Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
We join your Bible, please, in Matthew chapter 28 here this
morning. If you are a guest with us
today, and there are many of you, we are in a series on
Sunday morning this year called Christ is All Colossians.
Chapter 3, verse 11 tells us that Christ is all and in all.
And so we've been looking this year so far at the different
characteristics of Jesus Christ through the Word of God.
We've seen, for instance, that Christ is healer, that Christ is
omnipotent, that Christ is servant, that Christ is meek.
Now the meek one kind of scared people for a little bit, but
we've looked at what the Word of God talked about meekness and
realized that we need to be meek people as well as the Word of
God teaches as the world would teach.
And even last week we saw the fact that Christ is forgiving
due to the statement that He uttered on the cross, that very
first statement of the seven statements.
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
And so I thought as we go through our series of Christ is
all and giving these characteristics that this
morning's really in many ways is probably the simplest for us to
be able to title and be able to find where we're to be in the
word of God. Because Christ is servant,
Christ is savior, Christ is forgiving, Christ is healer,
Christ is omnipotent, Christ is all and in all.
But this morning I'm so thank you that Christ is.
And that's the title of the message.
Christ is risen. Why you all Amen together.
You don't even sound like Baptist.
That's incredible. Thank you for that.
Let's all stand together for the reading the word of God if
you're physically able. Matthew chapter 28 beginning in
verse #1. Matthew chapter 28, beginning in
verse #1 where it says, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began
to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
And behold, there was a great earthquake.
For the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came
and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white
as snow. And for fear of him the keepers
did shake, and became his dead men.
And the Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for
I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen. Now certainly we rejoice in that
phrase. He is not here, for he is risen.
But I really want us this morning by the grace of God, to
focus on that next phrase that is just as important, but maybe
not talked about as much. And that's this.
As he said, He is not here, He is risen, as he said, Come see
the place where the Lord lay. Christ is risen.
The title of our message. But we'll also see why that is
so important for each and every one of us here this morning.
And so why don't you go ahead and be seated and we'll pray
together to ask the Lord to bless the message as we continue
today. Heavenly Father, I do thank you
for this morning. And again, thank you for the
time to be able to be here, to be before these people that you
have called us to, Lord, is an honor and a privilege beyond
words. And so, Lord, I do pray for
these next few moments that I would be filled with the Holy
Spirit to be able to say exactly what needs to be said from Your
Word, not my own opinions or my own thoughts.
These people came not to hear just a list of my own thoughts
of life or grievances or they came to hear Your word.
And so I pray that that would be what I can present in a way that
is understandable, in a way that communicates the grace of God
that is so real in each and every one of our lives.
And we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
Maybe been to a church before that has a children's message
during the service. We don't do that here at Liberty
Baptist Church. We have the children in the back
and they have a class dedicated to them where I mentioned they
get Bible teaching and they also have some fun stuff to do as
well. But yet get get taught very well
as you've seen the word of God. But just on Tuesday night,
something that I've never done before in the almost 13 years
we've been here, I had this idea of having all the children come
up before the Lord's Supper and letting them take a look at the
matzah of which we use for the Lord's Supper.
That unleavened bread, letting them see that it is striped and
it is pierced and it's without leaven.
A reminder, a picture of who Jesus Christ was, that He was
without leaven or the picture of sin, that He was hit by his
stripes. We were healed.
He was pierced. But I will tell you, I've been
fearful of a few things and 13 years of ministry.
I don't know if I've ever been as fearful as I was during those
5 minutes having those children sitting in the front and not
knowing how they would respond, what they would say, if they
would listen, if they would just start, you know, crawling all
over each other and stuff like that.
It was, it was a pretty interesting experience.
But there's a story once of a pastor who did a similar thing
on a Easter Sunday morning and he called all the children to
come forward and he wanted to give them just a short message
and he asked them this question. He said, do you know anything
different about Easter Sunday? And of course, expecting a
spiritual answer, he looks at those children and says, do you
notice anything different about Easter Sunday?
And one little girl studied the room for a moment and she
blurted out, well, the church's fault.
Now, that's not the answer he was looking for, but she
definitely told the truth. And now I thank the Lord that
Liberty Baptist Church on a normal Sunday is full by the
grace of God. And we're just kind of well over
full today. But I can certainly attest to
the fact that the sentiment of that girl is right in the fact
that it's the truth that were after that girl told the truth.
That's what she saw it from her own perspective.
The church is full. That's different than it
normally is. She was just looking for the
truth. And in our text this morning,
it's the truth that the disciples needed, and it was the
truth of which they needed to be reminded of, which is why we see
that phrase in verse #6 as he said, because the woman who were
at the at the tomb, as well as the disciples who had even
bothered to go to the tomb that morning, all of them need to be
reminded of the fact that Jesus was not only risen, but that he
had already communicated to them that this is exactly what was to
take place. We see in verse #1 of chapter
#28 that it was the first day of the week, and Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary were there at the sepulchre.
I love the story of Mary Magdalene.
We don't have time to be able to go into it this morning, but
there's a woman that Jesus had healed from the oppressed of
seven devils that were inside of her seven demons.
And this woman had been freed from the affliction by Jesus
Christ and she had great effect section for him.
No, not to some of the wild stories that the world talks
about today, but was just a pure follower of Jesus Christ.
And there she was at the first day of the week with the other
Mary. And it says that there was a
great earthquake that took place.
Now the earth shook at the crucifixion.
We might remember that that when Jesus had given his life on the
cross, the earth had shook at that time.
And I've heard it said that the earth shook because it couldn't
bear his suffering. But here it shook again just a
few days later because it couldn't hinder his rising.
Jesus rises from the dead. The the stone has been rolled
away. There's we find in other
passages the fact that those who are supposed to be guarding the
tomb are not able to guard the tomb.
What do we see? It says it's verse #4 that very
fact. And the Angel says in verse #5
Fear not ye. Now, why did the Angel say that?
Well, because they were afraid. Usually if someone says don't be
afraid, well, that's because someone is afraid.
See these the deep things that you came to Liberty Baptist
Church to learn this morning, isn't it?
He said. Don't be afraid because those
women are afraid. Look at what they've just
witnessed, look at what they've just seen.
But they haven't been able to make the connection of exactly
why this has taken place. And so this Angel says this, he
is not here for he has risen. And again, as a pastor, we could
just take that phrase or really two phrases.
He is not here for he has risen. And I could talk and preach on
that here for well, quite a while.
Just like, you know, an hour or two, just like you were hoping I
would this morning. I won't do that.
No, that was a joke, all right. But really, as much as I would
like to speak on those phrases, we're aware of those phrases
already. I really found great interest
even in the this last week and preparing and praying about the
message on that phrase that followed, which is this as he
said, sure he is not here, sure he is risen, but this is exactly
what he said would happen. Now consider these words for
just a moment. It's not that the Angel said
like he said what he said. As he said, you say pastor, are
those phrases the same? And the answer is, well, no,
because they have different words.
They're not the same. They are different, but there is
a difference. Even if you were to go into the
Greek, you would find that in the Greek word cathus that's
there, that you find that this meaning this, that it's an exact
conformity with according as meaning this.
This wasn't just something that Jesus had alluded to.
This is wasn't just something that Jesus had maybe, you know,
casually mentioned while the disciples were busy doing other
things. He had very clearly and very
completely explained the process of his death and burial and
resurrection to the people. And what the Angel is saying at
that moment is that every word that he spoke to you has come to
pass. It's as he said, not like he
said. You know, some people say that I
look like my father, but if you see my father, guess what?
You'll realize we look different.
I maybe like him, but I'm not as my father.
I'm like my father. If a museum had a copy of a
priceless painting that was like the original, you probably
wouldn't give it much regard, would it?
Because it may be like the original, but it's not the
original. If a guy on the street corner
wanted to sell you a Rolex, that at least it was like a Rolex.
Maybe it's called a Rolox. I don't know.
You'd say, well, hey, that's not that's not as a Rolex.
That's kind of like a Rolex. If somebody said I'm going to
take your Easter ham and give you something like it and you
get home and you find a can of spam, you're going to find it's
not the same. Jesus was not said to have risen
like he had communicated, as if it was just in the generalities
of that which he said. When Jesus gave the word that
this was what would take place, you could take it to the bank.
When Jesus said he would rise three days, guess what?
Three days later, up from the grave, he arose with a mighty
triumph for his foes. The Bible tells us it's just as
he said, but yet the disciples forgot.
And it wasn't, as I mentioned a few moments ago, that Jesus
just, Pat mentioned this passing by like a wife may say to a
husband, you know, I told you this and I say, when did you
tell me that? And the answer is, well, she
told me that when I wasn't listening.
And you say, when was that part where you weren't listening?
That would be most of the time, unfortunately.
I got to be honest. I'm in the pulpit, folks.
All right. It's not that I'm trying, it's
just that's the way it ends up happening.
But Jesus over and over again communicated those disciples
that this was to take place. Can I give you a sampling?
Thank you. I was going to do it anyway.
Nobody answered, but I'm going to do it anyway.
Matthew chapter 12, verse 40. As Jonas was 3 days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew chapter 16, verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem,
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17, verses 22 and 23. The Son of man shall be betrayed
into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and the third
day he shall be raised again. Matthew chapter 20, verses 18
and 19. The Son of Man shall be betrayed
under the chief priests and under the scribes, and they
shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him.
And the third day he shall rise again.
No, no, this is not someone who is trying to pass off a generic
prophecy that would be answered no matter what happened.
Like a so-called clairvoyant today can read the minds of
people in the crowd by saying, I think there's someone out here
that has a parent. Is there someone out here that
knows someone that has a name that starts with the letter L or
maybe that has a name with the letter L in the name?
That's so generic that of course it would be answered.
This is Jesus specifically saying exactly what would take
place and it didn't happen. Like he said, you know, pay
attention. I'm going somewhere with this.
You may not think I am, but He said as He said, which means
this according as an inexact conformity with, you know,
perhaps one of the worst parts about all this.
The disciples forgot, but the enemies of Christ remembered.
You're in chapter #28. Go up into chapter #27 to verse
#62 You might even be on the same page.
And it says this. Now the next day that followed,
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
came together into pilot saying, Sir, what's those next two words
we remember. We remember that the deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise
again. No, hold on a second.
There were those who were opposed to Jesus Christ.
They called him a deceiver, and they said, we remember what he
said, that he would come back again.
And so verse 64 command therefore, that the sepulchre be
made sure until the 3rd day, lest his disciples come by night
steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the
dead. So the the last error shall be
worse than the first. And Pilate said something very
interesting here. What he said in verse #65 you
have a watch go your way. Make it as sure as he can.
And you have to wonder, even in the mind of Pilate, with all
that he had watched and all that he had consented to, then you
have to even wonder in that very moment.
Well, guys, do the best you can, because I can't even guarantee
you what's about to happen over the next day.
So they went and made the sepulchre shore, sealing the
stone and setting a watch. What am I saying by bringing
these people who consented to Christ being on the cross?
Why would I mention that here this morning?
Well, because we as the people of God and those who were here
this morning, all of us, you know, sometimes we need to be
reminded of the things that we should already know.
It was Peter who said that he want to put forth those in
remembrance. No, he didn't say that in the
Gospel because he remember a lot in the Gospels.
But later on his epistles, he said, I want to put you in
remembrance of the things that they've been taught and the
things that you've seen. Because each and every one of
us, we can get forgetful about the promises of God.
Which brings us to an undeniable truth this morning that I want
you to know in the time that we have here this morning that I
really want you to focus on today.
And that thought is this. When the Word says it, believe
it. When the Word says it, believe
it. Now why would I say that?
Well, Jesus Christ is called the living Word.
And John 11 in the beginning was the Word, and the same was with
God. And the Word was God.
When Jesus Christ opened his mouth, when Jesus Christ spoke,
when Jesus Christ communicated something in his gospels, you
can believe it. You can take it to the bank.
It's not that he's 99% correct. It's not even that he's 99.9,
9%, correct? He's not as pure as Ivory soap,
you know, 99.999%. Like who's deciding what that
.001% is and what is it? Why can't they get rid of it?
I don't know. They can't.
It's been 100 years. They can't figure out what that
.001% that's leftover is. But when Jesus Christ speaks,
it's not even to the degree that can be rounded up to 100%.
Every word of God is true because he's the living word.
Now I want you to go to John chapter 14.
Will you turn your Bibles please?
As it's been our has been our habit here over this series to
be able to look at our text, but then go to another text that is
a pivotal text in the word of God to help us understand a
greater truth. And John chapter 14 is one of
those pivotal texts because really in the timeline we're
going back a few days before Jesus was on the cross, the
night before he was betrayed, if you will.
And look at John on chapter 14, the living word, who is speaking
here. He says this to disciples who
are about to lose their master, physically speaking.
They've walked with him for three years.
They're about to lose the physical presence of their
master. And he says this to them, Let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. John 14, verse one.
Now verse 2, in my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am you may be also, and whither I go?
And the now saith unto him. Now Thomas always had a
question. Thomas had a problem with this.
Every time he speaks up. It's not exactly the most
comforting of words. And so Jesus is communicating
this beautiful thought. And Thomas says, Lord, we know
not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And Jesus instead of rebuke, what he gives him is
encouragement. And he says this I am the way.
What's that next? Those next two words, the truth
and the life. I am the way, the truth and the
life, and no man cometh under the Father, but by me.
And interestingly enough, as I've been in preparation for
this message this last week, I've come to the realization
that while the the title of the message could be Christ is
risen, it really should be this. Christ is truth because the
message of the resurrection is this.
He is truth, and if the Word says it, believe it.
That's true. If it's the living Word, Jesus
Christ in numbers chapter 23, verse 19, God is not a man that
he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent.
Hath he said and shall not he do it?
Or hath he spoken and shall not make it good?
When God speaks, it says in numbers all the way back in the
Old Testament. You can realize that it will be
true. When the word says it, believe
it. When it's the living Word,
believe it. But I also want you to recognize
this morning. That it's not just the living
Word, Jesus Christ, but it's also God's holy word that we
have in front of us this morning.
It's all the Word and it's all true.
Psalm 12 verse 6 says this. The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified 7
times. So how can you know God's word
is true? Well, I have a question for you.
Is God true? Yes.
If He speaks, is it true? Amen.
Is that His word? Then it's true, you say, well,
it can't be that easy. And the answer is it can.
It really can, because it comes down to this.
It either it is or it is not. It's a binary choice.
It either it is or it is not. Because it cannot present itself
to be something and then simply just be a good book.
Because it doesn't present itself as just a good book.
Think of Thomas Jefferson who was some had some level of of
honor for the word of God in his own way, but yet did not like
the miracles of Jesus Christ. And before the days of cut and
paste on your PC, he literally cut and pasted out the good
teachings of Jesus and paste them on a book.
And he said it really be much better if we could just get the
good moral teachings of Jesus Christ and not have all the
miracles and the other things that are so unscientific.
And my answer to that is, well, we take it all because it is all
presented as true. So that doesn't make sense.
Well, does it make sense that Jesus Christ could raise after
three days and could save our wicked souls?
I would say if he could do that, he could do anything else that
you find in this book. When the Word of God says it,
believe it. So what should you believe
today? What should you believe in the
word of God today? Well, I've got a few things that
I want you to recognize briefly here this morning.
You're the word of God says you're a Sinner.
Believe it. James 115 says, then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. The idea is every one of us are
self focused. Every one of us are sinners.
Let me ask you a question. I heard someone say this a few
weeks ago and I kept rattling around in my mind because it's
so true. If you see a picture of yourself
and a group of people and you look at that picture, who do you
look at first? Because you're a Sinner, and so
am I. Our focus is on ourselves.
Yeah, that's that's scary, isn't it?
Once you realize that's the way we are.
Because everything in our life, first and foremost in our flesh
is about ourselves. Why?
Because we were born in our sin and iniquities.
And just as the children just told us a few moments ago, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 5 verse 12 says wherefore by as one man sin entered into
the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. The word of God says you're a
Sinner, believe it. You know the Word says that
there's life after death. Believe it.
Hell is real. As a pastor, I don't like
talking about it. I find no pleasure standing in a
pulpit and thundering down about the realities of hell.
I say it not with a heart that wants to talk down to you, but I
say it with a heart that wants to desperately warn you that it
is real. And while I take no joy in
Speaking of its reality, I must speak of its reality because the
Word of God says it's true. Revelation 20, verses 14 and 15.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 1
commentator said this. The vague and tenuous hope that
God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly
opiate for the consciousnesses of millions.
That's a deep, deep quote. But the idea of what this
commentator Wolver just saying is this is there's far too many
people that have been lulled to sleep by the fact that God is
too kind to send anyone to hell. But the fact is that God desires
that none perish, but it all come to repentance.
We'll talk more about that in a moment.
Hell is real. The lake of fire, that final
resting place is real. But I also want to tell you this
morning that heaven is real as well.
Heaven is real. Many people have no problem
believing in heaven. It's just the other thing they
don't want to think about. But it is true that both are
real places, that it's not just this life and then everything is
over, but rather that after this life there is a life to come.
Revelation 24 verses one through 4, just a few verses after what
we just read said this. And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the 1st heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. And I saw John or I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride, adorned for a husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people. And, and God himself shall be
with them and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain for the former things or passed away.
Are you tired of pain? Who isn't tired of pain?
The Bible says there will be a time for those who go to heaven.
There'll be no more pain. This is not just some silly
promise to weak people who can't handle the realities of life.
Now, the word of God says it. You can believe it.
That's right. Bible tells us that we're
sinners. Believe it.
The Bible tells us there's life after this.
Believe it. The Bible tells us that you can
be saved from that judgment and that condemnation.
Believe it. You know, the Angel said in
verse #6 in our text, Come and see, come and see.
The women were afraid. They didn't believe.
And by the way, there's a beauty to the fact that Jesus revealed
Himself to those women first before the disciples.
You realize that if those women were in court in those times,
that their account of that day wouldn't even have been
recognized. They would have been silly women
who couldn't even have spoken out in court of what they saw,
but yet Jesus saw great value in them.
To be able to reveal himself to them before even his own
disciples come and see was the message.
But it reminds me all the way back to the beginning of Jesus's
ministry when it says in John 137 through 39.
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus,
And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them,
What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi,
which is interpret, Master, where dwellest thou?
And his answer, come and see. There's a beautiful harmony
about the fact that the beginning of Jesus's ministry
was come and see. And at the near end of Jesus's
earthly ministry, it was this. Come and see.
You know what the message of Jesus Christ is for you today
when it comes in regards to the gospel.
Come and see. I don't know if Jesus could save
someone like me. And my answer to you would be in
this world today, our 8 billion or so souls.
And God can save each and every one of them, including you.
And that includes all who have trodden upon this earth for all
time. His message to you is this.
Come and see. He wants you to be saved.
Ephesians 289 For by grace, are you saved through faith?
We just talked about grace a few moments ago.
Grace is God's unmerited favor. It's the things that He gives us
that we don't deserve. What do we deserve?
Well, we just talked about it. Death, hell, it's what we
deserve. By grace, are you saved through
faith? It's not of yourself.
It's the gift of God, not of works.
Just any man should boast. Can I talk plainly with you?
Somebody say you're just going to start now.
All right. Can I talk plainly with you for
a few moments? Some of you have been lied to by
false religion. Some of you been lied to that
you just have to be good enough and you'll be OK upstairs.
So that's the kind of talk that's out there.
You'll be OK with a quote, big guy, if you just do enough, if
you keep your nose clean, if you go through the religious
obligations, if you just make sure you give enough.
Maybe some of you even thought, oh pastor, we know why you
passed the plates around here. You must have passed the plates
because the people that give more, they have more assurance
that they're going to heaven than the ones that don't.
If that's your opinion, I would hope that you would never given
the offering plate here. We don't want your money.
What we want for you to understand is the purity of the
gospel. And if that's a stumbling block
to you, then don't even look at that plate when it goes by.
I'm as serious as I could be because it's not of the works of
which we have done. Titus says this.
Paul says to Titus, it's not of works of righteousness which we
have done because our righteousness is like filthy
rags. And some of you just keep
wondering, why am I not getting the head?
Why am I not going anywhere? Why do I still not know that I'm
going to heaven? Because you keep doing and you
do good, but you also do bad. You say, well, who are you to
tell me I'm doing bad? Someone who's trying to tell you
the truth because you do bad and I do bad.
You say what bad do you do? Well, I'll let you talk to Diane
after the service and tell you all about it, OK?
She'll be glad to tell you. And anyone who's been a member
of this church for 5 minutes could probably tell you a few
things too. But This is why I know I'm not
saved by my good works and you're not saved by your good
works, but you're saved by the good grace of God.
When he says you could be saved, believe it.
Listen When he says he wants you to be saved, believe it.
It's not just the fact that you can be saved.
It's the fact that he desires for you to be saved.
He desires for all to come to repentance.
The Bible says that he came to seek and to save that which was
lost. You ever had someone come over
to your house and you it's because you invited him over.
You kind of hope They said no. By the way, got four people
coming over to church after church.
And I know I'm just kidding. You ever invite someone over and
you said, you know, I hope they say no and at least at least I
was hospitable about it. That's kind of the way it works.
You know, with the Lord, He does not extend the invitation and
hopes you say no. His desire is that you come to
repentance. He brought you here today.
No, He brought you here today. He said I brought myself.
No, He worked within your life to put people in your path.
He will be here today because He wants you to have fellowship
with him. When God says He wants you to be
saved, believe it. But I'd also say this, when the
word of God tells us our time is limited, believe it.
So I've got plenty of time to think about this.
Maybe you do and maybe you don't.
Look at. James tells us that our life is
but a vapor. If I was to bring a spray bottle
up here and just to spray it in the air, we'd see it for two or
three seconds and it would be like nothing ever happened.
And that's our life. It's here for a moment and it's
gone the next. We're friends with a family that
used to be a pastor in Connecticut and just a few days
ago traveling down the road foggy Connecticut, a foggy
morning crossing a state highway, a car with a mom and a
bunch of little kids because they couldn't see what was
ahead. Hit a head on collision with
another vehicle and a 7 year old boy passed into eternity.
And I heard that in my heart broke for that family as they
all experienced broken bodies, but that one young man slipped
into eternity to be with his Jesus.
My heart breaks for them. But you don't know what tomorrow
is. And I'm gonna try to make you
paranoid. I'm just telling you.
You don't know, you say, well, I do know.
Well, you know you're lying. You don't know.
And what I'm saying is when the word of God says you don't know
you have tomorrow, believe it. Thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth, Believe it. There's a lot of believers here
this morning. I believe there's a lot of
people who know Jesus Christ, their savior.
I'm thankful for that. You even said Amen.
That's that's good. Yeah.
You know, the word of God talks to you too.
You know when the Bible says he'll never leave you or forsake
you, believe it. When the Bible says that he will
be a friend that sticketh closer to a brother than a brother.
Believe it when the Bible says that that that you can have a
peep in the midst of the storm, as Paul talked about, when he
said that his grace was able to work within his life and made
him in his weakness made him strong.
You can believe that. You know the Bible says that God
is holy and we are to live holy. You ought to believe it when the
Bible tells us that you can't live a holy life on yourself,
which is why the Holy Spirit lives inside of you to help you
live out that life. You need to believe it when the
Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
Believe it. When the Word says it, believe
it. Here's the problem.
We've been conditioned. When man tells us something, we
know man's not always shooting straight with us.
And maybe even right now you're hearing me and say, OK, yeah,
pastor, you're really funny. You're really handsome.
Thank you. Because I know that's what
you're thinking. But you're thinking you're
really funny. You're all these things.
But I just don't know if I believe it.
And my answer is from just some of the things I've just said.
Don't believe it because of me. Who am I?
I'm just like you. I may be a pastor that has a
calling upon his life, but I'm just like you are.
Don't take my word for it. Search the scriptures and Jesus
told the Pharisees those religious hypocrites, he says
search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal
life meaning this. They clung so tightly to those
scriptures but they didn't even know the scriptures who didn't
even follow them. Just go back and search those
things you think you know so well, because if you read them
you'd realize I am who I say I am.
But man will let you down. God will never let you down.
I'll give you this story and I'll be done.
Some of you who've been here a while have heard me reference my
Uncle Al before now. My Uncle Al I love greatly.
He's my father's brother. My father had two brothers much
older than him. He was born about 20 years after
his two older brothers. And so I love my Uncle Al.
But my Uncle Al, he was a talker.
And I remember being a young guy, just a little guy to every
holiday he'd come over to the house and especially as a young
boy, he'd sit me on his knee. He said, Adam, we got to go
fishing. I said, I like that.
I like to go fishing. He says, next time I come, I'm
going to bring you a fishing pole every holiday.
He said, every holiday you bring you a fishing pole.
No, I'm still waiting for the first fishing pole.
My Uncle Al was the one that if you were to search his name, and
I did this just a few days ago, I searched his name and the word
bingo. Say pastor, where you going with
this? I searched his name and the word
bingo. The first thing that came up was
a Riviera Bingo casino in Cranston, RI, which I didn't
even know existed. But the second thing that came
up was his indictment in 1993 for running a bingo parlor and
running a scam out of a bingo parlor.
And one of the greatest moments in Rivero history, if you were
to look online, is my uncle being indicted by the FBI and
his son who was also indicted. My cousin with a jacket over his
head going into federal court. That is the high watermark of
the Rivero family. 1993 Tampa, FL Right there you say, pastor,
why are you saying this in front of all of us?
I'm saying this because man will let you down.
I have let people down. You have let people down and you
say, well, I'm a better person than your uncle or I'm a better
person than this other guy over here.
You've missed the mark completely because the Bible
says this in Second Corinthians. Comparing ourselves among
ourselves, we're not wise. Compare yourself to another
Sinner just makes you both sinners.
Well, I'm a bigger Sinner than that Sinner.
I'm a lesser Sinner than that Sinner.
You're both still sinners. Listen, if someone sinks on the
boat quickly and someone sinks on the boat and it takes some
time, the boat still going down, you're in the same predicament.
It's only Christ who could save you.
When the Word of God says it, believe it.
Remember that little girl at the beginning?
She spoke the truth. No, a lot of people didn't want
to hear what she had to say about how many people were in
the church that day, but she spoke the truth about the church
being full. Do you want to leave here full
today in your heart? Well, the way you can be full in
your heart today is recognizing that you're a Sinner and
standing in condemnation before a thrice holy God.
But yet Jesus, the way, the truth and the life said this.
I'll go and prepare a way before you and you can be saved.
And if he said it, believe it. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.