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Resurrection Sunday | Christ Is Risen | April 5, 2026 AM

Sermon Podcast—LBC Easton

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  1. Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

  2. The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

  3. Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

  4. or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

  5. us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

  6. message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

  7. We join your Bible, please, in Matthew chapter 28 here this

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  8. morning. If you are a guest with us

  9. today, and there are many of you, we are in a series on

  10. Sunday morning this year called Christ is All Colossians.

    Colossians 3:11

  11. Chapter 3, verse 11 tells us that Christ is all and in all.

  12. And so we've been looking this year so far at the different

  13. characteristics of Jesus Christ through the Word of God.

  14. We've seen, for instance, that Christ is healer, that Christ is

  15. omnipotent, that Christ is servant, that Christ is meek.

  16. Now the meek one kind of scared people for a little bit, but

  17. we've looked at what the Word of God talked about meekness and

  18. realized that we need to be meek people as well as the Word of

  19. God teaches as the world would teach.

  20. And even last week we saw the fact that Christ is forgiving

  21. due to the statement that He uttered on the cross, that very

  22. first statement of the seven statements.

  23. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

  24. And so I thought as we go through our series of Christ is

  25. all and giving these characteristics that this

  26. morning's really in many ways is probably the simplest for us to

  27. be able to title and be able to find where we're to be in the

  28. word of God. Because Christ is servant,

  29. Christ is savior, Christ is forgiving, Christ is healer,

  30. Christ is omnipotent, Christ is all and in all.

  31. But this morning I'm so thank you that Christ is.

  32. And that's the title of the message.

  33. Christ is risen. Why you all Amen together.

  34. You don't even sound like Baptist.

  35. That's incredible. Thank you for that.

  36. Let's all stand together for the reading the word of God if

  37. you're physically able. Matthew chapter 28 beginning in

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  38. verse #1. Matthew chapter 28, beginning in

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  39. verse #1 where it says, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began

  40. to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene

  41. and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

  42. And behold, there was a great earthquake.

  43. For the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came

  44. and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

  45. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white

  46. as snow. And for fear of him the keepers

  47. did shake, and became his dead men.

  48. And the Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for

  49. I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

  50. He is not here, for he is risen. Now certainly we rejoice in that

  51. phrase. He is not here, for he is risen.

  52. But I really want us this morning by the grace of God, to

  53. focus on that next phrase that is just as important, but maybe

  54. not talked about as much. And that's this.

  55. As he said, He is not here, He is risen, as he said, Come see

  56. the place where the Lord lay. Christ is risen.

  57. The title of our message. But we'll also see why that is

  58. so important for each and every one of us here this morning.

  59. And so why don't you go ahead and be seated and we'll pray

  60. together to ask the Lord to bless the message as we continue

  61. today. Heavenly Father, I do thank you

  62. for this morning. And again, thank you for the

  63. time to be able to be here, to be before these people that you

  64. have called us to, Lord, is an honor and a privilege beyond

  65. words. And so, Lord, I do pray for

  66. these next few moments that I would be filled with the Holy

  67. Spirit to be able to say exactly what needs to be said from Your

  68. Word, not my own opinions or my own thoughts.

  69. These people came not to hear just a list of my own thoughts

  70. of life or grievances or they came to hear Your word.

  71. And so I pray that that would be what I can present in a way that

  72. is understandable, in a way that communicates the grace of God

  73. that is so real in each and every one of our lives.

  74. And we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

  75. Maybe been to a church before that has a children's message

  76. during the service. We don't do that here at Liberty

  77. Baptist Church. We have the children in the back

  78. and they have a class dedicated to them where I mentioned they

  79. get Bible teaching and they also have some fun stuff to do as

  80. well. But yet get get taught very well

  81. as you've seen the word of God. But just on Tuesday night,

  82. something that I've never done before in the almost 13 years

  83. we've been here, I had this idea of having all the children come

  84. up before the Lord's Supper and letting them take a look at the

  85. matzah of which we use for the Lord's Supper.

  86. That unleavened bread, letting them see that it is striped and

  87. it is pierced and it's without leaven.

  88. A reminder, a picture of who Jesus Christ was, that He was

  89. without leaven or the picture of sin, that He was hit by his

  90. stripes. We were healed.

  91. He was pierced. But I will tell you, I've been

  92. fearful of a few things and 13 years of ministry.

  93. I don't know if I've ever been as fearful as I was during those

  94. 5 minutes having those children sitting in the front and not

  95. knowing how they would respond, what they would say, if they

  96. would listen, if they would just start, you know, crawling all

  97. over each other and stuff like that.

  98. It was, it was a pretty interesting experience.

  99. But there's a story once of a pastor who did a similar thing

  100. on a Easter Sunday morning and he called all the children to

  101. come forward and he wanted to give them just a short message

  102. and he asked them this question. He said, do you know anything

  103. different about Easter Sunday? And of course, expecting a

  104. spiritual answer, he looks at those children and says, do you

  105. notice anything different about Easter Sunday?

  106. And one little girl studied the room for a moment and she

  107. blurted out, well, the church's fault.

  108. Now, that's not the answer he was looking for, but she

  109. definitely told the truth. And now I thank the Lord that

  110. Liberty Baptist Church on a normal Sunday is full by the

  111. grace of God. And we're just kind of well over

  112. full today. But I can certainly attest to

  113. the fact that the sentiment of that girl is right in the fact

  114. that it's the truth that were after that girl told the truth.

  115. That's what she saw it from her own perspective.

  116. The church is full. That's different than it

  117. normally is. She was just looking for the

  118. truth. And in our text this morning,

  119. it's the truth that the disciples needed, and it was the

  120. truth of which they needed to be reminded of, which is why we see

  121. that phrase in verse #6 as he said, because the woman who were

  122. at the at the tomb, as well as the disciples who had even

  123. bothered to go to the tomb that morning, all of them need to be

  124. reminded of the fact that Jesus was not only risen, but that he

  125. had already communicated to them that this is exactly what was to

  126. take place. We see in verse #1 of chapter

  127. #28 that it was the first day of the week, and Mary Magdalene and

  128. the other Mary were there at the sepulchre.

  129. I love the story of Mary Magdalene.

  130. We don't have time to be able to go into it this morning, but

  131. there's a woman that Jesus had healed from the oppressed of

  132. seven devils that were inside of her seven demons.

  133. And this woman had been freed from the affliction by Jesus

  134. Christ and she had great effect section for him.

  135. No, not to some of the wild stories that the world talks

  136. about today, but was just a pure follower of Jesus Christ.

  137. And there she was at the first day of the week with the other

  138. Mary. And it says that there was a

  139. great earthquake that took place.

  140. Now the earth shook at the crucifixion.

  141. We might remember that that when Jesus had given his life on the

  142. cross, the earth had shook at that time.

  143. And I've heard it said that the earth shook because it couldn't

  144. bear his suffering. But here it shook again just a

  145. few days later because it couldn't hinder his rising.

  146. Jesus rises from the dead. The the stone has been rolled

  147. away. There's we find in other

  148. passages the fact that those who are supposed to be guarding the

  149. tomb are not able to guard the tomb.

  150. What do we see? It says it's verse #4 that very

  151. fact. And the Angel says in verse #5

  152. Fear not ye. Now, why did the Angel say that?

  153. Well, because they were afraid. Usually if someone says don't be

  154. afraid, well, that's because someone is afraid.

  155. See these the deep things that you came to Liberty Baptist

  156. Church to learn this morning, isn't it?

  157. He said. Don't be afraid because those

  158. women are afraid. Look at what they've just

  159. witnessed, look at what they've just seen.

  160. But they haven't been able to make the connection of exactly

  161. why this has taken place. And so this Angel says this, he

  162. is not here for he has risen. And again, as a pastor, we could

  163. just take that phrase or really two phrases.

  164. He is not here for he has risen. And I could talk and preach on

  165. that here for well, quite a while.

  166. Just like, you know, an hour or two, just like you were hoping I

  167. would this morning. I won't do that.

  168. No, that was a joke, all right. But really, as much as I would

  169. like to speak on those phrases, we're aware of those phrases

  170. already. I really found great interest

  171. even in the this last week and preparing and praying about the

  172. message on that phrase that followed, which is this as he

  173. said, sure he is not here, sure he is risen, but this is exactly

  174. what he said would happen. Now consider these words for

  175. just a moment. It's not that the Angel said

  176. like he said what he said. As he said, you say pastor, are

  177. those phrases the same? And the answer is, well, no,

  178. because they have different words.

  179. They're not the same. They are different, but there is

  180. a difference. Even if you were to go into the

  181. Greek, you would find that in the Greek word cathus that's

  182. there, that you find that this meaning this, that it's an exact

  183. conformity with according as meaning this.

  184. This wasn't just something that Jesus had alluded to.

  185. This is wasn't just something that Jesus had maybe, you know,

  186. casually mentioned while the disciples were busy doing other

  187. things. He had very clearly and very

  188. completely explained the process of his death and burial and

  189. resurrection to the people. And what the Angel is saying at

  190. that moment is that every word that he spoke to you has come to

  191. pass. It's as he said, not like he

  192. said. You know, some people say that I

  193. look like my father, but if you see my father, guess what?

  194. You'll realize we look different.

  195. I maybe like him, but I'm not as my father.

  196. I'm like my father. If a museum had a copy of a

  197. priceless painting that was like the original, you probably

  198. wouldn't give it much regard, would it?

  199. Because it may be like the original, but it's not the

  200. original. If a guy on the street corner

  201. wanted to sell you a Rolex, that at least it was like a Rolex.

  202. Maybe it's called a Rolox. I don't know.

  203. You'd say, well, hey, that's not that's not as a Rolex.

  204. That's kind of like a Rolex. If somebody said I'm going to

  205. take your Easter ham and give you something like it and you

  206. get home and you find a can of spam, you're going to find it's

  207. not the same. Jesus was not said to have risen

  208. like he had communicated, as if it was just in the generalities

  209. of that which he said. When Jesus gave the word that

  210. this was what would take place, you could take it to the bank.

  211. When Jesus said he would rise three days, guess what?

  212. Three days later, up from the grave, he arose with a mighty

  213. triumph for his foes. The Bible tells us it's just as

  214. he said, but yet the disciples forgot.

  215. And it wasn't, as I mentioned a few moments ago, that Jesus

  216. just, Pat mentioned this passing by like a wife may say to a

  217. husband, you know, I told you this and I say, when did you

  218. tell me that? And the answer is, well, she

  219. told me that when I wasn't listening.

  220. And you say, when was that part where you weren't listening?

  221. That would be most of the time, unfortunately.

  222. I got to be honest. I'm in the pulpit, folks.

  223. All right. It's not that I'm trying, it's

  224. just that's the way it ends up happening.

  225. But Jesus over and over again communicated those disciples

  226. that this was to take place. Can I give you a sampling?

  227. Thank you. I was going to do it anyway.

  228. Nobody answered, but I'm going to do it anyway.

  229. Matthew chapter 12, verse 40. As Jonas was 3 days and three

    Matthew 12:40

  230. nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days

  231. and three nights in the heart of the earth.

  232. Matthew chapter 16, verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus

    Matthew 16:21

  233. to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem,

  234. and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and

  235. scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

  236. Matthew 17, verses 22 and 23. The Son of man shall be betrayed

    Matthew 17:22

  237. into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and the third

  238. day he shall be raised again. Matthew chapter 20, verses 18

    Matthew 20:18

  239. and 19. The Son of Man shall be betrayed

  240. under the chief priests and under the scribes, and they

  241. shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the

  242. Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him.

  243. And the third day he shall rise again.

  244. No, no, this is not someone who is trying to pass off a generic

  245. prophecy that would be answered no matter what happened.

  246. Like a so-called clairvoyant today can read the minds of

  247. people in the crowd by saying, I think there's someone out here

  248. that has a parent. Is there someone out here that

  249. knows someone that has a name that starts with the letter L or

  250. maybe that has a name with the letter L in the name?

  251. That's so generic that of course it would be answered.

  252. This is Jesus specifically saying exactly what would take

  253. place and it didn't happen. Like he said, you know, pay

  254. attention. I'm going somewhere with this.

  255. You may not think I am, but He said as He said, which means

  256. this according as an inexact conformity with, you know,

  257. perhaps one of the worst parts about all this.

  258. The disciples forgot, but the enemies of Christ remembered.

  259. The disciples forgot, but the enemies of Christ remembered.

  260. You're in chapter #28. Go up into chapter #27 to verse

  261. #62 You might even be on the same page.

  262. And it says this. Now the next day that followed,

  263. the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees

  264. came together into pilot saying, Sir, what's those next two words

  265. we remember. We remember that the deceiver

  266. said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise

  267. again. No, hold on a second.

  268. There were those who were opposed to Jesus Christ.

  269. They called him a deceiver, and they said, we remember what he

  270. said, that he would come back again.

  271. And so verse 64 command therefore, that the sepulchre be

  272. made sure until the 3rd day, lest his disciples come by night

  273. steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the

  274. dead. So the the last error shall be

  275. worse than the first. And Pilate said something very

  276. interesting here. What he said in verse #65 you

  277. have a watch go your way. Make it as sure as he can.

  278. And you have to wonder, even in the mind of Pilate, with all

  279. that he had watched and all that he had consented to, then you

  280. have to even wonder in that very moment.

  281. Well, guys, do the best you can, because I can't even guarantee

  282. you what's about to happen over the next day.

  283. So they went and made the sepulchre shore, sealing the

  284. stone and setting a watch. What am I saying by bringing

  285. these people who consented to Christ being on the cross?

  286. Why would I mention that here this morning?

  287. Well, because we as the people of God and those who were here

  288. this morning, all of us, you know, sometimes we need to be

  289. reminded of the things that we should already know.

  290. It was Peter who said that he want to put forth those in

  291. remembrance. No, he didn't say that in the

  292. Gospel because he remember a lot in the Gospels.

  293. But later on his epistles, he said, I want to put you in

  294. remembrance of the things that they've been taught and the

  295. things that you've seen. Because each and every one of

  296. us, we can get forgetful about the promises of God.

  297. Which brings us to an undeniable truth this morning that I want

  298. you to know in the time that we have here this morning that I

  299. really want you to focus on today.

  300. And that thought is this. When the Word says it, believe

  301. it. When the Word says it, believe

  302. it. Now why would I say that?

  303. Well, Jesus Christ is called the living Word.

  304. And John 11 in the beginning was the Word, and the same was with

  305. God. And the Word was God.

  306. When Jesus Christ opened his mouth, when Jesus Christ spoke,

  307. when Jesus Christ communicated something in his gospels, you

  308. can believe it. You can take it to the bank.

  309. It's not that he's 99% correct. It's not even that he's 99.9,

  310. 9%, correct? He's not as pure as Ivory soap,

  311. you know, 99.999%. Like who's deciding what that

  312. .001% is and what is it? Why can't they get rid of it?

  313. I don't know. They can't.

  314. It's been 100 years. They can't figure out what that

  315. .001% that's leftover is. But when Jesus Christ speaks,

  316. it's not even to the degree that can be rounded up to 100%.

  317. Every word of God is true because he's the living word.

  318. Now I want you to go to John chapter 14.

    John 14 chapter mention

  319. Will you turn your Bibles please?

  320. As it's been our has been our habit here over this series to

  321. be able to look at our text, but then go to another text that is

  322. a pivotal text in the word of God to help us understand a

  323. greater truth. And John chapter 14 is one of

    John 14 chapter mention

  324. those pivotal texts because really in the timeline we're

  325. going back a few days before Jesus was on the cross, the

  326. night before he was betrayed, if you will.

  327. And look at John on chapter 14, the living word, who is speaking

  328. here. He says this to disciples who

  329. are about to lose their master, physically speaking.

  330. They've walked with him for three years.

  331. They're about to lose the physical presence of their

  332. master. And he says this to them, Let

  333. not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also

  334. in me. John 14, verse one.

  335. Now verse 2, in my father's house are many mansions.

  336. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a

  337. place for you. And if I go and prepare a place

  338. for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that

  339. where I am you may be also, and whither I go?

  340. And the now saith unto him. Now Thomas always had a

  341. question. Thomas had a problem with this.

  342. Every time he speaks up. It's not exactly the most

  343. comforting of words. And so Jesus is communicating

  344. this beautiful thought. And Thomas says, Lord, we know

  345. not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?

  346. And Jesus instead of rebuke, what he gives him is

  347. encouragement. And he says this I am the way.

  348. What's that next? Those next two words, the truth

  349. and the life. I am the way, the truth and the

  350. life, and no man cometh under the Father, but by me.

  351. And interestingly enough, as I've been in preparation for

  352. this message this last week, I've come to the realization

  353. that while the the title of the message could be Christ is

  354. risen, it really should be this. Christ is truth because the

  355. message of the resurrection is this.

  356. He is truth, and if the Word says it, believe it.

  357. That's true. If it's the living Word, Jesus

  358. Christ in numbers chapter 23, verse 19, God is not a man that

    Numbers 23:19

  359. he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent.

  360. Hath he said and shall not he do it?

  361. Or hath he spoken and shall not make it good?

  362. When God speaks, it says in numbers all the way back in the

  363. Old Testament. You can realize that it will be

  364. true. When the word says it, believe

  365. it. When it's the living Word,

  366. believe it. But I also want you to recognize

  367. this morning. That it's not just the living

  368. Word, Jesus Christ, but it's also God's holy word that we

  369. have in front of us this morning.

  370. It's all the Word and it's all true.

  371. Psalm 12 verse 6 says this. The words of the Lord are pure

    Psalms 12:6

  372. words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified 7

  373. times. So how can you know God's word

  374. is true? Well, I have a question for you.

  375. Is God true? Yes.

  376. If He speaks, is it true? Amen.

  377. Is that His word? Then it's true, you say, well,

  378. it can't be that easy. And the answer is it can.

  379. It really can, because it comes down to this.

  380. It either it is or it is not. It's a binary choice.

  381. It either it is or it is not. Because it cannot present itself

  382. to be something and then simply just be a good book.

  383. Because it doesn't present itself as just a good book.

  384. Think of Thomas Jefferson who was some had some level of of

  385. honor for the word of God in his own way, but yet did not like

  386. the miracles of Jesus Christ. And before the days of cut and

  387. paste on your PC, he literally cut and pasted out the good

  388. teachings of Jesus and paste them on a book.

  389. And he said it really be much better if we could just get the

  390. good moral teachings of Jesus Christ and not have all the

  391. miracles and the other things that are so unscientific.

  392. And my answer to that is, well, we take it all because it is all

  393. presented as true. So that doesn't make sense.

  394. Well, does it make sense that Jesus Christ could raise after

  395. three days and could save our wicked souls?

  396. I would say if he could do that, he could do anything else that

  397. you find in this book. When the Word of God says it,

  398. believe it. So what should you believe

  399. today? What should you believe in the

  400. word of God today? Well, I've got a few things that

  401. I want you to recognize briefly here this morning.

  402. You're the word of God says you're a Sinner.

  403. Believe it. James 115 says, then when lust

  404. hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is

  405. finished, bringeth forth death. The idea is every one of us are

  406. self focused. Every one of us are sinners.

  407. Let me ask you a question. I heard someone say this a few

  408. weeks ago and I kept rattling around in my mind because it's

  409. so true. If you see a picture of yourself

  410. and a group of people and you look at that picture, who do you

  411. look at first? Because you're a Sinner, and so

  412. am I. Our focus is on ourselves.

  413. Yeah, that's that's scary, isn't it?

  414. Once you realize that's the way we are.

  415. Because everything in our life, first and foremost in our flesh

  416. is about ourselves. Why?

  417. Because we were born in our sin and iniquities.

  418. And just as the children just told us a few moments ago, for

  419. all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

  420. Romans 5 verse 12 says wherefore by as one man sin entered into

    Romans 5:12

  421. the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,

  422. for that all have sinned. The word of God says you're a

  423. Sinner, believe it. You know the Word says that

  424. there's life after death. Believe it.

  425. Hell is real. As a pastor, I don't like

  426. talking about it. I find no pleasure standing in a

  427. pulpit and thundering down about the realities of hell.

  428. I say it not with a heart that wants to talk down to you, but I

  429. say it with a heart that wants to desperately warn you that it

  430. is real. And while I take no joy in

  431. Speaking of its reality, I must speak of its reality because the

  432. Word of God says it's true. Revelation 20, verses 14 and 15.

    Revelation 20:14

  433. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

  434. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written

  435. in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 1

  436. commentator said this. The vague and tenuous hope that

  437. God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly

  438. opiate for the consciousnesses of millions.

  439. That's a deep, deep quote. But the idea of what this

  440. commentator Wolver just saying is this is there's far too many

  441. people that have been lulled to sleep by the fact that God is

  442. too kind to send anyone to hell. But the fact is that God desires

  443. that none perish, but it all come to repentance.

  444. We'll talk more about that in a moment.

  445. Hell is real. The lake of fire, that final

  446. resting place is real. But I also want to tell you this

  447. morning that heaven is real as well.

  448. Heaven is real. Many people have no problem

  449. believing in heaven. It's just the other thing they

  450. don't want to think about. But it is true that both are

  451. real places, that it's not just this life and then everything is

  452. over, but rather that after this life there is a life to come.

  453. Revelation 24 verses one through 4, just a few verses after what

  454. we just read said this. And I saw a new heaven and a new

  455. earth, for the 1st heaven and the first earth were passed

  456. away, and there was no more sea. And I saw John or I John saw the

  457. holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven,

  458. prepared as a bride, adorned for a husband.

  459. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the

  460. Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and

  461. they shall be his people. And, and God himself shall be

  462. with them and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears

  463. from their eyes. And there shall be no more

  464. death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be

  465. any more pain for the former things or passed away.

  466. Are you tired of pain? Who isn't tired of pain?

  467. The Bible says there will be a time for those who go to heaven.

  468. There'll be no more pain. This is not just some silly

  469. promise to weak people who can't handle the realities of life.

  470. Now, the word of God says it. You can believe it.

  471. That's right. Bible tells us that we're

  472. sinners. Believe it.

  473. The Bible tells us there's life after this.

  474. Believe it. The Bible tells us that you can

  475. be saved from that judgment and that condemnation.

  476. Believe it. You know, the Angel said in

  477. verse #6 in our text, Come and see, come and see.

  478. The women were afraid. They didn't believe.

  479. And by the way, there's a beauty to the fact that Jesus revealed

  480. Himself to those women first before the disciples.

  481. You realize that if those women were in court in those times,

  482. that their account of that day wouldn't even have been

  483. recognized. They would have been silly women

  484. who couldn't even have spoken out in court of what they saw,

  485. but yet Jesus saw great value in them.

  486. To be able to reveal himself to them before even his own

  487. disciples come and see was the message.

  488. But it reminds me all the way back to the beginning of Jesus's

  489. ministry when it says in John 137 through 39.

  490. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus,

  491. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them,

  492. What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi,

  493. which is interpret, Master, where dwellest thou?

  494. And his answer, come and see. There's a beautiful harmony

  495. about the fact that the beginning of Jesus's ministry

  496. was come and see. And at the near end of Jesus's

  497. earthly ministry, it was this. Come and see.

  498. You know what the message of Jesus Christ is for you today

  499. when it comes in regards to the gospel.

  500. Come and see. I don't know if Jesus could save

  501. someone like me. And my answer to you would be in

  502. this world today, our 8 billion or so souls.

  503. And God can save each and every one of them, including you.

  504. And that includes all who have trodden upon this earth for all

  505. time. His message to you is this.

  506. Come and see. He wants you to be saved.

  507. Ephesians 289 For by grace, are you saved through faith?

  508. We just talked about grace a few moments ago.

  509. Grace is God's unmerited favor. It's the things that He gives us

  510. that we don't deserve. What do we deserve?

  511. Well, we just talked about it. Death, hell, it's what we

  512. deserve. By grace, are you saved through

  513. faith? It's not of yourself.

  514. It's the gift of God, not of works.

  515. Just any man should boast. Can I talk plainly with you?

  516. Somebody say you're just going to start now.

  517. All right. Can I talk plainly with you for

  518. a few moments? Some of you have been lied to by

  519. false religion. Some of you been lied to that

  520. you just have to be good enough and you'll be OK upstairs.

  521. So that's the kind of talk that's out there.

  522. You'll be OK with a quote, big guy, if you just do enough, if

  523. you keep your nose clean, if you go through the religious

  524. obligations, if you just make sure you give enough.

  525. Maybe some of you even thought, oh pastor, we know why you

  526. passed the plates around here. You must have passed the plates

  527. because the people that give more, they have more assurance

  528. that they're going to heaven than the ones that don't.

  529. If that's your opinion, I would hope that you would never given

  530. the offering plate here. We don't want your money.

  531. What we want for you to understand is the purity of the

  532. gospel. And if that's a stumbling block

  533. to you, then don't even look at that plate when it goes by.

  534. I'm as serious as I could be because it's not of the works of

  535. which we have done. Titus says this.

  536. Paul says to Titus, it's not of works of righteousness which we

  537. have done because our righteousness is like filthy

  538. rags. And some of you just keep

  539. wondering, why am I not getting the head?

  540. Why am I not going anywhere? Why do I still not know that I'm

  541. going to heaven? Because you keep doing and you

  542. do good, but you also do bad. You say, well, who are you to

  543. tell me I'm doing bad? Someone who's trying to tell you

  544. the truth because you do bad and I do bad.

  545. You say what bad do you do? Well, I'll let you talk to Diane

  546. after the service and tell you all about it, OK?

  547. She'll be glad to tell you. And anyone who's been a member

  548. of this church for 5 minutes could probably tell you a few

  549. things too. But This is why I know I'm not

  550. saved by my good works and you're not saved by your good

  551. works, but you're saved by the good grace of God.

  552. When he says you could be saved, believe it.

  553. Listen When he says he wants you to be saved, believe it.

  554. It's not just the fact that you can be saved.

  555. It's the fact that he desires for you to be saved.

  556. He desires for all to come to repentance.

  557. The Bible says that he came to seek and to save that which was

  558. lost. You ever had someone come over

  559. to your house and you it's because you invited him over.

  560. You kind of hope They said no. By the way, got four people

  561. coming over to church after church.

  562. And I know I'm just kidding. You ever invite someone over and

  563. you said, you know, I hope they say no and at least at least I

  564. was hospitable about it. That's kind of the way it works.

  565. You know, with the Lord, He does not extend the invitation and

  566. hopes you say no. His desire is that you come to

  567. repentance. He brought you here today.

  568. No, He brought you here today. He said I brought myself.

  569. No, He worked within your life to put people in your path.

  570. He will be here today because He wants you to have fellowship

  571. with him. When God says He wants you to be

  572. saved, believe it. But I'd also say this, when the

  573. word of God tells us our time is limited, believe it.

  574. So I've got plenty of time to think about this.

  575. Maybe you do and maybe you don't.

  576. Look at. James tells us that our life is

  577. but a vapor. If I was to bring a spray bottle

  578. up here and just to spray it in the air, we'd see it for two or

  579. three seconds and it would be like nothing ever happened.

  580. And that's our life. It's here for a moment and it's

  581. gone the next. We're friends with a family that

  582. used to be a pastor in Connecticut and just a few days

  583. ago traveling down the road foggy Connecticut, a foggy

  584. morning crossing a state highway, a car with a mom and a

  585. bunch of little kids because they couldn't see what was

  586. ahead. Hit a head on collision with

  587. another vehicle and a 7 year old boy passed into eternity.

  588. And I heard that in my heart broke for that family as they

  589. all experienced broken bodies, but that one young man slipped

  590. into eternity to be with his Jesus.

  591. My heart breaks for them. But you don't know what tomorrow

  592. is. And I'm gonna try to make you

  593. paranoid. I'm just telling you.

  594. You don't know, you say, well, I do know.

  595. Well, you know you're lying. You don't know.

  596. And what I'm saying is when the word of God says you don't know

  597. you have tomorrow, believe it. Thou knowest not what a day may

  598. bring forth, Believe it. There's a lot of believers here

  599. this morning. I believe there's a lot of

  600. people who know Jesus Christ, their savior.

  601. I'm thankful for that. You even said Amen.

  602. That's that's good. Yeah.

  603. You know, the word of God talks to you too.

  604. You know when the Bible says he'll never leave you or forsake

  605. you, believe it. When the Bible says that he will

  606. be a friend that sticketh closer to a brother than a brother.

  607. Believe it when the Bible says that that that you can have a

  608. peep in the midst of the storm, as Paul talked about, when he

  609. said that his grace was able to work within his life and made

  610. him in his weakness made him strong.

  611. You can believe that. You know the Bible says that God

  612. is holy and we are to live holy. You ought to believe it when the

  613. Bible tells us that you can't live a holy life on yourself,

  614. which is why the Holy Spirit lives inside of you to help you

  615. live out that life. You need to believe it when the

  616. Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to

  617. forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,

  618. Believe it. When the Word says it, believe

  619. it. Here's the problem.

  620. We've been conditioned. When man tells us something, we

  621. know man's not always shooting straight with us.

  622. And maybe even right now you're hearing me and say, OK, yeah,

  623. pastor, you're really funny. You're really handsome.

  624. Thank you. Because I know that's what

  625. you're thinking. But you're thinking you're

  626. really funny. You're all these things.

  627. But I just don't know if I believe it.

  628. And my answer is from just some of the things I've just said.

  629. Don't believe it because of me. Who am I?

  630. I'm just like you. I may be a pastor that has a

  631. calling upon his life, but I'm just like you are.

  632. Don't take my word for it. Search the scriptures and Jesus

  633. told the Pharisees those religious hypocrites, he says

  634. search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal

  635. life meaning this. They clung so tightly to those

  636. scriptures but they didn't even know the scriptures who didn't

  637. even follow them. Just go back and search those

  638. things you think you know so well, because if you read them

  639. you'd realize I am who I say I am.

  640. But man will let you down. God will never let you down.

  641. I'll give you this story and I'll be done.

  642. Some of you who've been here a while have heard me reference my

  643. Uncle Al before now. My Uncle Al I love greatly.

  644. He's my father's brother. My father had two brothers much

  645. older than him. He was born about 20 years after

  646. his two older brothers. And so I love my Uncle Al.

  647. But my Uncle Al, he was a talker.

  648. And I remember being a young guy, just a little guy to every

  649. holiday he'd come over to the house and especially as a young

  650. boy, he'd sit me on his knee. He said, Adam, we got to go

  651. fishing. I said, I like that.

  652. I like to go fishing. He says, next time I come, I'm

  653. going to bring you a fishing pole every holiday.

  654. He said, every holiday you bring you a fishing pole.

  655. No, I'm still waiting for the first fishing pole.

  656. My Uncle Al was the one that if you were to search his name, and

  657. I did this just a few days ago, I searched his name and the word

  658. bingo. Say pastor, where you going with

  659. this? I searched his name and the word

  660. bingo. The first thing that came up was

  661. a Riviera Bingo casino in Cranston, RI, which I didn't

  662. even know existed. But the second thing that came

  663. up was his indictment in 1993 for running a bingo parlor and

  664. running a scam out of a bingo parlor.

  665. And one of the greatest moments in Rivero history, if you were

  666. to look online, is my uncle being indicted by the FBI and

  667. his son who was also indicted. My cousin with a jacket over his

  668. head going into federal court. That is the high watermark of

  669. the Rivero family. 1993 Tampa, FL Right there you say, pastor,

  670. why are you saying this in front of all of us?

  671. I'm saying this because man will let you down.

  672. I have let people down. You have let people down and you

  673. say, well, I'm a better person than your uncle or I'm a better

  674. person than this other guy over here.

  675. You've missed the mark completely because the Bible

  676. says this in Second Corinthians. Comparing ourselves among

  677. ourselves, we're not wise. Compare yourself to another

  678. Sinner just makes you both sinners.

  679. Well, I'm a bigger Sinner than that Sinner.

  680. I'm a lesser Sinner than that Sinner.

  681. You're both still sinners. Listen, if someone sinks on the

  682. boat quickly and someone sinks on the boat and it takes some

  683. time, the boat still going down, you're in the same predicament.

  684. It's only Christ who could save you.

  685. When the Word of God says it, believe it.

  686. Remember that little girl at the beginning?

  687. She spoke the truth. No, a lot of people didn't want

  688. to hear what she had to say about how many people were in

  689. the church that day, but she spoke the truth about the church

  690. being full. Do you want to leave here full

  691. today in your heart? Well, the way you can be full in

  692. your heart today is recognizing that you're a Sinner and

  693. standing in condemnation before a thrice holy God.

  694. But yet Jesus, the way, the truth and the life said this.

  695. I'll go and prepare a way before you and you can be saved.

  696. And if he said it, believe it. Thank you for listening to the

  697. sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

  698. If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

  699. can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

  700. [email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

  701. at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

  702. May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.