The Resurrection of Jesus: Palm Sunday | Pastor William Hixson

as well.

This Palm Sunday, I'd like you to turn

back to our text in Matthew 28.

This is the launching pad for this

particular series

on the resurrection

of the Lord Jesus Christ. We started

this series last Sunday. This is our

second me message in that series.

And we meet the Lord in Matthew 28

in Galilee.

And we meet him

with the great commission that he gives

on that occasion as he showed himself

alive. This wasn't the first time he

appeared. There were five appear

appearances in preceding this

at least.

But in verse 16,

Matthew 28:16,

Matthew 28:16

then the 11 disciples went away into

Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had

appointed them.

When they saw him, they worshiped him.

But some doubted. As we said last week,

they weren't alone. There was probably

500 plus people there. If you do the uh

Bible study on the connecting the

difference appear appearances

and when Jesus came and the original is

when he came up was he appeared in the

distance uh that's very important our

ver our some of our English translations

don't recognize this enough he was in

the distance when he first appeared with

that number of people you wouldn't want

to scare everybody so he appeared in the

distance and was coming forward. The

reason some doubted was he was in the

distance. It's like you're standing at

one end of a football field and there's

somebody over there uhund 100 yards

away. I think that's so and so. And they

come, oh yeah, that is them.

And so in verse 18, Jesus came up and

spoke to them saying, "All authority is

given to me in heaven and in earth."

In in itself, it's an amazing statement.

All authority is given to me in heaven

and earth. Go you therefore and teach

all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all things whatsoever I've commanded

you. And lo, I'm with you always, even

to the end of the age. Now, this passage

is just a launching pad, but for our

messages, but I want us to have a

continuity in this particular series.

Now, part of preparing for Easter

Sunday, which is next week, is

understanding Palm Sunday.

Um,

I I love Palm Sunday. I think I've told

you I got saved on a Palm Sunday when I

was 13. It's a special day for me.

And in the years I've been to this

church, this is my 48th Palm Sunday

message.

And you know, I came in 76, but Palm

Sunday was already over. Well, I didn't

get it that year.

No, excuse me. I've already preached 48

messages. This is my 49th Palm Sunday

message.

And you begin to think, well, what can I

say that I haven't already said uh on

Palm Sunday?

Well, I think as we if we think of the

connection with Palm Sunday and Easter

Sunday, it will help us a lot, right?

And just want to remind us that the one

who publicly wrote into Jerusalem on

Palm Sunday was resurrected from the

dead the very next Sunday

and vice versa.

the one who was re resurrected from the

dead on what we call Easter Sunday

rode into Jerusalem a week before on

Palm Sunday.

Um

his arrival in Jerusalem

was not secret.

Now there were times in Jesus's ministry

when he slipped in Jerusalem quietly.

Not this time.

This is a very very public event

and

he it's very interesting his change of

policy. He knew he was writing to his

death on Palm Sunday. He knew that they

were going to reject him and kill him.

He'd been prophesying it quite

regularly.

And his arrival was not a secret event.

His resurrection was not an

unanticipated event. It was a prophesied

in the Bible and in his own words in his

ministry.

His arrival was public. His crucifixion

was public.

His

resurrection

was

authenticated

one week from Palm Sunday.

His resurrection was authenticated

Easter morning. He was authenticated

again Easter afternoon. It was

authenticated again Easter evening.

Now there were several people that saw

him Easter morning. And then there was

the couple from Emmas that saw him

Easter afternoon. And then everybody but

Thomas saw him Easter evening.

And of course saw Thomas saw him a week

later.

And all that was in fulfillment of his

own prophecies that were extremely

specific

where he said over and over again that

he was going to die and he was going to

be risen from the dead on the third day.

And what's fascinating is that those who

saw him were gathered together

in Jerusalem.

There were 120 of his followers in

Jerusalem

that stood up in the temple and

proclaimed it publicly

40 days after it happened.

Now

these are all fascinating things and if

you start thinking about the

authenticity of the resurrection of

Jesus and the publicity of that

resurrection, it was a very very public

event.

Our government's bombing Iran and people

are saying, "Is this one alive? Or is

that one alive? Is he dead? Is he dead?"

We don't know who's alive and who's dead

half the time.

And

but in this case,

they're secret.

Very public.

I am he who is dead and I'm alive

forever more.

So I want to uh come before you and just

bring this whole business

of what Jesus is doing here and saying

here to go into all the world and preach

the gospel to every nation and baptizing

them in the name of the father, the son,

the holy spirit and I'm with you always

to the end of the age and all of that. I

want to make my observations

uh about these things in light of what

went before these things. Palm Sunday

was one of the things that went before

it,

but it wasn't even the major thing. The

ministry of Jesus for three years went

before it and everything it entailed and

the prophecies of Jesus's resurrection

went before that that were written

before he was born.

The Jews Bible predicted the

resurrection.

He rose again the third day according to

the scriptures.

And so very very important stuff.

Um but what does it mean he rose from

the dead?

Let's define ourselves.

This is kind of important.

What does it mean when we say

Jesus arose from the dead?

It's amazing and fascinating to me as a

pastor and as a Christian how confused

some people can be.

And there are many people that hardly

give a thought to this

and they get things all baldled up in

their mind. And you you may have been

one of those people or I'm sure you know

people like that. What does it mean he

arose from the dead?

And is there a preparation in the Bible

for this concept?

What did the Jewish Bible that predicted

his resurrection? What did the Jewish

Bible written be finished before 400

years before he was born? What did it

say about the resurrection?

If you're going to define your terms,

you got to know what you're dealing

with, right?

So, what does resurrection from the dead

mean?

It's very important. How can we proclaim

it if we don't know what it is?

How can we proclaim it if we're not sure

of what it is?

And there's a couple of things I want to

do. I want to go back to the beginning

of our Bible.

And then I want to go back to the

beginning of the great commission.

So get started. We're going to do that

two things at once.

And the first thing I'm going to reverse

them. I'm going to go to the beginning

of the great commission. Then we're

going to go through the Bible.

Jesus said, "All things, all authority

has been given me in heaven and earth.

All authority, all authority has been

given me. No one else has this. Nobody.

I got all authority in heaven. I got all

authority in earth." That's what he

said.

That's what he claimed. Total authority

over this planet.

Totally authority above this planet.

total authority on everyone and

everything on this planet. Total

authority of everything going on under

this planet.

He's got all authority above the earth,

all authority in below the earth, all

authority on the earth. He's the only

human being who's ever been given or

ever will be given that kind of

authority.

And he's got it.

The Apostle Paul writing about Jesus in

his condescension to become a man that

he who was in the form of God thought it

not a thing to be held on to be equal

with God, but took upon him the form of

a servant was made in the likeness of

men. And being found in passion of man,

he humbled himself unto death, even the

death of the cross. Wherefore God has

highly exalted him and given him a name

above every name.

So, it's a fascinating thing. A

carpenter

became king of kings.

Or we could say it the other way. The

king of kings became a carpenter.

He became incarnate and lived a life as

a carpenter for 30 years.

And they thought they were crucifying a

carpenter that but they were crucifying

Christ.

Now

in John chapter 5 verse 21

John 5:21

30

talks about a spiritual resurrection

and a physical resurrection.

The spiritual resurrection is from

spiritual death where people who are

spiritually dead will receive spiritual

life.

The hour is coming and now is. He's

talking about

that resurrection. But then he's talking

about a physical resurrection. He has

all authority, which means he can raise

the dead. He can raise dead people who

are their souls are dead. You're born

with a dead soul. I was born of a dead

soul. You have to be born again. You

have to have received life from God. You

have he made alive who were dead in

trespasses and sins. We're new creatures

in Christ.

Old things have passed away. All things

have become new. Jesus does that. You

didn't do it.

He has authority over every human being

that's ever been ever lived or ever will

live. And John chapter 5 says, "All that

John 5 · chapter mention

are in the graves will hear his voice."

All

all that are in the graves will hear his

voice and come forth.

There'll be unsaved people that come

forth to judgment. There'll be saved

people that come forth to uh heaven in

glory.

The carpenter from Nazareth is the the

creator of the universe and he has all

authority.

It's been delegated to him by God the

Father.

And Jesus Christ, who was risen from the

dead, will resurrect all people from the

dead physically and is resurrecting

people from the dead now spiritually.

That's what he's doing. That's what the

gospel does. He does it through the

gospel.

Acts 17. If you'd hold your place here

in Matthew, but go to Acts 17.

very important passage

in verse 18.

This is Paul in Athens, Greece.

Then certain philosophers of the

Epicurians and of the Stoics 1717

encountered him and some said, "What

will this babbler say?" They're talking

about Paul. others. He seems to be a

setter forth of strange gods because he

preached to them Jesus and the

resurrection.

Now, they got the content right, but

they didn't couldn't understand the

content and couldn't interpret the

context and and they summarized his

message. He preaches about Jesus, some

guy called Jesus, and he preaches the

resurrection.

That was Paul's message, Jesus and the

resurrection. And when you get down to

chapter 17:E30,

he says, "The times of this ignorance,

God's overlooked, but now commands all

men everywhere to repent."

Acts 17:31, "Because he's appointed a

Acts 17:31

day in which he'll judge the world in

righteousness by that man whom he has

ordained." Well, how are we going to

recognize the judge? Who's that judge

that God's appointed

concerning which he's given assurance to

all men and he's raised him from the

dead?

So, we know who the judge is. We know

who the end time judge is.

Now, that brings us back to Matthew 28.

All authority is given to me in heaven

and earth. He's got it.

He showed authority even before he was

risen from the dead. He showed

authority.

If you go to Mark 5, don't go to it, but

if you just remember some of the content

of verse 5, the miracles he did

in in Mark chapter 5, that they thought

Mark 5 · chapter mention

they were going to sink in the ship. Oh,

he stopped the waves.

Our Lord has authority over danger. Any

danger that you or I am in, he's got

authority over. If it's my time to go,

I'll go. If it's my time not to go, I

won't go.

He saved the apostles in the boat in the

middle of the lake. He has authority

over the waves. He has authority over

the danger of those storms. He has

authority over demons. Remember that

he has authority over disease. Remember

that. It's all in that chapter. He has

authority over death. He raised someone

from the dead at the end of that

chapter. G in chapter 5 of Gospel Mark.

Even before he was risen from the dead,

he had authority over danger. whatever

danger was coming over demons, over

disease, and over death.

But now he's even got more authority.

And he's risen from the dead.

He's got all authority.

Now that Mark 5 looks like that's a lot

of authority.

All authority is given me in heaven. Now

the Greek people in the first century

did not believe in the resurrection of

the dead.

To them it was philosophically

incoherent and inconsistent. It was

inconsistent with their systems of human

philosophy.

People still think that way. And the

west has got a reductionistic

materialistic philosophy that people say

there's not going to be a resurrection.

We're kind of in the same spot.

But for the Greeks, in the ancient

Greeks, resurrection was not possible or

even desirable

because their minds were filled with

human philosophy rather than God's

revelation.

And you know what? We'll see this in

another message. There were Sadducees of

Jesus's day who denied the resurrection

from the dead.

They mocked it.

They didn't believe it.

The Pharisees believed it, but the

Sadducees didn't.

And why didn't the Pharisees believe it?

Well, they only accept, they had all

kinds of errors, but one of them, they

only accepted the first five books of

the Bible as inspired.

Their Bible went from Genesis to

Deuteronomy and no farther.

The Pharisees believed in the Old

Testament. like the same Old Testament

we've got. The Sadducees were

materialistic to the core and uh they

didn't believe in the resurrection or

spirit.

And remember in Acts 23, they got in a

big argument with each other when Paul

was there.

Modern materialistic reluctance is based

on modern philosophy, not on facts.

And Ecclesiastes says there's nothing

new under the sun. including error and

wrong ways of thinking.

So not all the first century Jews even

believed the same. They didn't. Some of

them didn't even believe in the

resurrection from the dead. In their

minds when Jesus is dead, he's dead.

That's the end of him.

Think solve that problem.

But now, so outside of the Jewish people

who had revelation about the

resurrection, most people didn't even

understand the concept in many ways. It

was so far from their thinking.

That brings us to some things I want to

work on today. We are in a Sadduceian

society.

We are also in a society that's mixed up

with false religious concepts.

I'll deal with Sadduceum next time, Lord

willing on Easter. I think it's a good

time to deal with that.

But today, I'm going to deal with

something else.

I have met several people, and probably

you have too, that confuse

reincarnation

with resurrection.

And many people say, I'm a Christian. I

believe in reincarnation.

No, you're not a Christian.

Christianity does not teach

reincarnation.

Other religions do. Other philosophies

do. Not Christianity. We do not believe

in reincarnation.

We believe in resurrection.

You say, "Well, they aren't they the

same?" You'd be amazed how peop some

people say, "Aren't they the same?"

They're not the same.

The only similarity between

reincarnation and resurrection is that

in both cases

the the letters re start both and the

letters t i o n both.

Maybe that's why people get so confused

in their terminology.

But re reincarnation is not a biblically

correct concept. The Bible

re actually teaches that there are some

people who believe such a thing, but

it's not something the Bible promotes

nor condones. In fact, it totally

contradicts it.

Now, why am I bringing this up? Because

if you want to do the great commission,

if you're going to want to go to the

world, all the world preach the gospel,

if you want to minister to all nations

about the resurrection of Jesus, you

have to know what it is versus what they

think.

You understand where I'm coming from?

I have a book in my library by a fellow

by the name of John Snyder. He put it

out in 1984 and that's about the time I

read it. Reincarnation versus

resurrection.

John Snyder said this. The difference

between reincarnation and resurrection

can be understood correctly only when

both ideas are viewed as representatives

of two radically opposing philosophies.

For neither

uh resurrection nor reincarnation can

exist independently of the worldview of

which they are apart.

And then he says Hindus, Buddhists, some

Greek philosophers, a handful of people

who say they're Jews or Christians

believed it, but that's not the biblical

teaching either in the Old Testament or

New Testament. And GK Chesterton said,

"Eastern philosophy inevitably leads to

a contempt of life, whereas the

Judeo-Christian view leads to a contempt

of death."

That's kind of important.

The Lord Jesus Christ has all authority

in heaven and earth. Buddha does not

have that authority.

Hinduism and all the promoters of

Hinduism do not have that authority.

Atheism and modern materialistic

philosophy does not have that authority.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ exposes

and contradicts imaginary alternatives

whether they're in Athens, Greece or

Athens, Ohio.

It contradicts deism. It contradicts

Hinduism. It contradicts Buddhism and

all the other isms that are out there.

It takes on all covers.

But we don't want to get confused or

allow people to get confused with

resurrection and reincarnation.

So, let's kind of go back.

Let's go back. Let's do our homework.

Let's do our research

and hold your place right here in go

back to Matthew 28 and hold that. But go

back with me to Genesis 1:26.

Genesis 1:26

In Genesis 1:26,

Genesis 1:26

it says, "And God said, let us make man

in our image, after our likeness, and

let them have dominion over the fish of

the sea, over the fowl of the air, over

the cattle, and over all earth, and over

every creeping thing that creeps on the

earth." So God created man in his own

image in the image of God created him

male and female created he them

kind kind of important verse people are

all people male and female are made in

the image of God there's no animals made

in the image of God I like animals I

hope you do too but they're not in the

image of God

we are in the image of God

we were created in the image of God. Our

great great great great great great

grandparents of Adam and Eve were

created in the image of God.

Animals aren't

and never will be in the image of God.

Now, you know, there are some people who

believe in reincarnation that you know

what reincarnation is based on a works

theology, right? A merit theology. If

you do good, you'll come back better

in another life, in another body. If you

do bad, you might come back like an

animal.

You may come back as a camel or a

cow.

Why don't they eat cows in India? You

don't want to eat your relative

be some ancestor you.

So you don't you see in reincarnation

you can come back as a person, another

person like General Patton believed. He

believed he was a general in previous

lives.

Or you can come back as an animal. It's

called karma, right? Bad karma. Good

karma. Karma is not what you do in this

life. Oh, karma hit him. I saw what he

did last week. Karma is what you did in

a previous life.

What you you did in a previous life is

coming down on you.

So there's a lot of confusion.

But we are created in the image of God.

Now, that's important because that means

that God

could become incarnate and become one of

us.

Apart from us being in the image of God,

God could, let me just say it. This is a

kind of awful thing to say. God could

not become a cow.

Cows aren't in the image of God. God

could not become a chicken.

They're not an image of God.

God could become a human being because

what? We are in the image of God.

This is very basic thing. It's a very

basic thing. Going back to the beginning

of the Bible, Jesus said, "The volume of

the book, it's written of me to do your

will, oh God."

And so, we got to look at the volume of

the book, not just the great commission.

And when we do look at Jesus and we look

at his death and we look at he was a

substitute for us on the cross and we

look at the whole message of that very

important it all it it's it's coherent

there's one big story there's one big

provision

in chapter three God said to Adam

chapter 3 verse

17.

No, go back. I'm sorry. Go back to

Genesis 27.

Verse 2:7. The Lord God formed man from

the dust of the ground and breathed into

his nostrils the breath of life and man

became a living soul.

So Adam's body was made out of dust,

the dust of the ground.

And you go to chapter 3 verse 17.

And unto Adam, he said, this is after

the fall, because you've hearkened to

the voice of your wife, and have eaten

of the tree of which I commanded thee,

saying, you'll not eat of it. Cursed is

the ground for your sake. In sorrow

shall you eat of it all the days of your

life. Thorns and also and thistles shall

it bring forth to you, and you shall eat

the herb of the field. In the sweat of

your face shall you eat bread till you

return to the ground. For out of it you

were taken and from dust you are and to

dust you'll return.

Apart from resurrection, we're all going

back to the dust. Right?

And we might even go back to the dust

before we're resurrected.

But God's got a plan. Turn to Daniel 12.

And the plan is not reincarnation.

The plan is resurrection.

And this wasn't just something Jesus or

the apostles invented. It's something

the Old Testament taught

before they were born in Daniel 12

verse two.

And many who those who sleep in the

dust,

their bodies are asleep.

They're sleeping in the dust of the

earth.

Shall awake to some to everlasting life

and some to shame and everlasting

contempt. What's that? Resurrection.

Resurrection from the dust.

from people who've completely

decomposed.

A total reversal of death, physical

death.

And they that be wise, this is after

they risen from the dead, shall shine

like the brightness of the firmament,

and they they'll turn many to

righteousness as stars forever. And then

the last verse of Daniel 12:13, go your

Daniel 12:13

way till the end be and you'll rest.

You're going to rest in the grave. your

body's going to rest in the grave and

but then you're going to stand in your

lot at the end of days. So the book of

Daniel in the Old Testament is pretty

clear about that.

So apart from Jesus, apart from the work

of Jesus, God couldn't raise any of us

from the dead. We all be back to the

dust.

It's very interesting. The serpent told

the lie about God. And the there was two

serpents in the garden. There was a

spiritual serpent. That's the devil. And

there was a physical serpent that he

used to talk to Eve. And God said of the

physical serpent, "You're going to lose

your legs and you're going to eat dust

the rest of your life."

Ever put those two dusts together? You

caused

humans to go to the dust. Now you're

going to eat dust.

Very fascinating.

There's a whole big subject of all of

that. I'm not going to go into that. But

the Lord Jesus has all authority in

heaven and earth. He has authority to

raise the dead.

He displayed that authority very clear

in John 11, didn't he? When Lazarus

died.

And Lazarus's sister said, "It's been

four days. Don't open that tomb because

he stinks. I don't want to smell that. I

want you to smell it. He's

deteriorating.

And Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth."

And he came forth. He resurrected a guy

who was already deteriorated.

And so, what a precious section John

John 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 is.

It's not true that when you're dead,

you're dead.

And that's it.

It's not true. It's a lie from Satan.

Satan's original lies were proved to be

untrue and his lies today will be proven

to be untrue.

Now, go back to Genesis with me, and I

want to show you something that I think

it's always been fascinating to me. And

do you remember the three patriarchs?

Can you you know their names? Can can

you give me their names? Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob. Right. Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob. Abraham's the father of Isaac.

Isaac's the father of Jacob. And Jacob

is the father of the 12 tribes. Right?

And there's a very interesting thing in

the Bible. In the book of Genesis,

there's a common grave

for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

All three of the original patriarchs

are in the same grave.

The promises were to Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob. And when they died, they all

wanted to be in the same place.

So much so, it just went on like that.

And so Abraham, remember in Genesis 23,

he had to bury Sarah. She was the first

person to die, Abraham's wife. And he

wanted to bury his dead out of his

sight. And he bought the cave at

Makbalah. And he and Sarah was the first

one in there. Then Abraham, he dies in

Genesis 25:8-10.

Genesis 25:8–10

And then Ishmael dies in Genesis uh

25:17.

No mentions married where where

Ishmamail is buried.

But when Abraham dies and when Ishmael

dies and when um

then we see Rachel's death, she didn't

get buried in there because she died in

Bethlehem and they put her right there

that she was an exception to that group.

But the fascinating thing is

they all wanted to go back to that

promised land and be buried in that

plot.

And when they die, it says so and so

died and was gathered to his people.

This is important. What does gathered to

his people mean?

Does that mean he was buried in the

family graveyard?

Well, they were all buried mostly except

for Rachel in the family graveyard, but

gathered to his people is not talking

about their body in the family

graveyard. It's nice to have everybody

buried together.

My grandparents,

my aunt and uncle, and my mom and dad

are all in the same plot. And my brother

Tom,

they're out of plots, so I'm not going

to make it.

But when grandma was when grandpa died,

grandma bought all those plots and

everybody's used them. But they're all

kind of used up. So I got to be

somewhere else for a while.

But all of them, it was a very big deal.

You can't read Genesis without really

hearing that phrase was gathered to his

people. Was gathered to his people. Was

gathered to his people. It says it over

and over again. And then they're always

buried the same place. But

this is very important. They were

gathered to their people before they

were buried.

Gathered to their people is not

referring to the body in the family

graveyard.

Gathered to their people is referring to

the soul that leaves the body and goes

to be with the others. immediately

before burial.

Let me show this to you when we get to

the book of Genesis.

I'm not going to go through all the

passages. You just go read through

Genesis and you can see, but the

clearest ones are nor towards the end of

Genesis. Anyway, turn to Genesis 48

7.

Oh, that's Rachel. Excuse me. I don't

want that one. I want to keep going. Uh,

let's look at uh

Genesis 49

33.

This is this is the passage I want. Some

of you have heard me teach this before.

And when Jacob made Genesis 49:33,

Genesis 49:33

Jacob is down in Egypt.

When Jacob made had made an end of

commanding his sons, he gathered up his

feet into the bed and died

and was what?

Gathered to his people.

Where was his people? They weren't in

Egypt. They're in the promised land.

Notice what it says. He was gathered to

his people. And then in 51 50 chapter

51, and Joseph fell on his father's face

and wept upon him and kissed him.

Jacob was gathered to his people

immediately.

And Joseph fell on his face and wept for

him. And Joseph commanded his servants

and physicians to embomb his father. and

the inf physicians embombed Israel. And

then there's 40 days and uh and then

there's a big trip back to the promised

land to bury him. He was gathered to his

people before he was buried. Which means

what? There was an immediate reunion.

Immediate reunion

of his soul and the souls of Abraham and

Isaac

and Sarah and everybody else that was in

there.

He was gathered to his people.

It's very important passage I believe

and we need to rejoice in that.

So there's no hint of materialism.

You're dead. You're dead. That's it.

There's no other time you're going to

see anybody or be with anybody. He was

gathered to his people.

Remember, Joseph wanted them. I want you

to take I want you to take my bones with

you when you leave Egypt. Bury them up

there

because what the whole point of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob and all the other ones

that came from them was we want to be

buried in the promised land because

we're going to inherit the promised

land.

It was a statement of faith that they'd

be resurrected and live in the promised

land.

that that soul that left the body and

was gathered would gather with other

souls would not be the end of it but

would be at some point resurrected

and live in the promised land. That the

promised land people would live in the

promised land.

Most of my Bible study is in my books

but sometimes I consult the computer

just for fun.

And there's a thing called Bible Hub. H

U B. Some of you may have used that.

And I I looked up this question in Bible

hunt. What does gathered to his people

mean? Now, I already knew the answer to

that because I've studied this for

years. I the subject of individual

esquetology is of a lot of interest to

me and has been for a long time.

But I wanted to see what Bible hub would

say. And this is what whoever was

writing this article in Bible. It

carries connotations broader than mere

physical

uh physical burial. It indicates a

significant transition into the realm

where one's forebears have already gone.

The phrase highlights a familial or

kinship connection that endures beyond

death pointing to a continued personal

existence.

That's right.

But the so the Bible doesn't know

anything about a continued existence

just as a spirit.

It is after you die between death and

resurrection. You you don't have a body

but you it's your human spirit departs

to depart and be with Christ is far

better but it's far better but it's not

all you get.

So it's it's a very important concept.

Uh turn with me to um

turn with me. This is an interesting

thing. Moses died and was buried in

Moab.

He didn't get buried in the promised

land. He didn't even get to cross and

see the promises. God said, "Nope,

you're not going over. Not not now.

He's buried it. I want to go over the

river." Nope.

just let me go over the river and die.

Nope.

You're gonna die here. You're gonna be

buried here.

Now later, God let him 1500 years later,

he got to go to the promised land when

he visited Jesus on the Mount of

Transfiguration, but immediately he

didn't get to go.

The fascinating thing about all of this

is Moses was buried outside the

ancestral burial grounds. That's

Deuteronomy 34:56.

Yet, it speaks of Moses being gathered

to his people. Deuteronomy 32:50.

Deuteronomy 32:50

He was gathered to his people

immediately when he died, even though he

was going to be buried in Moab and not

in the promised land. Gathered to his

people does not mean you're buried in

the family plot.

Buried in the family plot is a testimony

of I'm going to be resurrected someday.

But when you die, you don't have to wait

to be resurrected to be reunited with

others that know the Lord.

Isn't that encouraging?

One second after I die, I'm going to be

reunited not only with Jesus in heaven,

but all those I love in heaven.

All that separation's going to be over.

I don't have to wait till the

resurrection.

And Paul said to depart and be with

Christ is far better.

Even to be dead and to just be with

Christ is far better. And if you want to

know what that reunion is like, look at

Luke 16. Remember, and we always talk

about the rich man or diabetes as people

name him in hell. Yes, he's in hell. His

his body's in a grave, but his spirit's

in hell. But he looked and he saw

Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. There's

Lazarus having a good time with Abraham.

And as proud as he was, he still thought

Lazarus could be a fetch step and fetch

it for him and get a some water and

touch his tongue with it.

But he knew better than ask to get out.

Just didn't want his brothers to come to

that awful place.

But we see in Luke, Lazarus

is in Abraham's bosom. He is reunited

with Abraham whom he probably never met.

So the reunion in in in the next life is

going to be a fascinating event.

Not only are we united with those we

know, but united with those we've never

met.

I'm interested in meeting some of my

forbears. Aren't you?

Uh, I want to I had three or four

William Hixons in my genealogy going

back to the 1600s

in England and in in pre-revolutionary

war America. I'd like to meet the other

William Hixons.

Just curious. I hope they made it. Hope

they're saved.

Turn with me to First Thessalonians 1.

And I'm not interested in the

dispensational differences right now on

some of these events, but I'm interested

in the whole subject of death and and

resurrection and the reunion that

happens when Jesus comes because all

that are in the graves are going to hear

his voice

and come forth.

First Thessalonians

because he's got authority

over every grave, saved and unsaved.

Now, in 1 Thessalonians, it talk about

the saved and it says in 1 Thessalonians

4, but I would not have you to be

ignorant, brethren, concerning them who

are asleep. That's a terrible thing to

be ignorant of individual esquetology.

It robs you of so much comfort.

It robs you of so much encouragement.

I would not have you to be ignorant.

Don't be ignorant of this. This is a

subject you need to know. You need to

know it well backwards and forwards both

for ministry to the lost and comfort to

yourself.

I would not have you to be ignorant,

brethren, concerning them who are

asleep. That's dead Christians. That you

sorrow not even as others that have no

hope. We want to deliver you from that.

We sorrow as those who have hope,

not as those who have.

For if we believe that Jesus died and

rose again, even so them who sleep in

Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say to you by the word of

the Lord that we who are alive and

remain to the coming of the Lord shall

not precede them who are asleep.

And those who are asleep, that's their

body that sleeps in the grave. Not.

There's no soul sleep in the Bible. Your

soul's awake and active after you go to

be with the Lord. For the Lord himself

shall descend from heaven with a shout,

the voice of the archangel with the

trump of God. The dead in Christ will

rise first. Then we who are alive,

that's Christians who aren't dead but

are alive when that happens and remain

shall be caught up together with them.

So the here's what happens. The souls in

heaven that are Christians are going to

be reunited with their bodies.

That's one reunion,

reunited with your body.

Now, who wants reunited with your body

if your body's decayed? The only reunion

with your body you want is if it's risen

better than it was ever. That's a

reuniting you want. That's a big

reunion.

And so there's a reuniting with the dead

believers with their dead bodies.

There's a reunited with dead believers

and living believers going up to heaven

together. And there's a reuniting with

the Lord. It's a big reunion.

Then we are alive and remain the caught

up together with them in the clouds with

them in the clouds to meet the Lord in

the air. And so shall we ever be with

the Lord. And if you understand biblical

esquetology, especially individual

esquetology for saved people, there's

incredible comfort for that. Comfort for

yourself and comfort you can give

others.

We retain our personal identity after

death. We don't become somebody.

Reincarnation has the idea, oh I'm so

and so in this life and the next life I

was that next previous life I was this

person this and then this person. No,

that's not the program.

We retain our personal identity after

death. Lazarus did

got the same name. It's Lazarus.

Lazarus came back as Lazarus.

But Jesus came back as Jesus. Job knows

after worms destroy my body yet in my

flesh I'll see God whom I'll see for

myself and not another.

Job come knew he was going to come back

as Job.

So kind of important stuff.

Now when we die our soul leaves our body

to go to heaven. And 2 Corinthians 5 is

a great place to study that. We'll save

that for another time.

But we don't have multiple lives.

We got one life.

There's only one time around.

Not multiple times around.

And you only have one one life to live.

One life. It starts nine months before

you were born

and it ends when you pass away. We do

not have multiple lives in different

places or in different bodies as

different people.

It's not the program.

That 12-year-old little girl, Jesus

arose, she came back who she was.

Lazarus came back as who he was. And

that's what bothered the Sadducees so

much.

Jesus came back the same as who he was.

It's I handle me and see.

Now, I'm not trying to be hyperritical

about reincarnation. But I if we want to

have a ministry in the world, if we're

to go to everybody, teach all nations,

we got to teach all nations. And a lot

of nations are locked into this idea.

Their whole culture is based on it.

Culture is religion externalized.

and the different cultures of the world.

Islamic culture is one thing. Buddhist

culture is another thing. Hinduist

culture is another thing.

So I'm not picking on reincarnation

alone this morning. I'm just saying it's

one error around many that are out

there. And we need to know all these

things so that we can minister to

people.

Every every every

religion except Christianity is based on

merit theology. You earn your way

rather than salvation is a gift. You

can't mix these two concepts

as many people do. Abraham was still

Abraham 2,000 years later when Lazarus

saw him and was in his bosom.

And uh personal identity is retained.

Personal destiny

it goes. You either go to heaven or hell

but you retain your identity.

Dorcas came back as Dorcas.

You know what comfort that is?

Incredible comfort.

Now King Herod, he wasn't much of a

theologian. He had a guilty conscience

and he thought Jesus was John the

Baptist. Come back.

Don't take your theology from Herod for

God's sake. It's not a good thing.

Guilty conscience was in overdrive.

Again, John Snder said, "The two views,

that's resurrection versus

reincarnation. The two ver two views of

survival beyond death are simply

incompatible with each other. To hold

the one is naturally to oppose the

other. In the same way that an atheist

cannot believe in a personal god and

remain an atheist and a republican

cannot remain a republican and believe

in monarchy. I thought he was going to

say democrat but he didn't. He said

monarchy because the word republican

originally goes from that. And so a

Christian cannot believe in

reincarnation and remain a Christian.

For the reincarnationist

all of life

uh all the life and work of Christ is

irrelevant

because you earn your own salvation.

You learn from the past life not to do

that again. You are your own savior.

And you have to get reincarnated again

and again and again till you learn your

mistakes and then you cease to exist.

But there's no savior.

All false religions are autotosoteric.

You save yourself. Only Christianity is

God as the savior.

In Hebrews 11 when uh Abraham

body is going to have to offer off offer

up Isaac as a sacrifice.

What's it say about that?

If I have to kill him, God will raise

him up.

He did the math on that from the

promises of God to him and to Isaac.

No way he'll stay dead.

Somehow God's going to save him. all the

promises go through him.

He didn't know how God was going to do

it, but he kind of surmised, well, I

guess I'm going to offer him up and

God's going to save him because the

promises of God are in him.

And he helped learn, it helped him learn

the resurrection.

He learned it, I believe, partially when

Sarah died,

but he learned it in a better way when

he had to offer up Isaac, which God

stopped him.

So, just because resurrection and

reincarnation are kind of spelled the

same,

so is goat or boat,

one letter difference.

But that one letter is a big difference.

don't mind taking a ride on a lake in a

boat. And I wouldn't want to try it with

a goat.

All people everywhere

need to hear the message about Jesus,

his incarnation, his perfect life, his

victory, his paying for our sins on the

cross, and his resurrection. Go into all

the world and preach the gospel to every

creature.

And

Jesus when he comes back is not going to

be somebody else.

It says in Acts one, the angel said when

he was ascending, this same Jesus,

this same Jesus.

And everybody that's resurrected to life

will be the same.

Because that's what resurrection is.

will not turn into somebody else. I'll

be somebody in this life and somebody

else in the next life, somebody else in

the next life, and then finally I'll

escape and cease to exist. No, that's

not the program. Resurrection prepares

us for the next life which is forever.

Hebrews chapter 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ

the same yesterday,

today,

and forever.

And our bodies are going to be conformed

to his glorious body. Won't become him,

but we will become like him. He's

immortal. We'll be immortal.

He's incorruptible. We'll be

incorruptible. Unable to die.

and able to age.

Looking forward to

so Matthew 27 or excuse me 28. All

people everywhere need to hear this

message. Paul's alternative message and

satanic lies are filling the world and

they have consequences.

They have consequences. Our country is

in a battle now with Iran

now.

They're doing what they're doing because

they're trying to earn salvation.

They believe in a merit theology. If I

die for Allah, I'm in.

That is so backward.

And what a shame it is. I feel bad for

the people who've embraced that. Not

just for them, but for the people that

they murder themselves in the name of

their idea of serving God.

It's wrong. I'm not saying America is

always right because America is not very

Christian either. But having said that,

thank God.

And the world doesn't just need American

troops going around fighting people.

The world needs missionaries

going around reaching people.

Jesus said, "All authority is given me

in heaven and earth."

But Palm Sunday Jesus is the Easter J.

The Easter Jesus is the savior.

He has all authority

over every country, over every

individual,

over every government.

a new person.

He wants us to go

teach all nations. Number one, baptizing

them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. Number two, the

triune God. Not just any God, not some

generic God.

Teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I've commanded you, though

I'm with you always, even to the end of

the age.

Father, we thank you for what we looked

at today and challenge us.

Uh we we want to teach this this Palm

Sunday simply because the resurrection

of Christ is not something for us to

just believe for ourselves

so that we can be comforted and we can

be saved.

It's something we're to spread to others

who don't know about it,

who've embraced

other satanic lies

that are locking them into

desperate deception.

We know in our own country there are so

many that are desperately deceived. Some

are in false forms of Christianity. Some

are in false religion. Some are in false

philosophy.

They all need the gospel.

Our own children need the gospel.

Our grandchildren need the gospel. Our

neighbors

or friends.

So bless us as we go from this place.

And may we say with the people in the on

Palm Sunday so long ago, may we bless

God for the son of David who's coming in

the name of the Lord. Amen.

Stand. Turn to face to

go from this place.

Loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin, darkened

world. As we go from this place,