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🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 Welcome to Strong Tower Baptist Church, our Sunday morning Easter service. Let's all stand and sing our first hymn, our first hymn 166 at Calvary. 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 Let us pray. Thank you Father that we're here today. Thank you for our church. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you for everyone that's here today. We thank you for Easter. We thank you that Christ died for us. We thank you that he rose again. We thank you for the service. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Our next tip is hymn number 118. 1-1-8. Low in the grave he lay. If there's ever time to sing it loud it's today. So let's raise up our volumes. Hymn number 118. 🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 Okay, good morning everyone and happy Easter to you all and welcome to Strong Tower Baptist Church and our Sunday morning, Easter Sunday morning service. If you don't have a bulletin as usual just raise your hand if you don't have one of these. One of the ushers will happily give one to you and while we do that I'd just like to give a warm welcome to Holly who's a first time visitor with us today. Nice to have you with us Holly. If you get a chance to meet Holly after the service that would be great. We also just to remind you we have food after the service so please hang around. Food should be coming sort of soon after 12 and should be all ready for 12.30 so yeah there'll be food for everyone so please just get involved in it. It is a buffet so you know buffets and sometimes small kids don't always go or just be careful guys with the youngsters especially with dips and things you know what I mean yeah. Okay so yeah please keep an eye on the young kids with the buffet but yeah there's going to be buffet food coming right after the service. We have on the front of your bulletin there our verse a week it's Luke 24 46. Luke 24 46 which is and said unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. That's the verse and and others that we're going to look at in detail in the morning message we'll be looking at that shortly. Have a look on the inside your bulletins where like I said you're in our Sunday morning service it's Easter Sunday. It's you know the usual time though 10.30 but this evening it is going to be four o'clock but we have finished our series on the book of Proverbs and if you're excited thinking what's the next series going to be. We're going to do a one-off sermon tonight so because we've then got a men's preacher night next week so I'm going to give you a bit longer till we start the new Sunday evening series but we're going to do a one-off sermon tonight. It's going to be an Easter themed sermon kind of Easter themed and soul winning themed this evening that's going to be 4 p.m. and then Wednesday evening is our study we're going through the book of Isaiah and we're up to Isaiah 42 already. That's gone really quickly for me maybe not so much for some of you but it has for me. We're on Isaiah 42 and we're going to be looking at that Wednesday we're going to be praying as well as usual we pray for all the prayer requests that come in for the week. If you've got anything that needs praying for we'd love to pray for you in a Wednesday evening service just send it in and we'll pray for it before we get onto the Bible reading and the message on a Wednesday evening. So that's how the Wednesday evening service goes. Our soul winning times are down there and we usually have soul winning at 1.30 on a Sunday. Like I said we don't have an official soul winning time today being Easter Sunday we're not going to be knocking doors I don't think it's going to be that popular really. And it's nice to have a bit of time together a bit of fellowship time together, which we don't always get you know to be able to just have that time together and eat and relax and stuff. However, if anyone is really desperate and still wants to go maybe doesn't get a chance to go in the week and really wants to go today, then you are welcome just just let Andre know at the back there if you if you really want to go soul winning today and there will be and it's just going to be on the high street. I don't know, it might be quite quiet there anyway but if you want if you'd like to then we, you know, then you are welcome but, but if you do then yeah please still hang around for the food dough beforehand. That's, that's today so like I said no official soul winning time but if you if you'd still like to go obviously we wouldn't be stopping yeah. And then Monday evening soul winning is back to usual 4pm on Monday isn't it over in Mitcham. Please speak to Alex if you'd like to get involved with Monday evening so it's down in South London in Mitcham at four o'clock, and then Tuesday evening soul winning is as usual over in Basildon but that's been that's been, is it still 6pm again. Yeah, so it'll be 6pm again and if we're probably going to change that to 6pm for now, but we'll see how that goes over the next, maybe another week or so that but 6pm but it's in Basildon, I'd be doing a sort of an outdoor spot there near the station isn't it there and be really, really receptive there I think. I think you guys ended up with five was it on on Tuesday so Tuesday evening if you'd like to get involved with that please speak to Dan about that. Wednesday evening soul winning we go to South End town center, and that's at 4.30, you can meet us on the high street if you are, I know for some it's a bit tight 4.30 it's just to get it in before the service on a Wednesday evening but if it is tight if you'd like to just turn up a little bit later you are welcome. Just just come, come when you're ready just let me know that you're coming, what time you plan to get there, and we get out on the high street at 4.30 on a Wednesday. Speak to me if you'd like to get involved with that one then Thursday evening soul winning is down in Tilbury, although there's been a bit of town center stuff in Grays as well, down there recently but which is pretty nearby and speak to Hoonah if you'd like to get involved with that that's at 6.30 on a Thursday. The Saturday marathons are at the end of each month we've got one coming up next week and then there's soul winning and I think they're doing a little bit up in Sheffield today, possibly down in Exeter as well. If you're anywhere near those parts of the country please get in touch we'll put you in touch with the right people for that. We're up to 66 salvations for April. That's 66 people that are called in the name of the Lord in front of, you know, one of the soul winners from this church and we finished March on 1.51 that's a great target to try and reach. It's looking like it could be tough but you never know we might get a bitty week this week we've got a marathon to come. I hope that's going to be receptive so we might get close. We're on 4.18 for the year so far and total salvations are down there as well. Over 4,000 now we're on 4,018. They had another load in Pretoria yesterday so they've brought them up to 55 salvations. They had a few in Switzerland last week so on 67 there and for the overseas groups they've had 865 since they've been part of our church. We'd like to do some more baptisms so remember if you're saved, you know, God wants you to get baptised talk to us and we'd love to baptise you here. And there are total baptisms, our attendance totals for last week as well. We had our Lord's Supper last week. And over on the other side we've got some announcements at upcoming events. Like I said today being Easter Sunday we've got a lunch half of the service. There should be plenty of food so please just stay and, you know, get stuck in and it'd be a nice time for people to just relax and eat and, you know, not have to rush off anywhere hopefully. And then Saturday the 26th of April so that's next week is our next soul winning event. So being an event that means it's afternoon, we're meeting in the afternoon. Meet before 12.30. It's going to be over in Enfield, we're meeting in North London and then we're going to get out and get soul winning for the afternoon. And we'll do about, it'll be about three to four hours of soul winning and we'll be meeting at 5pm for dinner afterwards. If you're anywhere near there and you'd like to get involved with that just let me know I will put a message up probably to more about that and try and get some confirmations. But North London is going to be an event, it's an afternoon event, and we're going to be preaching the gospel over there and hopefully, hopefully get many people saved up, up in those areas and receptive parts there hopefully. Then Sunday the 27th so that's next Sunday is going to be in the evening service of men's preaching night. So if you'd like to preach it I think I've still got one slot, possibly two at a push so let me know if you'd like to preach that any of the men here. And like I always say if you haven't preached before you're still new to preaching. If you'd like to begin as men's preach tonight just let me know. And if I get a couple of people say they want to do one and I'll put one of those on there usually on a Friday night and they're behind closed doors. So not live on YouTube. Sunday the 11th of May. In the pm service we've got brother Pierre Guyot preaching. The Guyots are going to be here from over here from Switzerland, they'll be here for for about around about a week I think they're going to be here for so be nice to have them here and he's going to be preaching a pm service. He leads our group over in in Switzerland, in Lausanne there and then on May the 30th to the 31st is our Manchester preaching so when the event. So we're going to go up to Manchester. There's quite a few people up there who have got in touch and said they'd like to get involved with part or at least either part or all of the event. The idea is to try and get some momentum up there get, you know, obviously get people saved up there do some preaching up there as well. So it's a Friday May the 30th to Saturday, May the 31st will be the ceremony mouth and the Friday we're going to do a preaching service. If you'd like to get involved, let me know I have booked some things but there is still room. I can still try and get some people in last minute so let us know if you'd like to come along to that. So it's going to be May the 30th to the 31st up in Manchester, and then July the 31st to August the 5th is our Pretoria South Africa missions trip so if you'd like to come and get involved with our missions trip to Pretoria. It's July 31st August the 5th. Let me know we've got a group chat with that and I will put some updates on there actually and just remind everyone of the plan and the schedule for that. Bible memory challenge. So as usual if you can memorize six verses six weeks, you can receive a prize. Week five is Colossians 3 16, which is let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord. Something that we've been doing this morning and will be continuing to do today. But yeah, that's that's week five if you've if you can memorize that and and the four before and next week, then you can get a prize. Please turn your mobile phones off put them on silent if you haven't be appreciated for the service and right birthday so we what are we today with the 20th so we've got Max he's been away in Mexico for quite a long time but his birthday's on the 22nd. Then we've still got Benjamin Logan and Matilda to come as well. But it's Easter and we don't have a birthday today. We did have Sally Ann, as well on, it was on Monday so happy birthday Sally Ann, because we saw you on Sunday. Because we saw you on Sunday didn't wish she had birthday Sally Ann for Monday and we had john Alexandra on Wednesday and have birthday john for Wednesday as well. But let my wife know your birthday's anniversaries, let me let me know if you want details for online donations, and we're family integrated church so if you're wondering why all these kids in here, because we believe the kids should be welcome in the church services should should be able to get involved to get used to proper church pretty early that way as well. But we do have the mother father baby rooms to use as needed. So please make use of them with a mother baby room being this one here with two doors. The father baby rooms behind it and then there's. We have another mother baby room upstairs and a quieter private room upstairs if needed as well. So make use of those as you need but please. No men allowed in the mother baby rooms and no women allowed in the father baby room, and please no children unattended ability at all times like I said if, especially around the food just, you know, just, just keep everything sort of decent in an order here. That would be great and on that we're going to pass back over to you. Let's stand and sing our next hymn, hymn number 109 blessed Redeemer. Oh Christ my way. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, But there is another truth there, so aside from the truth and aside from that being a sort of foreshadowing of the gospel, a representation of the gospel, that serpent being lifted up on that pole was signifying how he would die. John 12 and verse 32, John 12 32, the Lord said this, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. So firstly, yep, there's no excuse. The cross draws all men, just most choose to resist, okay, the cross draws all men. So again, Calvinism, get out of it, all right, okay, the cross draws all men, but just sadly most won't respond to that call. But he could have ordained it to, for example, you could think about it like this, he could have ordained it to have died in a much less painful way, couldn't he? Did he have to die nailed to a cross? He ordained that, he chose that. The Lord Jesus Christ died lifted up from the earth. We've just seen, we saw early in John chapter 3 that he said, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That was a picture in Numbers of him being lifted up on a pole representing that cross, hanging on a cross until he eventually gave up the ghost. I mean, what a horrible death. What a horrible way to go. I mean, if someone said, right, how would you like to go? And you're thinking, what's an easy way to die? I don't think that would be on your list, would it? That's not a nice way to die. Numbers 21, 9 is prophesying of the type of death that he was to die. He was lifted up from the earth, he was lifted up on a pole of sorts, high up from the ground to die hanging from that pole, from that cross. Now turn to Psalm 22, because it wasn't just that he was to die up in the air on a pole, like I said, of sorts, if you like. He wasn't tied to it. So it wasn't that he just died sort of tied to a pole, tied to a cross. How was he attached to it? In Psalm 22, so Psalm 22 is written about a thousand years BC, David is talking of both his own struggles and his prophesying of Christ's death. He said this in verse 14, so you're turning to Psalm 22, so the book of Psalms is in the middle of your Bible, and we're looking from verse 14 of Psalm 22. It said, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, now has brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Clearly prophesying of Christ, isn't he? Matthew 27, 35, you'll have to turn this off. They tried to give him vinegar to drink, and they crucified him, that was commonly known as being by nails through the hands of feet, and parted his garments, casting lots, again something prophesied here in verse 18 where you are, that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots, which is what we've just read. So with crucifixion, apparently it was somewhere between, around like 7 to 9 inch nails, the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodoxes have a load that they worship, like random nails they reckon they found near the site of Jesus' crucifixion, so they're like holy relics. Apparently if you spend like a hundred grand you can buy one, probably millions, what a load of nonsense. But they did pierce his hands and his feet, and anyone fancy seeing how that would feel? Because what I've got, I've got a hammer and I've got some 9 inch nails. No, I'm kidding, but I wouldn't really want to try that, would you? Would you like nails through your hands, nails through your feet? And there's debate as to where exactly in the palm it was, or at what point it went through, it doesn't really matter, wherever it was it hurt. Wherever it was in those hands, wherever it was in those feet, well that's horrendous, isn't it? And again, he ordained this, he not only knew it was going to happen, he chose ultimately for this to happen. He suffered for us, right? Well, turn to Isaiah 50, because it wasn't just the way he died, so we've seen it prophesied that he was to be lifted up from the earth ultimately on a pole, on a cross, we've seen that his hands and feet were pierced, as well as that, we're going to see that, well let's look where we're going. In fact, before that, let's have a look at verse 5 in Isaiah 50. Isaiah was prophesying of Christ, now this is around 700 years BC, okay, 700 years BC, and he said this. He said, the Lord had opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the spiders, and my cheeks to them that plucked off their hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. So verse 5 said he was not rebellious, okay, Philippians 2.8 says, you don't have to turn there. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Verse 6 says that he gave his back to the spiders, his cheeks to them that plucked off their hair. He didn't hide his face from shame and spitting. Well, Matthew 26, 67 says, then did they spit in his face and buffeted him. Basically like they beat him, slapped him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands. Matthew 27, 26 says of Pilate, then released him Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. That's basically being whipped, okay, and whipped in a hard way, right, and he got, you know, stripes across his back, opened up the skin of his back. He sure did suffer, didn't he? I mean, not only did he suffer, it was prophesied he would suffer, and that was pretty clear, right? It's pretty clear when you read through the Gospels, it was pretty clear that this was prophesied too for me. Back in Luke 24, back in Luke 24 with that in mind, it said this, and he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. So turn to Job 19, Job 19. The title is Thus it is written. So we've seen three prophecies of him suffering. Point number one was Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer. So point number two today, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to rise from the dead. So Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to rise from the dead. So Job said this sometime between 500 and 1500 years BC, like I said, in Job 19. Job 19, he said this from verse 22, Why do ye persecute me as God? Job 19, verse 22. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were now written, oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and led in a rock forever. Well, that did happen because they were printed in the word of God forever, right? His words were. Verse 25 says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. So how can he redeem without paying the price? He has to pay the price to redeem. What was the price of death, wasn't it? But he knows that his Redeemer liveth because he was to rise from the dead. OK, so it's a little bit cryptic, but that's what he's prophesying of. He's saying, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And basically that meant that Job would bodily rise from the dead too. It says in verse 26, And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold him, not another, though my reigns be consumed within me. So basically he's saying because of that there's going to be a bodily physical resurrection one day for himself as well. In his flesh he will see God. Job prophesied of the living Redeemer. OK, for me, again, that is therefore the resurrection. But turn over to Psalm 2, where the unknown psalmist, OK, probably David, likely David, which would be a thousand years BC, said this in Psalm 2. So we're going to Psalm 2 now, the second Psalm, where he said this from verse 1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now, this day have I begotten thee is his regeneration from the dead. It is a prophecy of the resurrection. Revelation 1.5 says this. You turn to, if you'd like to turn to Acts 13 quickly, but Revelation 1.5 says, And from Jesus Christ was a faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead. It's his regeneration, his coming alive from the dead, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Jesus Christ washed us from our sins in his own blood, referring to his physical blood, but that death, that burial, that resurrection, right? Jesus Christ, he wasn't created on a day. In the beginning was a word. We see that in John chapter 1. In the beginning was a word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him without anything made that was made. No, he wasn't generated in a day. It's his resurrection from the dead it's talked about. In Acts 13, Paul said it like this. Acts 13.33 says, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, that's referring to where we just were, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Talking about the resurrection, that he raised up Jesus again. That's what it's talking about, this day have I begotten thee, being raised from the dead. So Psalm 2 is a prophecy of the resurrection. As is Psalm 40, if you want to turn there now, Psalm 40, you're thinking you're just going to come and relax on a nice Sunday morning, you're turning pages, all right? Well, it could be worse. Psalm 40, it's a psalm of David. So this is a thousand years BC, where being a Christ figure, he's also prophesying of the Lord's resurrection. It's said in verse 1, to the chief musician of psalm of David, it said, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and he heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. That was a result of the resurrection, people saw it, they feared, they trusted in the Lord. But notice how it was in a horrible pit. And I don't think that sepulcher, hewed out of the rock, could have been described as that. Or he got a bit stitched, you know, they got a bit stitched up with that, right? No, it was a new sepulcher, no one had been putting it, it was hewn out of the rock. And I don't think you could describe it as a miry or deep mud of clay, could you? Being hewn out of the rock. Sounds more like underground, doesn't it? That's referring to underground. That he brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and Luke 24 46 said, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. The third day, it's because he rose from the dead. Turn to Psalm 16. Psalm 16, the title is Thus It Is Written. So we've seen thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer, thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to rise from the dead. And I want to focus on this last point for a bit now. Thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. The third day. Now Psalm 16 is another psalm of David written around 1000 years BC. And it says this in verse 8. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence's fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. David never went to hell. In Luke 16 26, you don't have to turn about, Abraham said to the rich man, and beside all this between us and you there is a great gulf fix, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from this. You can't go from hell to heaven or from heaven to hell. Once you're in heaven, you're in heaven, once you're in hell, you're in hell. Purgatory is just a load of nonsense, there's nothing in the Bible about purgatory, that's a Catholic lie. There's no going from one to the other. David said here, but for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, but David was a Christ figure, he was prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Acts 2 31, Peter actually said this of Psalm 16, he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh should see corruption. So it is written that he would suffer beyond anything anyone could suffer on this earth. Okay, so the suffering of Christ, yeah, we've seen that he was whipped, he was scourged, we've seen that he was buffeted, we've seen that he had the beard plucked out of his face, we've seen that he was nailed through his hands, his feet up to that cross, that his tongue cleaved to his mouth with thirst. We've seen that he was ultimately died on a cross up in the air, hanging on that cross until he died, and that's pretty horrendous. But what so many, sadly, just refuse to accept or want to deny, is that he also suffered in hell. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered in hell for our sin. I mean, that is some suffering. It's suffering like no one else has ever suffered and come back from. But the Lord Jesus Christ went through all that for you, for me, for everyone here, for everyone, he went through that for the whole world. Just sadly, so many choose to deny it and reject it. Psalm 88, you can turn it if you want, but we're just going to go quickly, says it like this, in verse six, thou has laid me in the lowest pit. Why was he laid in the lowest pit, in the lowest depths of hell? Because he paid for the sins of the whole world. So he paid for those sins, the worst sins in the world, he had to go to the lowest pit. He said, thou has laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps, thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou has afflicted me with all thy waves, Salah. Yeah, God's wrath laid hard upon him. He was in the lowest pit. He wasn't there for a picnic. He wasn't there for a sauna. He was there to suffer for us. The atonement, the death, death, resurrection, people want to like, oh, you preach a hell atonement. No, we preach an atonement by death, and death includes a spiritual death. He shed his blood, yes. He died physically on that cross, yes. He went to hell, yes, and then he rose from it all. Psalm 16 is prophesying of both his suffering and his rising from the dead because it said that his soul was not left in hell. We saw the commentary from Acts 2 31. Turn to Isaiah 53, which is a famous passage prophesying of the Lord Jesus, so Isaiah 53. Now, Isaiah wrote this around 700 years BC, and he said this in Isaiah 53 and verse 8. Isaiah 53, 8 says this. Isaiah 53 and verse 8, and in case you're wondering, it's one of the major prophets soon after the book of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then you should get to Song of Solomon, I think, and then Isaiah. Verse 8 says this. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. So he was cut off out of the land of the living. That's that death, right? Then it says, and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. That sepulcher wasn't a shared burial. This wasn't a communal pit. It wasn't a communal grave. It was a private tomb hewn out of the rock, but he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he went to hell. Verse 10 says, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. So firstly, his soul was an offering for sin. His soul was not left in hell, we saw in Acts 2.31. We're referencing Psalm 16. His soul was an offering for sin, but then it also said he shall prolong his days. How was he to prolong his days, though? Verse 11 says, He shall see the travail of his soul. Yeah, so that's basically the pain that he went through. And shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. How was he numbered with them? Well, in hell, but how did he divide him a portion with the great? The only way, and that he was to do that, and to divide the spoil with the strong, and for me that's talking about the saved, and dividing the spoil in the future, for me that's probably talking about the millennial reign, or at least, you know, the spoil of eternal life, was by him being raised from the dead. It's because he wrote, it's because he resurrected. He didn't just suffer, he resurrected. And you don't have to tell them, but of course in Acts 8.34, went with the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip the evangelist. The eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this. Talk about Isaiah 53, of himself or of some other man. And what did Philip do? He preached unto him Jesus. He was of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 then. Thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. So last bit is, what about the third day then? So what about the third day? Well, glad you asked. Turn to Jonah chapter 2. Jonah chapter 2. We saw in Luke 24.46 it said, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. Now, Jonah is approximately 800 years BC. The prophet, approximately, I think that's probably the common belief when it was written. He's trying to escape God and board a ship to Tarshish. There's a massive storm and then he sacrificed to save the people, okay. So he's clearly a picture of Christ in chapter 1 as well, you know, he ends up. He basically, he saves the people by being cast to his death because the storm is because of him. You know, it's for him that there is that storm. So he saves the people by being cast into the water. He's then swallowed by a whale, also referred to as a fish, and don't get into all this whether it's a mammal or not. It's a fish in a seal, right, okay. But Jonah 2 said this in verse 1. Jonah 2.1 says, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. So he's being afflicted in the fish's belly. What does that fish's belly represent? It represents hell. And just, you know, I remember when I preached through Jonah, I have a few times, just to remind you that the cartoon Pinocchio isn't real life, if anyone who grew up remembers that. They might have a modern Pinocchio nowadays, where Pinocchio is probably transsexual or something, and also the weird stuff. But it's not real life. So in a whale's belly, it's not that you're there barbecuing the fish as they come in. Am I the only one that watched Pinocchio when I was young? A few of us old. A couple of youngsters as well. Okay, good. Okay, so it's not that you barbecue fish in a whale's belly, and you're just sitting there going, one day, Monstro might open, I even remember, you can tell. I watched it last week. In preparation for this. But it's not you're just waiting to get out of there and just sitting there going, oh, one day, you know. In a whale's belly, it's burning in stomach acid. Okay, so this is why it's a representation of hell. The prophet Jonah was basically burning in the acid of a whale's belly. That's the reality of it, okay. So we've got Jonah in this whale's belly, and he's saying he's cried by reason of his affliction. Okay, he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I. So the belly of the fish is representing hell. Verse three says, For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas 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. Why? Due to the resurrection to come, right? He's again picturing Christ in hell, but saying he will look again toward thy holy temple. Verse five, The waters compass me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about, the weeds are wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. Hold on, what's going on there? What's he talking about, the bottoms of the mountains? Again, because it's representing hell. Here he's just prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's clearly that he, as Christ, went to the bottom of the mountains, he's saying. That's the center of the earth. You know, I remember preaching this a while back when we went through Jonah, and you know beneath every mountain is like, I think it's a lot taller than the mountain of foundations of footings. The bottoms of the mountains, at the bottom of those footings, goes deep into the earth. He said the earth with our bars was about me forever. So picturing an eternal suffering in hell. Yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, oh Lord my God. And what's that bringing up his life from corruption, picturing the resurrection. Verse seven, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. So you want to go after the false prophets and false gospels, the lying vanities, well you forsake your own mercy. You have a choice. If you're unsaved here today, you can put your trust in that death bell resurrection paying for all your sins, or you can observe the many lying vanities. It's wrapped up in many different ways. There's a package for everyone. You might go, well I like the lying vanities of whatever you name the religion, and I would include atheism, agnosticism, all these different versions. They're just lying vanities that you can choose. Some people feel a bit more intellectual choosing like the atheist angle, although the irony there is lost on many. Or some believe they feel a bit more religious choosing like maybe the Islam lying vanity because then you can really show everyone you're religious with special outfits and things like that. And there's just something for everyone. You can choose your lying vanity or you can put your trust in Christ. He said, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I avow salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord, no one else. And the Lord, and that includes not yourself. Salvation is not of yourself, it's of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. That's the picture of the resurrection. Okay, so he comes out of what was described as a belly of hell back onto dry land. Now you say, what about the three days of three nights? Didn't I say that there was going to be three days, three nights? Go back to Jonah 1 and verse 17. Jonah 1 17 says, Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days. Three days and three nights. And as we saw earlier, and again, you know, you could read through that unsaved, read that story, go, oh, I don't know what that's all about. That poor fellow got swallowed by a fish. You know, how interesting. But you read through the lens of knowing that Jesus Christ died and was made and rose again the third day. That is a prophecy of Christ. What an amazing prophecy of Christ. And as, like I said, we saw earlier Matthew 12 40, Jesus said, 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. So that's a New Testament commentary on that. And it's pretty clear, isn't it, right? So back in Luke 24, back in Luke 24, verse 44, and he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms concerning me. And we've seen some of those things in all three of those. Then opened to you their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. The word of God's amazing, isn't it? How amazing is the word of God? That was written, and therefore Christ had to suffer to rise from the dead the third day. And we've just seen some of many examples in the word of God, some of the clearer ones for me. So what do we do about it, right? What do we do about it? We've read all that. We've seen all that. You've been like, OK, you've had us studying a bit today. Yeah, good, right? Yeah, we should study to show ourselves the proof, shouldn't we? A workman that need not be ashamed. Rightly divine the word of truth. Hopefully we've done some of that today. So what do we do? What's our response? Well, verse 47, And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Now, just to clear up for anyone there, you know, who has a sort of weird blurred vision when they see the word repentance and just adds in of their sins in brackets. OK, it didn't say that. Repentance, which in the context of salvation is defined clearly in Hebrews 6.1, where he talks about the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. The repentance of salvation is a repentance, so basically a turning, a change of mind from your dead works, whether it's a false religion or just, oh, not really religious, I just believe I'm good enough to go to heaven. You've got to repent of that, change your mind about that. And what's that second part of that foundation in Hebrews 6.1? Faith towards God. And that's through the Lord Jesus Christ, the death, burial, resurrection, prayer for your sins. So he said repentance, and what does that do when you change your mind, when you put your faith in Christ? Well, it results in a remission, or another word we might use is forgiveness, or maybe pardon of sins. So you repent of your false way, you put your faith in Christ, you receive remission of sins, and they're pardoned. It wasn't, you know, a world where you get, you know, remission of some sins, remission of past sins, it's just remission of sins. There's a remission, the pardon of sins, if you put your trust in Christ. Which is what it said here, should we preach his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. It's what needs to be preached in the name of Christ among all nations, isn't it? So we come to church, we listen to the word of God, we seal the amazing prophecies being fulfilled in Christ, we're coming to celebrate his resurrection, but what should be the result of all of that? It needs to be preached among all nations, among all people. We need to preach the gospel, we need to show people the truth. Now I said earlier, yeah, the cross draws people, but they still need to hear the gospel, and we need to go and preach them the gospel. And yeah, some will come to us, but some won't. Some aren't necessarily looking for salvation, but you might offer them to show them how to get saved, and they might just say yeah. And they might want to hear the gospel, and you might get them saved, but it needs to be preached among all nations. That should be our response to the resurrection. The title was Thus It Is Written. Number one, Thus It Is Written, and Thus It Behoved Christ to Suffer. Number two, Thus It Is Written, and Thus It Behoved Christ to Rise from the Dead. And number three, we looked at Thus It Is Written, and Thus It Behoved Christ to Suffer and to Rise from the Dead, the third day, and ultimately looking at that suffering in hell. What a strange thing to try and take that out of the gospel, to try and deny that and try and reject. It's so clear, isn't it, right? How do people explain Jonah 2, Acts 2, Psalm 16, Psalm 88? How do they explain any of that, right? Jesus Christ in Matthew 12, 40, et cetera, regardless. Thus It Is Written, Thus It Behoved Christ to Suffer and to Rise from the Dead, the third day. So when we celebrate, last bit on that, when we celebrate the resurrection, it's Resurrection Sunday, it's East Sunday, when we celebrate that, we're celebrating the whole thing. We're celebrating ultimately the result of what he did. He suffered, he died, he was buried, and he rose the third day, and that paid for every single one of his sins. It's a good thing to celebrate, isn't it, right? So after the service, we're going to celebrate with some food together and some time together, so please hang around for that. On that, we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for sending your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us. Thank you for all that he went through to pay for our sins, Lord, and that finally then he rose from the dead to not only show that it was done, that he had done it all, that he was who he said he was, but also that we will one day have that resurrected, glorified body as well, Lord, that he's a firstfruits of the resurrection. We thank you for all these truths. We thank you that we can look through the word of God, we can look through our King James Bibles and just see prophecy after prophecy being fulfilled, especially here we've looked at in that suffering and that rising from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help that strengthen our faith, Lord, help us to just be strong with that, to then ultimately to want to go on to show those truths to others, especially the truth ultimately of the Gospel. Lord, please bless our day together. Please bless the food when it comes as well, Lord, and help it to just nourish us, for us to just feel prepared for the evening service after it as well, Lord, and we thank you for everything you provide us with, Lord, and please bless those who need to go on their way, Lord, help them to get home safe and sound as well, and in Jesus' name, pray all this. Amen. All right, our last hymn this morning will be hymn number 351. Three, five, one. Jesus, keep me near the cross. Jesus, keep me near the cross. There a precious fountain Free to launch the healing stream Flows from Calvary's mountain In the cross, in the cross Be thy glory ever Till thy ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river Near the cross, the trembling soul Love and mercy found thee There the quiet and morning sun Shed its wings around me In the cross, in the cross Be thy glory ever Till thy ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river Near the cross, a land of thought Great it seems before me Help me walk from day to day With its shadow longing In the cross, in the cross Be thy glory ever Till thy ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river Near the cross, I'll watch and wait Hoping, trusting ever Till I reach the golden strand Just beyond the river In the cross, in the cross Be thy glory ever Till my ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to be our saviour. Thank you for the unfavourable suffering he went through. Thank you for him shedding his blood for us, for dying, for descending to hell for three days and three nights, and for rising in victorious over the grave. Please let us always be near to us and let us remember what Christ did for us. Let us love him and keep his commandments and share that wonderful salvation with the world. Please bless the fellowship and bless the soul willing for those who decide to go. And in Jesus' precious name I pray these things. Amen. Hi there, my name is Pastor Ian Tabin of Strongtown Baptist Church. I'd just like to take a few minutes today to show you how you can be 100% sure that if you died you'd be going straight to heaven. A lot of people teach all these strange things about how you can be good enough to go to heaven, how you've got to follow a list of commandments to get to heaven. See, they're really the other religion. There's only really two religions in the world. There's good you go to heaven, bad you go to hell, and all the varying versions of that. Some of them are very subtle. Oh, you've got to at least give up a certain amount of sin. You've got to at least try not to sin. And then there's a Bible which says, no, no, no, go to heaven is a free gift. And I want to show you how you receive that free gift today. A few things you've got to understand first, though, before you receive that gift. And that's number one is that you are a sinner. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners. The Bible says in Romans 3.23, for all have sinned to come short of the glory of God. See, we're all sinners. We've all broken God's commandments in one way or another. And the Bible says because of that, we come short of the glory of God. We cannot be good enough to go to heaven, which means that we're on our way somewhere else. There's only two places you go. You either go to heaven or you go to hell. And the Bible says for the wages of sin is death. We're all sinners and what we get in return is death. And in the end, that's in a place called the second death, which is a lake of fire. The Bible says in Revelation 20.14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. If the wages of sin is death and the second death is the lake of fire, that's not a very good picture being painted there. In fact, in Revelation 21.8, we see just a quick list of common sins to show that we're all on our way to the lake of fire. The Bible reads, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, and that's you, me and everyone else in the world, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. However, God doesn't want you to go to hell. Hell is eternal. Hell is a very real place. But God wants you in heaven. And in fact, he made a way for you to go to heaven. In Romans 5.8, the Bible says, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, came to this world and he didn't commit any sin. He lived a perfect life. And then at the end of his life, he was hung up on a cross. He died to pay for our sins. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he had made him, that's Jesus Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin. Jesus Christ was sinless. However, he became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He swapped with us. He took that punishment for you. He died on that cross. And he then tasted death for every man. The Bible says in Acts 2.31, he, seeing this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh should see corruption, because on the third day rose again. He showed the holes in his hands, the holes in his side. It was a bodily, physical resurrection. He wasn't a ghost. They ate with him. They handled him. And then 40 days later, he went to heaven. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean everyone's going to heaven? Well, of course not. See, there's one thing we have to do to receive that gift. And in Acts 16.30, someone asked the question, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The apostle Paul and Silas answered, and they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. So what does that mean, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved? Are they saying to just believe that he exists? Are they saying to believe that there's a person called Jesus? No, they're saying to believe on, or put your faith, your trust, in that death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to have paid for all your past, present, and future sins, and you can go to heaven. That's what it means. It's to put your trust in Jesus. Like it says in the most famous verse of the world, John 3.16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. See, the Bible teaches us time and time again that the only way you're going to heaven is by putting your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did, not what you do. See, many people claim to be Christians and say, Oh yeah, I'm going to heaven because I believe in Jesus, and I'm a good person, and I got baptized, and I read my Bible, and I do this and I do that. Well, they're not trusting Jesus Christ, they're trusting themselves. And the Bible says if they're not trusting Jesus Christ, they're going to hell. Ephesians 3 and 9 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. The Bible said it's not of yourself, it's not of your own works, it's just faith alone in Christ alone that gets you to heaven. And a lot of people find that really hard to understand. Now they look at the Bible and think, yeah, but you've got to follow the commands, you've got to do this, you've got to do that. Yeah, look, as a child of God, when you get saved, when you become one of God's children by faith in Christ Jesus, which is what Galatians 3.26 says for you, all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, once you become that child, God's going to punish you in life, He's going to reward you in life. However, the only way you become that child, the only way that you could ever get to heaven is by what Jesus Christ did, not what you do. Once you receive that gift, that's it, it's a gift, you're saved. The Bible says, in fact, in John 10.28, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. See, once you're saved, you've received that gift, you've become a child of God. You could never go to hell, otherwise Jesus Christ lied when He said all you had to do was believe. He lied when He said that you shall never perish. And that's the Gospel. Gospel means good news. The good news is that your sins have been paid for, all you've got to do is receive that gift, and in fact, in Romans 10.9, the Bible reads that If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised thee from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It says in verse 13 of Romans 10, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So if you believe, if you want to put your faith, your trust in Jesus Christ, just ask Him. And I'd like to lead you in a short prayer. Now if you believe everything I've just said, if you believe that you're a sinner, you believe that the wages of sin is death, that you deserve hell, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that He died, was buried and rose again to pay for your sins, and that all you've got to do is put your faith and trust in Him, and once you've done that, there is no way you could lose that salvation, then please just repeat after me. Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, I know I deserve hell, I believe that you died, was buried and rose again to pay for my sins, I trust in you now and I need you. Please take me to heaven when I die. Amen. If you believe that and you've called on the name of the Lord for salvation, congratulations, you're saved, and I'll be seeing you in heaven one day. God bless you. You You You