came up. And she's saying, They've taken him. They've taken him. And so Peter and John jump up and run out the door. They run to the place of the tomb, and John outruns Peter. But it's still dark.
And John, he's still a little scared there being in the dark in the tomb. And he looks down, but he doesn't go inside and Peter comes sliding into third. Peter just in the tomb and he's looking around and they find that the tomb is empty. And so Peter and John go back home but Mary's still hanging out at the tomb and Mary bends over, looks down and she sees two Angels that are there in the tomb and they're saying, who do you seek?
So when she raises up and she turns around, she sees what she thinks is the gardener. And so the gardener says to her, who do you seek? And she says, sir thinking that he's a gardener if you have taken my Lord, if you've moved his body, just tell me where it is and I'll go get him and take him away. And he simply says her name, Mary, and her eyes are open.
All of a sudden she goes rabona, it's a teacher, master. And Jesus says, bring it in. High five. He doesn't say that, does he? Jesus says, wait, he says the weirdest thing in the Bible. Hey, hang on, don't touch me. Jesus says the strangest thing in that moment, in that sacred Holy moment when her eyes are open and she sees it as Jesus. He says, don't touch me. Now. Hang on.
Let's put a pin in that story and we'll come back to it in just a few minutes. Again, what is the big deal about resurrection listen, is forgiveness the big deal? What is the big deal about resurrection? I want to spend some time talking about that this morning. Listen, God's promise was more than forgiveness. Listen, forgiveness is awesome. If you just pause and think about forgiveness for a few minutes and being at odds with God, because of our sin, because of our rebellion, because of all the things that we've done, forgiveness is a big deal. And as we stated last week, forgiveness doesn't just mean no punishment.
It means that Jesus took our place and took our punishment for us. It doesn't mean no punishment. See, I deserved it. I was guilty, but he stepped in front of me and took my punishment for me. Forgiveness is great, but it's not all of the promise. Why is resurrection such a big deal? Because resurrection is the fullness of the gospel. Resurrection is the fullness of the promise that he made to us. Why is resurrection such a big deal? If you're brand new to the faith.
I want to encourage you. One of the most well-known passages of the scripture. I want you to write this down and I want you to go home and memorize this. But for those of you that have been in this awhile, we don't have to look very far to get this understanding. John, chapter three says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is the fullness of the promise. Forgiveness is great, but the fullness of the promise is eternal life. In Corinthians, chapter 15, as we read in our text this morning, they were having this discussion over whether or not resurrection was real or not, whether or not resurrection was possible or not. And we find there that Paul writes in this life only.
If this right now, right here, is all that we have promise of, then we are of all people most to be pitied. Why not go out party Hardy? Because tomorrow we're going to die anyway. If there's no resurrection, Paul writes, then even Jesus himself has not been resurrected. And if he's not been resurrected, then we are still in our sins. That is a powerful thought. Not if he hasn't gone to the cross, we're still in our sins. It didn't say that if he hasn't been raised from… What is the big deal about resurrection that everybody's making such a big fuss about? John, chapter six, verse 39, it says, “and this is the will of him who sent me.” This is Jesus talking “that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day, for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life.” should have forgiveness.
The fullest of the promise is eternal. Everyone that looks on him and believes should have eternal life. And I will raise him up in the last day. Let's go back to first Peter. Chapter one in our text again, it says, in his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope. I don't just have hope in this life only, and then I'm going to die. I have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade away. How many has ever had somebody spin your inheritance before? I hit a nerve right there. Let me just tell you. Or maybe you're the one that squandered your inheritance. But he says here there is an inheritance that we have been granted through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that never perishes, never spoils, never fades away. Because it's called eternal life. Life that lasts forever. What's the big deal about resurrection? Jesus was the firstfruit from the dead is what the scripture says. The firstfruit, the one that was raised from the dead with eternal life. He was “the firstfruit of those that had fallen asleep. For as by a man came. Death by a man has come. Also the resurrection of the dead.” Death came by courtesy of our Daddy, Adam. How many know we all can? on one side of the fence or the other. But we all are descendants from Adam, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. We are all descendants of them. And because of Adam's rebellion, sin came into the world. And Adam left us a wonderful inheritance called death. Just because I'm a descendant of somebody that was in the garden all them thousands of years ago, and now we all got to die because of what he did. That just ain't fair, Pastor. Yeah, you're right.
But on the other hand, the scripture tells us that life is the new inheritance of those that are born again and are descendants of Jesus Christ. So as in one man, Adam, all of us are the heir of death. When we look on Jesus and believe on Jesus, we step into a brand new inheritance, and all who believe on him are able to inherit life. “For as in Adam, all died. So also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruit. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ, we are all guilty and deserve to be punished.”
We're all guilty of sin and we deserve to be punished. But Jesus took our punishment and he satisfied God's wrath against sin. We are all sentenced to death. But Jesus. Look at this verse 24 it says “then comes the end when he delivers the Kingdom of God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
It might seem like at times that sickness is winning. It might seem like man, I was talking to a young man I used to see him he was this high and this morning he was this high and I said, dude how old are you? And he said 23 and I'm like, oh Lord Jesus help me and I looked at his Daddy and I'm like, dude can't you stop this? And he looked at me and said, your kids are older than mine. It might seem like sickness is winning. That age is winning. Like death is winning but the last enemy Jesus will put under his feet is death. We are all sentenced to death. Yes, but Jesus listen, I've tried you all I studied the Greek. I've studied the scriptures. I've studied the Hebrew, I've dug it out, I did everything I could to give you the most theologically sound statement on this that I could. But I came up with this is that Jesus kicked death’s butt. All of you that are offended, you got to love me anyway. Get over it.
Listen, the scripture says all of our life we were worried. We walked around in fear of death. Man, don't you just remember that big bully on the schoolyard when you were in elementary school? Don't you just remember in all of our life we walked around, we've been worried about death. We worried about death for ourself. We worried about death for our maid or for one of our loved ones. And we're separated temporarily. Sometimes everybody at some point will be separated because of death. And death has screamed it's ugly scream and taunted us. But I've got news for you. There's one more enemy that Jesus is going to put down and God's going to put death underneath his feet. And no more will death ever taunt us again. What is the big deal about resurrection? Let me tell you something.
God never wealth is on a promise. Death will be defeated, death will be put underneath his feet. And resurrection is the fullness of God's promise to us. Number two, how did Jesus conquer death? First Corinthians, chapter 15 says “this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality.” If you are around me very long and you ever come to a funeral that I'm preaching, I never ever, ever preach a funeral, but that I don't tell the people that I'm preaching the funeral for. I always tell them there's a reason that we have to die. And the reason that we have to die is because the promise, the inheritance, the promise of God is too big for this natural guy to inherit. I must put off the perishable and put on the imperishable. I must put off the mortal and put on the immortality so that I can inherit the promise of eternal life. It's just a transition of changing clothes.
Verse 54 says “death is swallowed up in victory.” When that happens, when that transition happens, death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” How is resurrection the resurrection of Jesus possible? The big thought today that I'm focusing on is that the Stinger that gives death its power is sin. That's the poison pill, if you will, that's the poison in the Stinger that gives it its power is sin. Listen, we were born into sin.
We were born into us with a sin nature, right, because we were descendants of Adam and the moment we were born, we started dying because we had that sin nature. And the moment that we came to the age of accountability, where we understood right and wrong, we automatically begin to operate in our own nature. That's just the way it is. But the Stinger that gives death its power is sin. So how did Jesus conquer death? Think of it this way. Has anybody in the house ever been pulled over by a policeman? Isn't that so much fun? You're driving down the road most of the time.
We already know what we've been doing wrong. You all know what I'm talking about. You know, if you were speeding. But when a policeman pulls you over and you see that little red and blue light flashing behind you in your rearview mirror, you look up and you see those bubbles going off, and you pull over and he comes up to the door. And the first thing that he asks for is our identity. He asked for our identity, our identification. And so we give him our driver's license. And what does he do?
He looks at it. He looks at how ugly mug shot we have. It looks at our face and grins a little bit, probably laughs at us a little bit under his breath. And he turns around, he goes back to his car. He sits down and goes. And everything we have ever done comes up on that computer. Every Jaywalking, every speeding ticket, every public intoxication, every domestic violence, everything that we have ever done comes up on that computer. If death had have come before I met Jesus, my rap sheet would have been pretty ugly. Y'all understand that if death had come before I met Jesus, man, my rap sheet would have been very long. From the very first man, y'all, listen, from the very first man, Adam on down, every single human being on planet Earth has had a rap sheet a mile long. Because it's just in our nature. It's just who we are.
We are a descendant of Adam, and we deserve death. All of us have seen from the moment we came to the age of accountability, and we knew right from wrong, there was just something on the inside of us that drew us to start having those ugly thoughts, to start warring against other people, to start stealing and lying and hating and judging and all of those kinds of things. Because it was on the inside of us. And because of that sin nature and because of our natural instincts and choices, we were all sentenced to die because the wages of our sin was death. There has never been other than Jesus. There's never been one person that didn't deserve to die, not one.
How is it that Jesus was resurrected from the dead? How did Jesus defeat death? Remember, the big thought is that the Stinger that gives death its power is sin. Listen, whenever Jesus came to Earth, you all. God didn't just say. Well, now that's my boy. We're going to give him a pass. Because that's my boy. God did not break protocol. The wages of sin is death. God didn't break protocol on this. So how in the world did Jesus raise from the how did he beat death? How was Jesus resurrected? Look at the scripture here one Peter chapter two.
He committed no sin. He committed no sin. Neither was there deceit found in his mouth. Second Corinthians chapter five “for our sake, God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Hebrews chapter four, verse 15 “we do not have a high priest, Jesus, who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Then we understand that when all the Jews, bring Jesus to Pilate, and they're saying, crucify him, put him to death. Our law says that he's got to die. And they're outside cheering crucify him and pilots on the inside, and he's interrogating Jesus. What does he do? He walks out to the balcony and he says, hey, I don't find any fault in this man. Well, here's what the scripture says in Isaiah 53, as we discussed last week, “he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we were healed.” Jesus, the pride of heaven, the glory of heaven, the beauty of heaven, came down to the worst of mankind to deliver the most broken, the most bound, the most rebellious. And he lived in a sinful world, yet, he did not sin when he went to the cross because of our sins. When he went to the cross, he went because of our sins and not because of his sins.
Now, y'all, can you just imagine with me a conversation after Jesus dies and he take it off of the cross, and we find that Jesus has arrived in the hearse to hell. Let's just imagine for a moment the conversation between death and Satan. The red lights go off. Death pulls up behind Jesus, and he said, Let me have your life. Let me have your identity. And he walks back to his patrol car, and he sits down with a cocky little grin on it. Satan! What? We got a problem. What do you mean we got a problem? I can't hold him. What do you mean you can't hold him? I've been looking for his rap sheets. Oh, demons who then hacked our system. I can't hold him. I can't find any sin. Oh, that's impossible. There's never been anybody that's ever showed up. There's never been anybody that's died that didn't have sin.
Every human being on planet Earth since I got Adam devours me since I got Adam and I tricked him into a lie. Every human being from the beginning of time has always had sin. That is impossible.
Y'all, that is a powerful thought, because the Stinger that gives death its power is sin. And sin had no power over Jesus and no claim over Jesus because there was no sin. Romans one says “he was declared to be the Son of God.” This is a powerful verse that most people would just run right over and forget. But I want you to get this. Look at this. “He was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of Holiness, by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” the Spirit of Holiness, man, I just see the spirit of Holiness stepping up to declare, have you ever seen in Hollywood when the Kings have a banquet or whatever, the Porter steps up and says, now introducing the Duchess, you understand that the spirit of Holiness stepped up and said, through the spirit of Holiness, the Son of God, o, death, where is your Stinger? O, grave, where is your victory now? how was Jesus’s resurrection possible? His resurrection was possible because of his sinless life and the Stinger of death could not hold him. So the third question is this, how is resurrection possible for us?
In the old days, every year they would take a lamb and they would slay the lamb in the high priest that represented the Jewish nation. Every year he would go through a cleansing process and he would take the blood of a lamb and he would go and first offer up a sacrifice for his sins.
And then he would offer up a sacrifice for the sins of the people. And year after, year after year after year, over and over and over again, this would happen because the priest was imperfect and because the people needed retribution, they needed their sins cleaned. And so year after year, they would go through what we call foreshadowing, a foreshadowing of something that was coming in the future. It was an imperfect process that was revealing, a perfect process that was going to take place but hadn't yet taken place. So year after year, they would slay a lamb and the high priest would go in and he would offer up a sacrifice. Hebrews chapter nine says, “he entered once for all into the Holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves and by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Verse 24. “For Christ has entered not into the Holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into the heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” Let's go back and pick our story up. Mary looks down. She sees a couple Angels in there. They say, he ain't here. He gone. Mary raises up and turns around and looks and she sees this individual. She thinks she's a gardener. She said, Where is it taking him? I'll go take him. I'll go get him. I'll go take him away.
And he says, Mary. And she says, Rabonay. And she reaches out to touch Jesus and he says, Hang on, don't touch me. What? Listen, one of my family members had a surgery, and every day the wound had to be dressed. And evidently, I don't know, everybody else in my family must have a weak stomach. It was my responsibility. Every day to dress this wound, man I took it seriously because I didn't want infection and all that stuff to set in. And so every day I had this little process. I had the little clean napkins, and I would take out the gauze and I take out the tape and I'd take out the big medical Q tips And I'd put all the stuff on this little clean napkin, and I'd go over first to the sink and I'd wash my hands.
I'd wash my hands, and then I'd wash my hands. And then I'd turn around and somebody would reach over to grab one of the utensils or one of the bottles or something to hand it to me. And I'd say, Stop. Don't touch that. Do you know how dirty your hands are? And so I'd go over and I'd open the bottle, I'd turn around, I'd wash my hands again. I'd go over, I'd do something else, and they'd be scratching. So I'd say stop. Don't touch that. Your hands are dirty. Did you wash your hands? I go or I wash my hands again. You ever seen a surgeon before they go into surgery?
They go to the big tub and that man, they get every cuticle under every fingernail. They get every finger, every crevice. They go all the way up. They get under the noise anyway. They go all the way up. They get their whole and then when they walk out, they walk into the surgery room like this, and they take a garment and they slide this sterilized garment on the surgeon, and they put sterilized gloves on the surgeon and the surgeon is walking in. Don't touch me. I've got a job to do, my friend. Listen. Jesus walked out of the tumor, and he was sterilized. He was purified, he was clean, and he walked out. And she said, don't touch me. I've got to go into the Holies to be presented to my God and your God. I'm going in for you.
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time. Those who are being sanctified. The Holy Spirit also bears witness to us that after saying, this is the Covenant I will make with him after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws into their heart and write them on their minds. And then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
We've been talking about how did Jesus overcome death and the grave. How was Jesus resurrected? But now we're talking about how we going to be resurrected. How are we going to win this thing? He said the new Covenant after Jesus goes in and makes the perfect sacrifice. When he walked out, he made the Covenant that he would remember our lawless deeds no more. “And where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering a sin.”
Listen, just a few weeks ago, I got this big white envelope from at&t. And inside I expected for there to be an at&t bill. We all know what the bills look like, right? We know about how much they are. They lot. Everything's a lot these days. Even Wally world's a lot these days. I got that at&t bill. And I opened it expecting to have my bill on the inside. And sure enough, I pulled it out and there was a bill. But to my surprise, I didn't owe anything. Not only did I not owe anything, but there was a credit to my account. You all ain't getting this.
If Jesus tarries. And I don't believe he's going to tarry very long. I believe he's coming back to get his bride. Those that are watching and expecting. But if he tarry. One of these days, I'm going to go by way of the grave. One of these days, somebody is going to stand on this platform and tell great lies about me. One of these days, they're going to wheel me out of here, put me in the back of a Hearst and carry me out to the graveyard and lower me down into the ground. And they're going to cover me up with dirt. One of these days. But one of these days, there's another conversation that's going to happen between Satan and death. When the red and blue flashing lights pull up behind me after I've died. And he walks up to the door and he says, Let me have your identity, please And he walks back to his car.
Hey, Satan! we got another problem. No, wait a minute. I was there on the day. I didn't seem to beat you. I know what he did. I was there. Here's the deal. I didn't know what happens when somebody pays a debt they don't owe. How many knows what happens when somebody pays a debt they don't owe? It goes on credit. It goes over to the credit column, y'all. And so there may be a conversation that takes place between Satan and death. But Jesus gonna step in and say, hey, y'all, remember that day that I went to the cross? Remember that day I laid down my life? Remember that I paid a debt? I did Noah. And it went over to the credit column. Now, apply that to his account. And whether is no sin, but death has no Stinger.
How is he going to rise? Or how did he rise? He rose because there was no sin he had never seen. How are we going to raise? Because what he paid went on our account. Would you stand to your feet with it today? Listen, everybody here. If you're used to boring Church, you can go back to your old Church. But this ain't boring. Because he ain't dead. I'm not in mourning. I'm in rejoicing. I don't have to be full of grief. I can be full of joy. Because he is risen and the fullness of the gospel is that he promised us life that last forever. That's imperishable never fades away. Listen. Every head bowed, every eye closed in this house today.
You're in the house today and you've been wrestling. You've been wondering how in the world could a perfect God love someone as imperfect as me? My friend, there's been a credit applied to your count. The wages of sin were death. And Jesus stepped in and paid that price that he did not owe. As the old song says, ain't no grave going to hold my body down. When I hear that trumpet sound today with every head bout and every eye closed just right where you are. I just want to pray with you. If you're in the house and you've wrestled with that question, how in the world could he love me? You're saved.
You love God. You've been wrestling with questions. It's right where you are. Would you just slip your hand up and say, Preacher, you hit the nail on the head with me? Yes. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. God bless you. Anyone else in the house today? Slip your hand up. Thank you, Shawn. Thank you, ma'am. Slip your hand up. Just say, that's me. I've been wrestling. Yes, sir. God bless you. I've got one more question. You're in the house today and you've wrestled with your Salvation and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You're here today and you've never accepted him as your Lord and savior. Or maybe you're here today and you're the one that turned your back and walked away from Him. He didn't walk away from you. If that's you today, he's standing with arms wide open inviting you to come back home in all of his mercy. It's his kindness that draws men unto repentance is what the word says. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If that's you this morning and you would say, I need Jesus, I've made him best of my life. But today I surrender. Today I want to know him. Or today I want to come back home and recommit my life to Jesus. If that's you with no one looking around this morning, would you just slip it up? Thank you, ma'am. God bless you.
Slip it up this morning. If that's you. Thank you, sir. God bless you. Is there another in the house this morning? Just slip it up. Don't leave the same way you came in this morning. Is there another this morning? I need to know Jesus. I want to have that eternal, eternal life. I want to have that promise from God. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, young man. Is there another this morning? Just slip it up and write back down. Don't leave like you came in this morning. Is there another congregation? Would you just pray with me this morning? Could we just pray together? Would you just repeat this prayer after me? Heavenly Father, we come in Jesus name. We believe that he is your son. We know that we have sinned and we deserve to be punished. But we believe that Jesus took our place. And because of that, we're forgiven. You said you would adopt us. You would write our name in heaven and forgive all of our sins and give us eternal life so that we could live with you forever. And today we receive that Salvation. Today we receive that forgiveness. Today we receive that promise of eternal life. Now, heavenly Father, all of those that have struggled, all of those that the enemy has battled against their hearts and minds. Accusing them, Lord, and tormenting them, Father. Today I'm asking you that they would lift their eyes and that they would see what Jesus did on the cross. What Jesus did for all of us. God, Father, we are forgiven.
Not because of what we've done, father, we're forgiven because of what Jesus has done. And today, Lord, I'm asking you to illuminate that to your children today so that we can walk in freedom. Not in condemnation that we can walk in Liberty. God, not under the fear of the law, but because of the blood of Jesus. The law has been erased, Father. Because of resurrection, Father, we have this newness of life. Father. Sin has lost its power. Has lost its Stinger. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Today we thank you as we celebrate this resurrection Sunday. Would you give the Lord a praise offering? This one just really, really? Are you glad that he rose from the dead? That he finished what he went to the cross today? Listen, if you slipped your hand up today and you asked Jesus into your heart, Would you please, please we have a gift for you over here and we'd also love for you to sign the wall of many of those that have said I've decided to follow Jesus. If you slipped your hand up as we're dismissed this morning, Would you just go over and let us greet you and give you that gift? But this morning, guys, I love you.
Happy Resurrection Sunday. You are dismissed. God bless you.