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As I get into the message, 1 Corinthians 5, we're going to look at verse 7. The Bible reads in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. And watch this next phrase, For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Let me read that last phrase again. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now, this verse is significant, telling us that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover. That's the passage that we just read in Exodus chapter 12. Describing in detail all the events of the Passover. Turn back there, and we're going to go through this, and I'm going to show you how Jesus Christ fulfilled every part of this prophecy in Exodus chapter 12, becoming our Passover. Now, in Exodus 12, 1, the Bible reads, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. So basically, when they left the land of Egypt, they decided to make that month the first month on their calendar. And that month was called April. So it says, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Verse 3, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the house shall be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house, taken according to the number of the souls, every man according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in evil. Now, you remember that Jesus Christ, when he came and presented himself to John the Baptist, John the Baptist looked at him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. And so Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, and Jesus Christ is our Passover today. Now, we don't celebrate the Passover today, as they did at the book of Exodus, because Christ is our Passover. For example, in those days, they took a lamb, as we just read, and on the tenth day of the month, they presented it, they made sure it had no spot, no blemish, and then on the fourteenth day, the whole congregation would kill that lamb at even, and then of course they would take the blood and put it upon the doorposts. Now, today, the Jews, and I'm not talking about the race of people now, I'm talking about the religion, Judaism, the Jews today have no sacrifice of a lamb. On the Passover, they do not sacrifice the lamb in the morning and the evening, as God commanded throughout the Bible, the morning and evening sacrifice. They do not have the blood sacrifice. Now, we don't have the blood sacrifice either, because Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain once for all. The book of Hebrews tells us that every priest, standing, daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, referring to the sacrifice of the Old Testament. He said in that Hebrews 10-4, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. And so these things in the Old Testament were symbolic. They were a picture of Jesus Christ one day coming and being the Lamb of God that would be sacrificed and offered up as an atonement for the sins of mankind. And so today, we no longer offer a lamb because it would be blasphemous to basically continue the sacrifice after Jesus had already paid it once for all, and He had already fulfilled it. The Bible says that those things were a figure for the time then present, but Christ being come, and I increase better things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, we've been sanctified once for all by the offering of Jesus Christ, the Bible says, and so we no longer practice this sacrifice. So why did the Jews not practice this sacrifice? If they still believe the Messiah is coming, if they believe that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, that He was not Christ, then why do they not even believe the first five books of the Bible enough to have the morning and evening sacrifice, to kill the lamb, to sprinkle the blood, and so forth? It's because they don't believe the Bible, that's why. Now you can say that the Jews believe the Bible, and that we're all worshipping the same God, but I'm here to tell you that the God of the Bible is not the God of Judaism. Judaism today is the religion of the Pharisees, and Jesus said to them, you are your Father, the Devil, and the works of your Father you will do. You see, the Jews today believe that Jesus is not the Christ. They believe that the Christ, the Messiah, and the word Christ is just the Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew word Messiah, they say that the Christ is still coming. They believe that the Messiah is still coming. 1 John 2 reads, Who is a liar? But he that denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is anti-Christ that denies the Father and the Son. So any religion that says there's a Christ, but it's not Jesus, that's an anti-Christ religion, and that's what Judaism is today. They don't sacrifice the lamb, they don't believe in the blood, they don't believe in salvation through faith, they don't believe in eternal life, they do not believe the Bible. You say, well I believe that they believe the books of Moses. Jesus said if you believe Moses you believe also in me. So I'm going to trust Jesus saying, if you don't believe me, that means you don't believe Moses. He that denied the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also, also from 1 John 2. But you see here that there was this sacrifice instituted, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, 7 that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Let's look at it step by step in the book of Exodus and show how Jesus fulfilled it. Now the first thing we see is this date. Speak unto all the congregation, verse 3, of Israel, saying that in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Now, I need five volunteers. Alright, so I need five. My brother Wilson, come on up here. Alright. My brother Bosco, come on up here. Brother Dave, Garrett, Fred, does that mean you want to? No, you don't want to. Okay, now look. There we go. You're going to line up. I need you to line up right here. Line up across the back, okay? So, Brother Dave here. Alright, there you go. You're going to hold this up. Ten, alright. Eleven. Hold them up. Hold them up kind of like right below your face. You know, line up so that people can see. Let's see if we can count here. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Alright. So, here we got these guys lining up and these represent the days here that we're looking at, okay? So, the tenth day of the month, okay? What happens on the tenth day of the month? It says in Exodus 12.3, the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the house will be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house, take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. This is picturing the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, his perfection. It says the lamb will be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, right? So, we have what? Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Now, on the tenth day of the month, what was the purpose? Because the Passover is on what day? The fourteenth day, right? Hold up, Gary, Mr. Passover, okay? This is when the Passover was to be killed on the fourteenth day of the month at even, okay? Now, what was the purpose of the tenth day of the month? They would take out the lamb and basically that is where they would examine that lamb. They would present that lamb and say, is it perfect? Is it without spot? Is it without blemish? They would get it ready on the tenth day and have it set apart and set aside for the sacrifice. They wouldn't just, oh, it's the thirteenth, we better find the lamb. They would get it out on the tenth day and make sure that it met the qualifications, make sure that it met these things listed next to this chapter twelve. That's what happened on the tenth day of the month at even. Okay, then this day went by, this day went by, this day went by, and the Passover was killed at even on the fourteenth day of the month at even. And here's what you have to understand about the Bible. In the Bible, there are different kind of measurements of time that we use. For example, when the Bible talks about the morning and the evening, the morning was at six a.m. in the Bible, at even six p.m. And if you read Genesis chapter one, which one came first? The evening and the morning were the first day. So in the Bible, they considered the day beginning at six p.m. Okay, so it would basically be first a night and then a day. We think of it as a day and then a night. They look at it a little differently. And in fact, we divide it at midnight, right? So half of one night kind of spills over on each. That's not the way they did it. A day in the Bible is twelve hours. Jesus said it this way. Is there not twelve hours in a day? We say, wait a minute, it's twenty-four hours in a day. You have to understand that the Bible measures time slightly different than we do. They had a day and a night, a twelve-hour day and a twelve-hour night. Which one came first? The night, the evening and the morning were the first day, okay? And so that's a little bit different. Then there were what's called watches throughout the night. A night of twelve hours was broken up into four watches of three hours each. And so we don't really understand these things, but if we read the Bible we can understand them just from reading the Bible. You'll see these things over and over again, the evening and the morning and so forth. Now the Passover was to be killed at even, which is six p.m. of the fourteenth day. But really, think about this now. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Does anybody know what holiday today is on the calendar? Who knows? Isn't it? I hope so. Otherwise you're going to mess up my whole sermon. Is it Palm Sunday today? I didn't look at the calendar. Somebody told me it's Palm Sunday, so I hope it is. So anyway, today is Palm Sunday, right? Now, Palm Sunday is basically a holiday celebrating when Jesus came in sitting upon the colt, the foal of an ass, right? In Matthew chapter 21, in John 19, when he came in at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem where they said, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They laid out the palm branches, they laid down their coats and their clothes in the way, and they said, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And the Pharisees rebuked them and said to the disciples, Do you hear what they're saying about this man? And Jesus said to them, of course, If these would cease, then the rocks would cry out. Because this day had been prophesied long ago in the Old Testament, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when he was acclaimed as the King of the Jews, him that comes in the name of the Lord. This took place on what day of the week? Sunday, okay? Which is the first day of the month, which also happened to be the tenth day of the month Abraham. So in Exodus chapter 12, they were presenting a lamb, and they were presenting it before the people to make sure that it was clean and spotless and without blemish. That would be what day of the week? Sunday, right? Now, obviously, it was on a different day of the week every year, right? Because it's the tenth day. For example, today is what? April 5th? You know, today, April 5th is a Sunday. A couple years from now, it could be a Tuesday, Wednesday, and so forth. But, on the day that Jesus came in, on that fold of the mass, it was the tenth day of the month Abraham, and it was a Sunday, okay? And hence we have the holiday poem Sunday. Well then, what would that make this day of the week? What comes after Sunday? Monday. Okay. Tuesday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Thursday. Okay, now, think about this now. If the pastor was to be killed at even on the fourteenth day, and this is, say it loud. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Alright, you got it? Well, really, in today's mentality of picking out time, we'd really be on Wednesday at 6 p.m., okay? That's when it would become the fourteenth day of the month Abraham. Does everybody understand that? Because at even time is when the calendar day changes to the fourteenth. So, when they killed the Passover at even, even of the fourteenth day would basically be Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Does everybody understand that? Because of the day beginning at 6 p.m., starting with the night, evening leads into night, morning goes into day. Okay, now, turn if you would to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter number 12, and let's look at verse number 40. Matthew chapter number 12, and we're going to read verse number 40. You see, there's a Catholic teaching out there, and it's actually been preached by so many Baptists, and you'll see it on calendars, you'll read about it in a greeting card and so forth, that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Who's heard that before, that Jesus was crucified on a Friday? And that's the common belief among most people, and it's the Roman Catholic tradition that Jesus was crucified on Friday evening. And they'll say, you know, Friday at 3 o'clock, or Friday at 6 o'clock was when Jesus Christ died on the cross. But wait a minute now, look at Matthew chapter 12, verse 40. The Bible reads, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now that says right there that Jesus Christ would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Now, let's say that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, as the Catholics would tell us, and as tradition would tell us. Well then, if he were to die on Friday, we would have what? Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, and then supposedly, according to Catholic tradition, he rose from the dead on Sunday morning. So basically we would have what? One day and two nights. Is that what the Bible says in Matthew 12.40? No. The Bible says three days and three nights. So if he died on the cross on a Friday, that would be, you know, one day and two nights. Not even close, is it? Not even close to three days and three nights. Now, they'll say, wait a minute, wait a minute. It just means three parts of a day, like any day that happens to spill over. Okay, well let's go by that then. Friday would be one day, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday. I mean, even if you were just including maybe a couple minutes from Friday, a couple minutes from Sunday, you still, even with that total exaggeration and stretch, you end up with three days and two nights maximum. Because there were only two nights from Friday to Sunday, okay? Friday night and Saturday night. And so it cannot be true, it cannot be the truth that Jesus died on the cross on Friday, okay? Now, what I illustrate to you is basically here, if we were to line this up with Exodus chapter 12, we have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which would be our Wednesday night at 6 p.m., was when the Passover would be killed. Now, look in the Bible, you say, wait a minute. What does that mean, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth? Well, let me ask you something. What does the word heart mean? Who likes to eat artichokes? Okay, you know, what's on the inside of the artichoke? The artichoke heart, and that's the best part, right? The yellow part in the middle. And who likes artichoke hearts on pizza? All right, I love artichoke hearts. And so artichoke hearts are where? On the outside of the artichoke or on the inside of the artichoke? On the inside, right, right in the middle. What if we were talking about the city of Phoenix, and we sat right in the heart of the city? That means I'm on the border, right? No, that means I'm right in the middle, right? Well, okay, now let's say we're talking about the earth. Who knows what shape the earth is? Round, right? It's a sphere, shaped similar to, you know, an apple or an orange, you know? A sphere is round. Now, this is a picture that I just drew of the earth, okay? See that circle right there? What would be the heart of the earth? Would it be in a tomb six feet under right here? No. The heart of the earth is going to be in the middle of the earth, right? And Jesus, according to the Bible, was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So that's not talking about how long his body was in the tomb. That's not talking about how long his soul was in hell. Look at Acts chapter 2, verse number 31. Look at Acts 2, 31. Now, while you're turning to Acts 2, 31, I'll read to you in Matthew 12, 40. For as Jonah, or Jonas, was three days and three nights in the whale's belly... So, just as in, you know, Jonah was aware of the three days and three nights in the whale's belly, the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, okay? Where did I return to Acts 2, 31? Acts chapter 2, verse 31, the Bible reads, He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. So where does that say that Jesus was before his resurrection? The Bible says he was in hell. It says he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, what did he say about the resurrection of Christ? That his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. Now, this is a quote of Psalm 16. Look at verse 27, where we are in Acts 2. In verse 27, the Bible reads, Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, thine holy one, to seek corruption. Now, who was speaking in that verse? David. David was saying that, but he was not talking about himself. Look at the next verse, it says, verse 29 actually, Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. So that means that David's body was still laying in the grave while Peter is preaching this in Acts chapter 2. David's body was laying in the grave. David had not yet been resurrected. People were teaching a false teaching in the days when 1 Timothy was written, saying that the resurrection has passed already. No. The Old Testament saints, their bodies to this day are still lying in the grave. They will not rise until the first resurrection, the rapture, when we're caught up with him in the clouds. And so here he's saying, David is dead and buried, his sepulcher is with us unto this day. He's saying, David was not referring to himself here. His flesh did seek corruption. His body decayed. Of course, he didn't go to hell, though he went to heaven, but his body decayed. Therefore, being a prophet, verse 30, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he saying this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. So when he said, God will not leave my soul in hell, was he referring to himself? He will not let my flesh seek corruption? No. He's saying this before, being a prophet, spake of the resurrection of Christ. That's in Psalm 16, where that quote comes from. Look at Jonah chapter 2. Jonah chapter number 2. In the Old Testament toward the end, there are all those short little books, the minor prophets. Look at Jonah chapter 2. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Jonah chapter 2. See, the Bible said that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Let's look at Jonah chapter 2 verse 1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish's belly. So he was where? In the belly of the whale. In the fish's belly, called a fish in Jonah 2, called a whale in Matthew chapter 12. But he's in the belly of this creature. Is he in hell? No. Was he dead? No, he was alive. Jonah was alive, but he was in the belly of a whale. Now, he's in the whale's belly. He was there for three days and three nights. At the end of chapter 2, he's going to be vomited up upon the dry land. Then he's going to go preach to Nineveh. Look at the next verse. And said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Is he talking about himself being in hell? No. He is looking forward as a prophet, as David did when he said, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. Jonah is saying, I cried out out of the belly of hell. This is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ being in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. It says, for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas. That's the literal place that he was. He was in the ocean. He was thrown into the sea. He was swallowed by a whale. It says, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about even to the soul. The depth closed me right about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. It's talking about seaweed being wrapped around his head. He's down in the ocean. He's in the belly of a whale. And what do whales eat? Seaweed. They eat plants. And so he's wrapped in all this digested seaweed. He's in the belly of the whale, he's in suffering, but look at verse 6. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. Now is that true of Jonah? Did Jonah go down to the bottoms of the mountains? No. It says, and the earth with her bars was about me. What does the word about mean? Around me. He's saying, the earth with her bars was about me forever, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. Now was Jonah resurrected from the dead? No. But Jesus Christ did go down to the bottoms of the mountains, below the earth's surface, down into the heart of the earth, and the Bible says the earth with her bars was about him forever. He was in the heart of the earth. And it says, but his life was brought up from corruption. The same word used in Acts chapter 2 about Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Now you say, wait a minute. Jesus was not in hell forever. He was not in the heart of the earth forever. He was only there for three days and three nights. Yes, but somehow he paid an eternity of punishment in hell in those three days and three nights. You see, we can't comprehend how God is outside of time. God had no beginning, no ending. He says, I am. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He knows the future. He dwells in eternity, the Bible says. And so if a person dies without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, they will spend eternity in hell. The Bible says that they have no rest day and night. The smoke of their torment has sendeth up forever and ever. He says, these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous in the light of eternity. Well, somehow Jesus Christ, when he went down to hell, somehow paid an eternity of help. He paid for my sins. He paid for your sins. He paid for the sins of the world. But then three days and three nights later, he rose again physically from the dead and physically walked out of that grave. And yet today, most Baptists and most people are preaching that Jesus never went to hell for those three days and three nights. I'm going to tell you something. It's a lie. It's a lie. I mean, you could say, oh, Jesus didn't go to hell. Wait a minute. Acts chapter 231 says that Jesus went to hell. Matthew chapter 12 says he was in the heart of the earth. You know, Acts 16, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. And you can change the Bible, but is that what you're going to do every time the Bible says something that you don't agree with? You just change it, right? You go back and say, oh, well, if we go to this other language and this other culture and we change this and change that and change this, let me tell you something. The word hell is used throughout the Bible and it only ever means one thing all the way throughout the Bible. We're talking about a horrible place. I mean, all the way from Genesis to Revelation. You cannot find a place where the word hell is described as a positive place that you would want to go to. And yet people will say that hell here is not really hell. It's really, you know, paradise. Wait a minute. Hell is really paradise? Did you know that there's a famous quote from Adolf Hitler that says that with enough education and brainwashing, you can get people to believe that paradise is hell and that hell is paradise. That's a famous quote from Adolf Hitler, who was a Catholic, by the way. He said if you repeat it often enough, he said if you tell the same lie over and over again, people will begin to believe the lie. He used an illustration. He said you can get people to think that hell is paradise and the reverse. And yet that's what's being preached today, that when Jesus went to hell, he really went to paradise. Let me tell you something. The center of the earth is not a paradise. It's not Maui down there. It's not Hawaii. It's actually a place of fire. I mean, you can look at any geology book. Even a worldly geology book written by an evolutionist will show you that hell, or the center of the earth rather, the lower parts of the earth are filled with fire and that it's thousands upon thousands of degrees Fahrenheit in the center of the earth. It's a geological fact. When a volcano erupts, you're seeing hot magma coming from below the surface of the earth, emanating from its burning hot core. I mean, it's a fact. No one knows what's in the center of the earth. No one's ever journeyed to the center of the earth as science fiction. No one has ever gone down. They can send a wave down and it bounces back and say, oh, here's what I think it means. But nobody's been there. Nobody can see it. You can't scan it. You can't x-ray through thousands upon thousands of miles of rock and get an accurate image of what's down there. Nobody knows. I know. It's hell. That's what the Bible says. Hell, according to Ezekiel, 30 and 31 is in the lower parts of the earth, in the nether parts of the earth, in the heart of the earth. Now, I want to let these guys sit down, so let me hurry up and just finish what I'm saying here about this. If Jesus Christ was crucified on the 14th day of the month Abib, I'm sorry, let me take that back. If he died on the 14th day of the month Abib, that would mean that he was hanging on the cross on this day right here, which would be Wednesday the 13th. He was hanging on the cross on Wednesday the 13th, okay? He gave up the ghost at even, because that's when the Passover was to be killed, at even. The last time that we hear from him on the cross is at 3 p.m., the ninth hour of the day. But then, you know, an unknown period of time elapses, he gives up the ghost, we know it was even because that's when the Passover had to be killed, at even. And the whole point, you say, you say, well, how do you know that? Because the whole point of having a Passover was a picture of Jesus Christ. That's why in Exodus chapter 12, the whole congregation was to kill the Passover. Now, growing up, sometimes I heard, and I used to believe this, that each family killed their own lamb. You know, each family took a lamb, yes, they did each take a lamb, and that they each killed their own lamb, you know, put the blood on the dorpus. But if you read Exodus 12 carefully, and you don't have to turn back there again, but I'll read it for you, the Bible says in Exodus 12, 6, ye shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel killed each lamb, ok? And even the whole got together and killed their lambs as a group, picturing the whole assembly of the Jews that would say, crucify him, crucify him. Peter told them, you have taken Jesus, and with wicked hands you crucified him. Who did he blame? You know, the Jews. He said, you know, you took him and crucified him, Pilate wanted to deliver him, but you demanded that a murderer be given unto you, talking about harass. And so we see here that the whole congregation killed Jesus, ok? He died, he gave up the ghost at about even, which is about when the Passover was to be killed, ok? So really, in our minds, in our modern day calendar, he died on Wednesday night at 6 o'clock, or thereabouts, ok? But really, it was, according to Bible calendar, the 14th day, because it was just coming on to the 14th. Now, let's say that Jesus Christ died right here on, you know, like I said, Wednesday night, late Wednesday night, which would be Thursday, according to the Bible's resonance, do we have our three days and three nights? Well, we'd have what? Wednesday night, to start with. Then we'd have Thursday. Then we'd have Thursday night. Then we'd have Friday. Then we'd have Friday night, and then we'd have Saturday. That's what? Three days and three nights. You say, wait a minute, what about Saturday night? Ok, turn, if you would, in your Bible, to Matthew chapter 28. Look at Matthew chapter number 28. Now, Jesus rose from the dead on what day of the week? The first day of the week. The Bible's clear that Jesus rose from the dead upon the first day of the week. But look at verse number 28, I'm sorry, chapter number 28, verse number 1 of Matthew 28. The Bible reads in Matthew 28, 1, In the end of the Sabbath, ok, and says, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. So we have Mary Magdalene and the other Mary coming to see the sepulcher, and it's saying it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. In the end of the Sabbath, it says, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. So wait a minute, it's beginning to dawn toward the first day of the week. So has the first day of the week begun? No. Now, it's the night time. It's very early, it's before dawn. Are you following this? Mary and the other Mary are coming before dawn, and it's beginning to dawn toward the first day of the week, meaning, you know, it's almost 6 a.m. It's about to go from being night to day. 6 a.m., the time of the dawn, according to their reckoning, and just the physical rising of the sun. Watch what happens in verse 2. 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 confidence was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said to the woman, Fear not ye, for I know that Jesus was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Now wait a minute. Before dawn, according to the Bible, Jesus was already gone. That stone was not rolled away so that Jesus could come out, because Jesus was not there, according to this passage. I mean, look at it. It says that basically the angel came down, rolled away the stone from the door, and said, You're looking for Jesus, but he's not here. Come and see the place where the Lord lay. So he's not saying, Okay, let me roll the stone out of the way so that Jesus can come out. He rolled the stone away to show them that he was already gone. There's no mention here of Jesus rising from the dead in Matthew 28, only the fact is mentioned several times that he had already risen from the dead. They said, He is not here, present tense, for he is risen, that's past tense, risen from the dead. He's not here. Why seek ye the dead among the living, it says in another passage. He's not here. He's risen, as he said. Come see where he lay, past tense. Come on in and see. And so he'd already risen from the dead before it was even gone. It was still nighttime, according to this passage and the other. You can read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, get the different accounts. It was still night when Jesus had already risen from the dead. And so, no, Jesus did not lay in the grave that entire night and then rise from the dead on Sunday morning. Yes, it was the first day of the week, but it was not in the morning. Before the morning, as he began to dawn toward the first day of the week, he was already gone. It was dark, according to the passages in the Bible, before Jesus rose from the dead. And so, if he was crucified on the 14th day of the month Abraham, if on the 10th day, on Sunday, Palm Sunday, he was presented as the perfect spotless Lamb of God to the nation of Israel, he was then, you know, we had Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday, which would be our Wednesday night, 6 p.m., crucified. You have three days, three nights, and then risen from the dead during the night. And when they came early in the morning, before morning, actually, he was already gone. You say, well, how did Jesus get out if they hadn't rolled the stone away? Well, how did Jesus get in? In John chapter 20, the Bible says that all the doors of the house where they were assembled were shut, and suddenly Jesus was in their midst. This is right after he had risen from the dead. Immediately he was in the midst. And the Bible makes a point to say the doors were shut, because Jesus had been risen from the dead in his glorified body, where he was not, you know, held by, you know, the laws of physics, I guess. He was able to go through a door. He was able to, you know, basically, you know, he didn't have to physically open the door, walk in, like he did before he was crucified. You know, he was constrained by a lot of our human constraints. He ate, he drank, he was tired, he was weary, he was tempted at all points, like as we are yet without sin. He opened doors and went through them. Now, many times he performed miracles that defied science, but after he rose from the dead, he just went through the door without even opening it. He appeared in the middle of the room. He came out of the tomb before it was opened, because when it was opened, they looked inside, and he was already gone, and it had already happened. And so go ahead and sit down, gentlemen. Thank you for the help. And so from that we see that, you know, in order to have three days and three nights, it just couldn't have been Friday night. It just doesn't add up. It had to be Wednesday night that Jesus gave up the ghost. Not Friday night, Wednesday. That's a pretty big difference. That's a couple days difference. So the Catholics have Jesus in the grave for a day and a half, basically, max, you know, of our modern 24-hour days, when the Bible says, hey, 72 hours, three days, three nights, not 36 hours, half the time. But where was he during that time? The Bible says he was in hell. The Bible says he was in the heart of the earth. The Bible says that he rose up from the lower parts of the earth. He descended Ephesians chapter 4 into the lower parts of the earth, and then he rose in it. You say, well, I believe that's where paradise is. Paradiso. Well, wait a minute now. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and we're going to tie this all in with the Passover. All of this is tied in with the Passover, and you'll see it all come together momentarily. But look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The word paradise is mentioned three times in the Bible. Only three times is this word paradise used. The first one that's used is the famous scripture in Luke chapter 23, where he says, today, to the thief on the cross, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Okay? That's usage number one. Number two, this is the second time it's used. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number two. I know a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth such as one, caught up to the third heaven. So where is heaven? Up. Right? And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into what? Paradise. Which direction is paradise? Up. Up. What is paradise synonymous with? Heaven. He said caught up into heaven, caught up into paradise. Look at Revelation chapter number two. We'll see the third use. These are the only three uses of the word paradise in the entire Bible. Look at Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter number two, the Bible reads in verse number, let me find the verse here, seven. Revelation 2, seven. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Those are the three uses. Look at John chapter three, verse 13. John 3, 13. You say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, that's the New Testament. In the Old Testament, paradise was in the center of the earth. In the Old Testament, people didn't die and go to heaven, they went to paradise in the center of the earth. Hold on now. If paradise is where the Old Testament saints went, when they died, and if paradise was the place that was only in the center of the Old Testament, why is the word paradise never used one time in the Old Testament? You say, well, you're looking at all these New Testament verses. That's all I can look at, because that's the only place that paradise is mentioned is in the New Testament. So, to say it's the place that departed Old Testament saints, why is it never mentioned in the Old Testament? We do have Ecclesiastes 2.31 saying, the spirit of man which goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast which goeth downward. We do have Elijah being caught up to heaven in a whirlwind, in chariots of fire. But you say, wait a minute, Jesus told the thief on the cross, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Therefore, Jesus went to paradise. Wrong. Look at John chapter three, verse 13. John 3, 13 reads, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. So, according to the Bible, while Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus on this earth, where was he at the same time? Heaven. Why? Because Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, or omnipresent. David said, if I go up to heaven, behold, thou art there. If I descend into hell, David said, behold, thou art there. And so God is on my present. God cannot just only be in the same place. The Bible says Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is living inside of me. He's in heaven at the right hand of the Father. The Bible says that those that are tormented in hell are tormented in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. So Jesus Christ is on my present. It says that you can't get around. John 3, 13, The Son of Man, which is in heaven. You see, the moment that the thief on the cross died, he went to heaven. And who did he see when he got there? God. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He said, I'll be with you in paradise because the Father is in heaven. And he said, I am my Father of one. You've seen me, you've seen the Father. You'll be with me in paradise because you'll be with the Father when you get to heaven momentarily. But did Jesus Christ's soul go to heaven when he breathed his last breath on the cross? No, sir. He went down into the heart of the earth, into hell, for three days and three nights. You see, if the punishment for mankind is to go to hell for eternity to pay for our sins, how did Jesus pay for our sins? Only by taking a beating and dying a physical death on the cross. Many people have died physical deaths that were just as brutal as Jesus Christ's death on the cross. There have been people throughout history who have been tortured to death, torn limb from limb. Do you think that Jesus was the only person who had ever been crucified? He had another man being crucified right beside him. He had one on either side being crucified, dying the same death. But the difference was that Jesus Christ took upon him the sins of the world, and when his body died, he had to go to hell to pay for our sins. That was the difference right there. Now we see here that paradise is in heaven according to the Bible. You can't show me a verse that gives another definition because I read you all three verses. And yes, the thief on the cross went to paradise to be with God. And Jesus said, Today shall help you with me in prayer. Now look, there's a movement out there, and it's a Catholic doctrine, and let me see if I can find my Catholic Bible. Here's my Catholic Bible, the NIV. You say, yeah, he's not a Catholic Bible. Sure it is a Catholic Bible. Are you kidding? That's why it takes away the fact that you have to believe before you get baptized because the Catholic Church baptized it. It's from Catholic manuscripts. It's a fact. It's taken from Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts, Alexandria texts of the Roman Catholic Church. I mean, that's a documented historical fact. Listen to how they changed things to try to destroy the Bible's true doctrine here of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and being three days from the heart of the earth and rising from the dead. Listen to how they changed John 3.13. And by the way, John 3.13 proves the deity of Christ because how else could he be in heaven while talking with Nicodemus? Even the son of man wants to sin in heaven. Listen to John 3.13 and the non-inspired version of the NIV. No one has ever gone into heaven. Now, wait a minute. Is that true? No one's ever gone into heaven. Didn't Elijah go up to heaven? Didn't all the Old Testament saints go to heaven? Yes, they did. I can prove that in a moment. But here, the NIV says no one's ever gone into heaven. Now, the King James Bible says that no one has ascended into heaven. Peter, in Acts chapter 2, long after the resurrection of Christ, said David is not ascended into the heavens. But does that mean that David's soul was not in heaven? His soul was in heaven. But had he ascended into heaven, as Jesus did, resurrected... See, Jesus resurrected physically a spiritual body, a new body, and then he ascended up into heaven, just as one day we will ascend up in heaven with Christ in the rapture. Elijah was carried by a chariot into heaven. He didn't ascend. A chariot came down, parted Elijah and Elijah asunder, grabbed Elijah, threw him straight, and they went up in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. He was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Remember the rich man and Lazarus? Lazarus was carried up by the angels, and so forth. Now listen, they've changed it to no one's ever gone into heaven. Even the NIV contradicts that with Elijah and others, who it clearly states went to heaven. It says no one's ever gone into heaven, except the Son of Man who came from heaven, period. So they take out that whole phrase, which is in heaven, in order to take away the fact that Jesus was in heaven at the same time. See, this is a calculated plan, my friend. Look at Job 2. Job 2, right before the book of Psalms, you'll find the book of Job. It's a calculated plan, changing the Bible. I mean, people have literally, with the New International Version, changed what the Bible says to fit their Catholic doctrine of Paradiso, Infierno, of the Old Testament place of the dead, Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, and they make all these distinctions that God has not made. Let me prove to you how corrupted the NIV is. Who memorized Hebrews chapter 1 with us? Put up your hand. Okay, we were memorizing it as a group. We were memorizing it as a church. Today was the day that everybody was supposed to be done, and you can see all the hands that are up, but they finished it. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1, For unto which of the angels said ye at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? So the Bible says in Hebrews 1 that the angels, not one angel, has ever been God's son, according to Hebrews 7. He said, Jesus Christ is the Son, but he said, To which of the angels said ye at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? Now listen to me, I'm God's son. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear where we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Hey, the Bible says as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. There's not one verse in the entire Bible that says that an angel is a son of God. In fact, in Hebrews 1, he says that no angel is a son of God. We have been begotten again unto a likely hope. We have been begotten as God's children, according to 2 Peter chapter 1 and 1 John chapter 1, but the angels have never been and never will be God's children, God's sons. See, they're not in the image of God. They're not made in God's image. We as human beings have been made in the image of God. The animals have not been made in God's image. The angels have not been made in God's image. But we as his children, when we believe on Christ, our spirit is resurrected and we are begotten as the children of God. Now, look at Job chapter 2. I'm sorry I didn't turn there myself, but in Job chapter 2, in the Old Testament, the Bible reads, Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Now, who is this group, the sons of God? We're talking about believers, because only ever throughout the Bible will you ever find there's the son of God, Jesus Christ, but then you'll only find believers. In Christ, being called the sons of God. Never an angel, and Hebrews chapter 1 says it's not the angels. It says, Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. So the sons of God, oh yeah, that means that Satan's God's son. That's kind of what it says. It says the sons of God came and Satan came also, which means in addition to the sons of God. He came among them, that means he was in the group. He was with them physically. That doesn't mean that he was one of them, or else the word also would not be necessary. It tells us that Satan also came. So Satan came also among them, and the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? Where did you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from coming up and down. Are they on earth? No, they're in heaven. God's throne is in heaven. The sons of God are presenting themselves before God in heaven. These are believers who had died, and now they were in heaven. Old Testament saints whose souls were in heaven. Their bodies were in the grave, their souls were in heaven. And they're presenting themselves before God, and Satan comes also. You say, wait a minute, Satan in heaven? I thought Satan's in hell. Porky Pig, right? With a pitchfork and horns and a devil thing? See, that's what cartoons will do to you. They'll mess up your Bible doctrine. They'll teach you that the devil's in hell with a pitchfork running around with horns and a pointed tail poking people. No, the devil has never even been to heaven. The devil walks at the bowels as a roaring lion shaking whom he may devour. The devil goes to and fro in the earth, walking up and down in. The devil goes to heaven and accuses the brethren before God day and night. He accuses the brethren, Christians, to God. One day he'll be cast out of heaven. Revelation chapter 12, when the first seal is opened, he's cast out of the earth, and then he's very angry because he knows he only has a short time. He's been thrown out of heaven, and he goes around to try to persecute God's people for, you know, approximately three and a half years. And he persecutes them and makes war with the saints, and he puts the antichrist to power and all these things that haven't happened yet in Revelation chapter 12. And so we see here that the sons of God are in heaven, presenting themselves before God. How'd they get there? I thought they were in the center of the earth. Now look, that's gotten pretty warm down there. And this paradise, this wonderful paradise, the screams of hell outside your window. Book your reservation today for a vacation in paradise. You'll be sitting in your hotel, and there's people screaming and wailing out the window, and it's really hot, but the air conditioning's gray, and we keep it a little cooler on this side of hell. This is the kind of bizarre doctrine that's being taught today in Baptist churches, and it's false. But let me tell you something. This version is what's partially responsible for it. Because let me read to you the NIV. Look down at your Bible in Job 2. On another day, the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. What does the Bible say? Sons of God. What does the NIV say? The angels. But there's a little B next to it with a footnote. At the bottom of the page of the NIV, the B says, in Hebrew, it says the sons of God. So wait a minute. Even the translators of the NIV are saying the Hebrew says sons of God. But you're not smart enough to know that the sons of God are of course angels. Of course they are. Everybody knows that. So we're just going to change it for you to angels in English just so that you'll understand. But then we'll put a little note to tell you, by the way, it really says sons of God. But we're going to change the angels. Is that all right? We changed that? Okay, look at Ecclesiastes 2.31. I mean, this is a calculated plot, my friend. To change Bible doctrine. You say the NIV doesn't affect doctrine. It sure looks like it's affecting this doctrine when it says that no one's ever gone to heaven. When it says that the angels are the ones in heaven. Sons of God are left out of heaven. Look at Ecclesiastes 2.31. Somebody stand up and read it for me in the King James Version, Ecclesiastes 2.31. 2.30 and 31. Anybody there? Stand up and read it. Anybody? Anybody have the guts to stand up and read the Bible? Dave, stand up. What are you doing? There's no one to stand up. Oh, no one to stand up. Are you guys shy or what? I rubbed out the wrong one. That was a psychological test. What about some conditions? Didn't I rub down the wrong one? Okay, sorry. Here we go. I'm a little dyslexic here. Ecclesiastes 3.21. All right? Sorry. That was really weird. Now somebody's jumping up. Yeah, I'll read it. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward? So which way does the spirit of man go? Upward. Which way does the spirit of the beast go? Downward. Let me read it to you from the NIV. Who knows? Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward? I don't know. That's what said in the NIV. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down to the earth? Who knows? I don't know. Does it? Whereas he's saying, who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward? Because, of course, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2.1, chapter 2, For who knoweth the spirit of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him, even so knoweth no man the things of God, but the spirit of God... I don't know how to mix it up, but 1 Corinthians chapter 2 asks a similar question. But the point is, the KJV says, hey, the spirit of man goes upward. This one said, well, who knows? Maybe. I don't know. Who knows if it does or not? No one asked me. And so we see the systematic changing of verses, changing of the Bible, changing what the Bible says to make it as if no one ever went to heaven before Jesus, you know, rose from the dead. They were all in this island getaway paradise in hell, okay, whatever that's supposed to mean. Acts 2.31 in the NIV, you don't have to turn there, but seeing what was ahead, this big key of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave. So the KJV says he wasn't left in hell. The NIV says he wasn't abandoned to the grave. That's just talking about his physical body that was in the grave. And so you see how they're going back and they're changing things in a system to make you think that the angels are God's sons, to make you think that paradise is in the center of the earth, in hell, to make you think that hell is the grave, to make you not understand the fact that Jesus was, you know, dead for three days and three nights. Now let me explain something to you real quick. Jesus said, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believe it, stop it. The very definition of eternal life is life that never is. A life that never will cease. You will never die. Jesus said, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. So you see, my friend, I'm not going to die and then someday be resurrected? No, sir. My body will die, but my soul will live on for eternity. Only the flesh will die, but the inward man, the soul, the spirit, the moment that I die, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Second Corinthians 5. Paul said, I have the desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. He didn't say, I have a desire to go lay in the grave. He said, I have a desire to be with Christ, which is far better. And so the believer never dies. Now let me ask you something. Where will the soul of the believer go on breathing his last breath? Where will you go when you breathe your last breath as a believer in Christ? Heaven. You'll be with God in heaven. You'll be carried up to heaven. Now let me ask you something. While you're in heaven, will you be dead? No. You'll be alive. You'll be living in heaven. You won't be dead in heaven. You'll be living in heaven. You'll be living in what place, according to this great book? Paradise. Because the Bible says that heaven is paradise and that paradise is where the tree of life is and that heaven is where the tree of life is. You'll be in heaven and you'll be what? Alive or dead? Alive. But what was Jesus for three days and three nights? Dead. Dead. Now if Jesus were in paradise or heaven for those three days and three nights, that would mean that he weren't dead. Because nobody in paradise is dead. They're living in paradise. Hey, listen to me. He said, that's the New Testament. How about the Old Testament? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. That's the Old Testament. That's Jesus walking on the surface saying, when God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, he said, I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I am the God of Jacob. And he said, God is not the God of the dead. God is the God of the living. He said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. He said, before Abraham was, he said, look, Abraham saw Jesus Christ on this earth. Why? Because he's not laying in the great dead somewhere. He's alive in heaven looking down upon Jesus Christ's earthly ministry and rejoicing, according to the Bible. So, there's no death there, but yet Jesus said in Revelation, I mean, he told us, we'll never die. Whosoever lives and believe in me shall never die. He said in Revelation chapter 1, I am he that was dead. He said, I'm the first and the last. He said, I'm he that was dead. He said, I'm he that was dead and I'm alive forevermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. So Jesus, don't try to tell me that Jesus was not dead. Don't tell me that only his body was dead. Jesus truly died in every sense of the word. Because not only did his spirit, not only did his body die, but his soul went to hell. Okay, that's death. That's being, people that are in hell right now are referred to in the Bible as being dead. People who are in heaven are referred to as being alive. And so he was dead. He was in hell for three days and three nights. What happened three days later? He rose again from the dead. He came back to life. You see, that's the difference between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of Lazarus. That's the difference between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the young boy that the life ship breathed into his nostrils and he came back to life. You see, those men did not go to hell. They were not dead and come back to life. They were only sleeping, according to the Bible. Do you remember that? Remember the maiden that was in the coffin and Jesus came and said, Weep not, for the maid is not dead but sleeping. And that's what it talks about we're going to be. We breathe all that stress. The body is sleeping. We're still conscious, alive, in heaven, in the soul, in the spirit. This is Bible doctrine. This is what the Bible teaches. And so it's very clear that Jesus died and was buried and rose again. But when he died, he gave up the ghost and he was in hell. You say, wait a minute, and turn back to Exodus 12. I've got to finish the sermon because I'm out of time. Look at Exodus 12 and finish this. You say, wait a minute. Jesus said it is finished on the cross. And people will say, See, he'd already done everything we needed for salvation when he said it is finished. So there's no way that he had to go to hell to suffer for our sins. He'd already paid it all. He said it is finished. Now hold on a second. Isn't the resurrection necessary for salvation? Because I would say that the resurrection is the number one most preached part of the Gospel in the book of Acts. I mean, it's what's emphasized. Hey, we are saved by his life. We are saved by his resurrection, 1 Peter 3.21. Jesus Christ's resurrection is the Gospel, the dead, the burial, and the resurrection. Are you saying that Jesus didn't have to rise from the dead for us to be saved? Are you saying they didn't have to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat of heaven? Those are things that were necessary as well. And so when he said it is finished, he said his life is finished. His earthly ministry is finished. His work on this earth had been finished. But was everything that he would ever do finished? No. He would go to hell and be in the heart of the earth for three days. He would rise from the dead. He would show himself alive by many infallible proofs. The NIV says it is convincing evidence. The King James Bible says, infallible proof, Acts 1.3. He would rise again. He would show himself through the cypher. He would show them the holes in his hand. He would say, put your finger in the hole in my hand. Thrust your hand into my side and be not faithless, but believe it. And one day he's coming again. And our salvation will not even be complete until the redemption of our body at the rapture. I mean, right now my soul and my spirit has been saved. My body has not yet been saved. One day at the rapture, our sanctification will be complete when we are raised a spiritual body and stand faultless before the throne. That is still coming one day. So it is finished. It's not referring to he did everything we needed for our salvation. Wrong. Because he still had to rise from the dead. He still had to sprinkle the blood on the mercy sheet. That does not hold water. But look at this now. We'll close with this. Exodus 12. We saw in verse 6, And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in need. So far Jesus fulfilled this. He was presented on the tenth day. Paul's son did. He was then killed by the entire congregation on the fourteenth day. That's the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then it says in verse 7, And they shall take up the blood and strike it on the two posts on the upper door posts of the house wherein they shall eat it. You know, you think about this. If you were to, you know, put a blood on the top and on the two sides, that would basically make the shape of a cross if you just connect the dots on that. OK. And that's a picture of Jesus Christ, you know, hanging on the cross. Jesus said, I am the door, by the way. That's why he put the blood on the door. He said, I'm the door. If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved. But it says in verse number 8, And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Now watch verse 9. Why does God emphasize this? Eat not of it raw, nor sod it all with water. Don't eat it raw, don't boil it, but roast with fire. He said. The Passover had to be chosen, it had to be examined, it had to be killed, it had to be the blood sprinkled, the blood shed. Jesus Christ died and shed His blood. There's significance in the blood in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He had to shed His blood. He had to be roast with fire. And then He had to be eaten. And He said, eaten? Well, you must not have read John chapter 6. Because John chapter 6 clearly says, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in Him. He said, my flesh is meek indeed. He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. He that eateth me shall live by me. John chapter 6. Obviously He's not talking about literal eating of His flesh. He said, it's not the flesh. He said, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He said, the flesh is the body that I'm going to give my life on the cross for many. He said, of course, eat the book. It says in Revelation 10, the book of Jeremiah, the book of Ezekiel, they ate God's Word. God's Word was spoken. They ate it. Thy words were found and I did eat them. Jeremiah, Job, I was seen in the words of thy mouth and bought my necessary food. You see, Jesus Christ was chosen. He was examined. He was found faultless. Pilate said three times, I find no fault in Him. He was then killed. His blood was shed and He was rose from fire. Let me tell you something. If you don't believe that Jesus went to hell, then why did hundreds of times in the Bible, every single sacrifice mentioned, why was it a burned offering? What was the symbolism? Somebody said, well, that symbolized that Jesus gave it everything He had. You know what I mean? It's totally consumed. Come on. He said, don't boil it. Don't eat it raw. It must be rose from fire. And look, if you want to go ahead and believe this version, this new international version that calls Joseph Jesus' father in Luke 2 and 33, that tells you to beat yourself in 1 Corinthians 9 and 27, then go ahead. But don't tell me that you're a King James Bible-believing Christian. And then tell me that you don't believe Jesus went to hell when Acts 2 31 says, this fakie of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell. The burnt offering, my friend, Mark. The book of Mark, chapter 9. I'll turn there. You don't have to turn there. Mark chapter 9. For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Mark 9 49. Every sacrifice of the Old Testament was a burnt offering. The Passover was a burnt offering. The morning Lamb of God sacrifice that pictured Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, the physical lamb, was a burnt offering. The sin offering was a burnt offering. The trespass offering was a burnt offering. Why all the fire? Because it was a picture that Jesus Christ would not only die on the cross physically, take a physical beating, physically be spat upon, but actually be punished for our sins by suffering the flames of hell, an eternal hell somehow convinced into three days and three nights by God's power, and rise again having conquered death and hell. You see, that's why I'm never going to go to hell. I'm not going to have to pay for my sins because Jesus paid them off. I'm not going to spend one second in hell. Thank God. I would hate to even feel the flames of hell. I mean, would you like to stick your hand in a fire for one moment? Good night. Your body, if you tried to put your hand in a flame, your body wouldn't even let you because of your instinct to jerk your hand away in horror. And yet, Jesus Christ went to hell, paid for our sins, and rose again from the dead. And Jesus Christ suffered his eternal life. He died, you know, in hell. He was dead. He rose again. He lives forevermore, never to die again. See, Lazarus died again after he rose from the dead. He was asleep. The maid, you know, she was asleep. Jesus Christ rose from the dead to live forevermore. And so we need to get back to studying the Bible. Put away the theology book. Put away the concordance in the dictionary. You know, concordance can be a useful tool, but I'm going to tell you something. It's not a substitute for just reading the Bible. Put away the commentary. Let's put away the theologian, Dr. Fatbottom, who's going to tell us that hell doesn't really mean hell, all doesn't really mean all, and angels are really God's sons, and all this stuff that contradicts and flies in the face of what we know the Bible says to be true. Listen. When a believer breathes his last breath, he's going to be in heaven. Amen. Bang on. When David breathed his last breath, he went to heaven. Bang on is that the moment the unbeliever dies, he's in hell. Not that Jehovah's Witness souls sleep, but in an instant, he lifts up his eyes in hell, or he's carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And by the way, Abraham's bosom is not a place, it's a body part. Okay? A bosom is a body part. It's referring to his chest. John lied upon Jesus' bosom at the last supper. It's not a place. I mean, that would be a funny name for a place. You know what I mean? Abraham's bosom. No, it's a body part. He was in heaven with Abraham, leaning upon Abraham's bosom as John leaned upon Jesus' bosom at the last supper. And so study your Bible and understand the significance of today. Today, we're celebrating as poems. Some day, for many people, I don't even celebrate. Like I said, I didn't know it was the holiday. I had to ask people to figure out, when is Easter? When is Palm Sunday? I don't really care about these things very much. But the point is that Palm Sunday was the day, the tenth day of the month Abraham, when the land was presented as the spotless, sinless, perfect land of God, Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, I pray that you'd help us to study, to show ourselves approved unto God. There are so many false teachings out there and being compounded by Bible so-called versions that leave out entire verses and create outlandish statements such as no one has ever gone into heaven. And God, I feel sorry for the people who are in church today listening to somebody preach out of these books that are being told that it's the Bible and they're being told that this is God's word and they're being told that, you know, salvation is giving your life to Christ when the Bible says he gave his life for us and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Father. I pray that we as Christians would not just believe what we're told but that we would study the Bible, learn the truth, understand it so that we can preach the gospel to every creature and win souls to Christ. Dear God, help us as we go out this afternoon to see many people saved and that people will be receptive to hear us as we knock the doors. Please just give us your spirit upon us as we go. We know we can't do it in the flesh, dear God. So please just guide us and direct us and lead us. And Father, thank you for your supreme sacrifice to us, Christ, that you died on the cross not only but also that you paid our sins. You paid the penalty of hell for us, dear God. We can't even imagine what that's like, but we thank you and bless you for it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, let's go ahead and sing one song before we go. Let's go ahead and sing song number 25, Wounded for Me, song number 25. Song number 25, let's sing it out on the first verse. Wounded for me, wounded for me. There on the cross he was wounded for me. On my transgressions and now I am free. All because Jesus was wounded for me. Dying for me, dying for me. There on the cross he was dying for me. Now and it's death in my will.