 Amen Mark chapter 16. So of course the story of the ladies going to the tomb and seeing that Jesus was risen. Happy resurrection day and that's the day that is marked down in the Bible here in Mark chapter 16 when they discovered the empty tomb. So of course they are there on Sunday morning the first day of the week. I'm not preaching on when Jesus was crucified or the timeline of that event this morning. I believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. The Bible is pretty clear about that. Many people think, you know, Good Friday. Good Friday makes no sense at all, you know, for three days and three nights in the tomb. There's no way to basically figure out that Jesus, you know, one does not equal three basically. So I believe that Wednesday is the best explanation. Thursday has got some credibility as well, but it's definitely not Friday. So they go to the tomb early Sunday morning and they see that Jesus is in the tomb. In Matthew 12 verse 40 the Bible says this for his Jonas was three days and three nights in the Wales belly. So shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So he was put in the tomb early Thursday morning. You have Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night. That's three, okay? That's three days and three nights. But look down at Mark chapter 16 and we come to early Sunday morning. So early Sunday morning, like the early AM hours of Sunday morning. And it says when the Sabbath was passed, which is Saturday. Remember there was two Sabbaths because of the Passover, but Saturday was the regular weekly Sabbath. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Solomon brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said amongst themselves, who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? So this morning we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Savior of the world. And what does that mean for us? And what I want to do this morning is kind of have a little bit different take on the resurrection. You say, you know, it's kind of hard as a pastor. Like you preach, you know, on Easter, it's the same message or the same. But there's always a different way of looking at things in the Bible. There's always a different way. The Bible is infinite. So it's really not that difficult to come up with different Easter messages. But this morning I want to look at a phrase that is in the Bible that's not in Mark chapter 16. Go to Jeremiah chapter 10 in verse number 20. So we're celebrating the risen Savior, the risen Jesus Christ this morning. And there's a phrase that is used to describe God in the Bible. And it is numerous times in the Bible, dozens of times in the Bible. You will see this phrase describing God. And I think that fits, this phrase fits perfectly for a resurrection Sunday, a resurrection, a day where we celebrate the risen Jesus Christ, the source of our salvation. Look down at Jeremiah chapter 10 and look at verse number 20. Let me just give you one instance of this phrase used to describe God. The Bible says this in verse number 10, or verse number, I'm sorry, Jeremiah chapter 10, verse number 10. The Bible says, but the Lord is the true God, He is the living God and an everlasting King at His wrath the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. So as we celebrate the resurrection this morning, I really want to focus in on this phrase, the living God. The living God. Over and over and over in the Bible we see God described as what? Not just God as the living God. Like he's the only one. There's not another one. He's not a living God. He is the living God. It's one of the ultimate demonstrations of this attribute of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I'm going to give you three points this morning on this idea that we serve a living God this morning. The first one is this. The first one is this and is demonstrated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the first point is very simple, and I won't spend a lot on this first point, but the living God, the living God is the only way we can live. The only way that we can live spiritually is through the living God, and that is not an accident. It is only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can live. It is only through that. Turn to John chapter 14 in verse number 6. Look, you said that seems pretty simple, pastor. Well, it's not that simple to people today. It's not that simple to people today. I had somebody I talked to yesterday. My wife went and we did some visits yesterday, and I had somebody tell me yesterday that I had never met before and never talked to. Well, you know God, he's got a lot of different names, and everybody, certain people call God different names, but we all worship the same God. Wrong! We do not all worship the same God. Look down to John chapter 14 in verse number 6. Jesus sayeth unto him, I am the way. Notice, I mean, look, you should read this verse with the proper emphasis. I am the way, the truth, and the life, meaning there's only one way. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. When you see the little bumper stickers, they always leave that part of the verse off. When you see the little refrigerator magnets, they always leave that part off. I am the way, the truth, and the life, end statement. That's not the whole verse. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. So I told that man yesterday. A very nice way. I stood in his yard. I told him, no, that's not correct. There's only one way. There's only one name. I mean, the Bible literally says this. There's none other name under heaven given among men. Whereby we must be saved. There's only one way to be saved. So when somebody comes up to you and says, you know, you ask somebody how you get to heaven, and they say, we'll just have faith in God. Just have faith in God. What's God's name? Well, you know, His name is Jesus. That's who it is. That's the only name. That is the only name that you can trust in that will actually lead you to salvation. It's not just God. He has a lot of names. The living God has only one only begotten Son, and that is the name that we must trust on for salvation. So it is only through the living God. The first point is very simple. The living God, turn to Matthew chapter 16. Turn to Matthew chapter 16. The living God is the only way that man can live. Look at Matthew chapter 16 in verse number 16. Jesus asked Peter this question. Jesus asked Peter, who do you think that I am? Who do people say that I am? Who do you think that I am? And look what Peter says in verse number 16 of Matthew 16. And Simon Peter asked him and said, Thou art the Christ, the what? The Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said in the name of blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood had not revealed unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Without the Son of the living God and without this event that we celebrate this morning, there is no chance of life. Jesus Christ is the only way. The world doesn't want to say that today. Christian churches don't want to say that today. Billy Graham didn't even say that. But the Bible is very clear that Jesus Christ is the only way. If we care about people that's what we will tell them. We are not here to lie to people. Some pastor that will get up and tell you that God has many names and all these different things and he doesn't really care about anything is a liar and a fraud and does not love the people that he is talking to. Without Jesus Christ and the resurrection there is no chance of life. It's not complicated. But people don't want to hear these truths today. Here's the second point. Turn to Daniel chapter 6. There's too many examples in the Bible of this one, but I just chose Daniel chapter 6. I really like Daniel in the Bible. Not just because it's my middle name, but Daniel is just such a great character in the Bible. Look at Daniel chapter 6 and the second point is this. The second point is this. The living God is active. The living God is active. The Bible does not teach a God that is a God of deism. This deist idea of this God that just kind of made everything, set everything in motion and then doesn't get involved. The death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the biggest example in the Bible of God being active, of God being involved, of God getting involved in the lives of men. Look at Daniel chapter 6 for another example. Daniel chapter 6, Daniel finds himself in trouble here under Persian rule. Remember Daniel, he was a prophet during Babylonian captivity when the lower kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire. Just a few years later, the Babylonian Empire, Daniel quickly rose to second in command of the Babylonian Empire under King Nebuchadnezzar and then they were taken over by the Persians just a few years after the captivity. So one empire replaced by another empire, but Daniel was so valuable that they're like, hey, we're overthrowing this entire empire and just wiping everybody out, but we're keeping this guy. And we're not only keeping this guy, but we're putting him second in charge too. Basically, the prince of Persia, the king of Persia puts Daniel in charge of everything. Look at verse number one. It, please, Darius is set over the kingdom in 120 princes. So he's obviously got princes that he's delegating his power to, which should be over the whole kingdom, and of these three presidents of whom Daniel was first. So there was three, there was 120 princes, there was three presidents over those princes, and then Daniel was top of those three that the princes might give accounts under them and that the king should have no damage. So this king delegates his authority well. Then Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom. All the other rulers didn't like this. They didn't like that Daniel was liked and favored amongst the king. But look, this is a perfect example that is God that promotes. It is God that promotes. Don't go to work and say, oh, if I follow what all these rules are here, no, no, no, you go and you follow the Bible. You go and you follow the morals and the teachings of what God tells you to do in the Bible and God will promote you. You don't go and say, oh, if I just go and break all these rules like everybody else is breaking all these rules, then I can get ahead. No, it is God that promotes. And Daniel is a perfect example of this. Then the presidents and princes, they're conspiring against him. It's a real life conspiracy here. Then said these men, verse 5, we should not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. They're like, he doesn't do anything illegal. What are we going to do? We're going to have to make something up here that goes against his God. All the presidents and princes assembled together the king and said unto him, thus unto him, King Darius lived forever, flatterers. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes and the counselors and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of the king, he shall be cast into the dead of lions. So they make this rule, make this rule that you can't worship any God or even consult any other authority. They know Daniel praise. What was it, three times a day? No matter what? They're like, king for a whole month we're going to have anyone, they're only allowed to consult you. No matter what, the king, you know, probably a prideful person falls for this flattery and he says, well, that sounds pretty good. Now, oh king, establish a decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians. So the Medes and the Persians, they had a rule that once you sign the law, even the king himself couldn't go against it. Wherefore, King Darius signed the writing and the decree. Skip down to verse number 13. Keep in mind that the king loves Daniel. That's why he favors him. Then answered they and said before the king, that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardless not the oh king nor the decree that thou hast signed, but make it his petition three times a day. He's still praying three times a day they're saying. Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore, displeased with himself. He's like, oh, they tricked me, these people. And he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. So he tried to figure out a way to get around this law. And he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king and he said unto the king, now oh king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is that no decree nor statute with the king established may be changed. So they got Daniel in this case. Very foolish men, by the way. Do they think that the king is happy with them at this point? That's another story in itself. Let's skip down to verse number 20. So the king had to throw Daniel into the lion's den. And he did it. But then right away, after the sentence is carried out, after he was in the lion's den for a night, he rushes down to the lion's den. Look what he says in verse number 20. The king goes to Daniel and he came to the den and he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And he spake unto Daniel. He said, oh Daniel, servant of what? Servant of the living God. Is thy God whom thou service continually able to deliver thee from the lion's? What was the answer? The answer was yes. The living God intervenes. The living God is not some God that sets some, our God is not some God that set things in motion and does not intervene. And as he intervened for Daniel, look at Hebrews chapter 11. As he intervened for Daniel, he intervenes today. He intervenes for people both saved and unsaved today. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse number 33. I mean, how in the world did all these normal, uneducated, weak men throughout the Bible and women throughout the Bible, how did they achieve the things that they achieved? Why did God use the weakest? Why did he use? Why did he use a bunch of fishermen? Why did he use people that were just normal people to, you know, use the Holy Spirit through them to witness for him, to start this movement that started after the resurrection? Look at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 33. Look at this. Look at this. Stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a very similar situation. Literally thrown into a furnace that was so hot that the people that threw them in were burned up. And the living God intervened. The living God saved them, escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong, weak people, subdued nations through what? Through the power of the living God who intervenes. Waxed valiant in fight. People that weren't valiant became strong in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. How in the world did they enter the Promised Land with Joshua and defeat these nations that were stronger than them? And defeat all these armies that were bigger than them? There's no military explanation to it. There's no military explanation. I was just telling some of the guys. I'm reading a book, an eyewitness account of the last two years of the Civil War. One of the most interesting things about the book is that it's a lot of military strategy and numbers on how many people the Union lost versus the Confederacy. The Union lost more people than the Confederacy a long ways because typically an offensive operation is more costly for an army. These are just military strategies. There's one offs where one general is exceptionally smart and one general is exceptionally stupid and things like that. Then there's things like Thermopylae where there's some new military thing introduced or theory or strategy introduced. But in general, an army that constantly is on the offensive will just simply lose more people. It is really the army that wins is the bigger army, the nation with more resources that can continue to fund and just replace and build more weapons and build more equipment and throw more men at the situation. That's typical of military strategy and you'll see that throughout military history. However, the nation of Israel, they cross the river and they just defied all of that. Why? Because they had on their side the living God. That's why. And that's why God used weaker armies and weaker men because he wanted people to be able to look back and say, that doesn't make sense. Something else must have been going on there. Something else must have been intervening there because this goes against any strategy or any theory that men could put together. This is why the spies came back and 10 of the spies, before they even went to battle, 10 of the spies, they said, this doesn't make any sense that we would go to war against these people. There's more of them, they're bigger, they're stronger, we're going to lose. But what do they lack? Through faith they subdued kingdoms. We'll get to that one in just a second. Back to the point I'm trying to make here. The living God intervenes. The living God is active with mankind. From the beginning it will be like that until the end. So you see these people that say, oh, you know God is some magic man in the sky. You worship some fairy tale. The mistake the unsaved make when they say things like that, they assume that we worship a God that is make-believe. But no, we worship an active living God. And it makes no sense that he's not active because he hasn't been intervening because we've been seeing it happen throughout history, we see it happen in our lives. But just because they think that because they have never personally seen him or seen him, they think that they've never seen him or they think that they've never seen him intervene in their lives. This is what people think today. But the truth is they have seen him and he has intervened in their lives. Some people, many people, I don't like reporting this, but probably the majority of people have simply hardened their hearts to be able to ignore it. I can give you examples of this from just a few days ago. If you're a soul winner, you know this. I was talking to a person earlier this week. I was talking to this person at their door and this young man was about to go to jail. He was telling me how he's about to go to jail and he got in this situation where he assaulted somebody and he's going to go to jail for, he's said for maybe a year or so. And he said that, he got into some altercation and he said, you know, I've just really been pressed lately. He says, funny, you're here. Because I've really been pressed lately that, you know, on all these questions like where am I going to go? Because what did I ask him? I asked him if he knew he was going to go to heaven. And he said, boy, I've really been thinking a lot about that lately. Because of this situation that is happening to me, and you can tell he was worried about it. He was worried about it. He did it. He did it. He told me it was stupid. I should have done it. I should have done it. I got an altercation with somebody and I just, I just, you know, I should have never gotten physical. And I just, but since this, all these questions have been coming into my mind. I've just been thinking about all these things that you're bringing up to me. I've been thinking about them a lot in the last couple of weeks, he says to me. And he says, I know. And he says, I know I shouldn't have done what I did. I said, how did you know that? He's not saved. He doesn't know a word of the Bible. How did you know it was wrong? He's the one that told me that. I didn't tell him that. I'm not lecturing him on what he did. He says, I know it was wrong. I said, how did you know that it was wrong? I told him. I said, you have a living God that wrote his law in your heart. That's how you know. Because when you were born into this world, God wrote that law down in your heart. And that's how you're standing there today. You know nothing of what the Bible says, and you're telling me what you did was wrong. Tell me that's not God intervening for you. You have a living God. You have to ignore him. You have to shut it off. You think it's an accident? Some Baptist pastor walks into your driveway, and here you stand. Just yesterday, Benjamin ran into the same type of people. This man and his wife, maybe we've been talking about this for the last two days, non-stop. You think it's an accident? That we're here? Answering the questions that you've been asking each other for two days? You just want to, like, what in the world? I mean, I'm not saying we should, you know, smack him with the Bible, but I mean, hello! People ignore him, though. He is active. He is there. He did write the law. He wrote the law for a reason. So you would have moments like that. Turn to Romans chapter one. It's good to tell people when you get in situations like that. It's good to tell people, like, do you think it's an accident that I'm here with the Bible? Look, I don't know when he's special, but I'm standing here with the Word of God. And I'm willing to explain it to you. I'm no more special than you are. I'm just here with the answers in my hand. God is real. He's alive. He's active. Look at Romans chapter one. People have just gotten very good at ignoring him. I mean, look, because of this, the fact that people are breathing, the fact that they are thinking and contemplating is proof of this living God. Look down in Romans chapter one of verse number 20. The Bible says this, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Everybody is walking around with this law written in their heart, and they are walking around in the creation that God has made. And the fact that they're conscious, that they're consciousness, the fact that these questions keep coming into their mind, it's proof that God intervenes. But you can ignore them. You can ignore them. And if you read the rest of Romans one, you can turn against him. It's possible. But it's the world around us. And it's the cares. I'm talking about man's world around us. And it's the cares of man's world around us. It's the lusts of the flesh around us that suppress the natural search for the living God that is in every man. But he's there. And there's evidence of it for every single person who has ever lived. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. So the living God is the only way that we can achieve life or that any man can achieve life. The living God is active. We don't serve some inactive God that can't be seen, that can't be experienced, because God is and always will be active. The third one is this. And this isn't one you're going to hear a lot today. But the third one is this. Because we have a living God and the only way to life is through the living God and the only way that living God is active, the living God should be feared. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse number 26. You say by who? By everyone. By both the unsaved and the saved. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 26. The Bible says this. This is for somebody who is saved and is just abusing God's grace. Because look, if you're saved this morning, nothing's going to make you unsaved. You are saved as a gift. You are saved by trusting on the risen Jesus Christ that we celebrate this morning. You're not saved by 0.1% of anything that you've done. If you think that, you're not saved. You're saved by trusting in Jesus Christ. You're saved by trusting in the Son of the living God. But you go ahead and abuse that there's going to be chastisement coming your way. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26. If we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, the remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. It's like God's like, I don't know what I'm going to do with you. I've saved you. I've sealed you with the Holy Spirit. There's only one thing I can do with you. I'm not sending Jesus to die for you again. I'm not just going to have Jesus come and die every five minutes, which is what you would need. It's like there's no more sacrifice for sins. Instead, a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Look, everybody that died under God's judgment under Moses, they're not in hell. Like whether they trusted in the coming Saviors whether they're in hell or not is just saying like they literally died though. They physically died. Oh, how much sore punishment suppose ye shall ye be thought worthy who had trodden underfoot the Son of God and have counted the blood of the covenant where he was sanctified an unholy thing and had done despite unto the Spirit of grace. This is the Christian who's like, I'm saved. I know I'm saved. Hey, great. I'm glad you know that. And then they just despise God. They don't live according to how God wants him to live and he says what's going to happen to that person. He says we know that he has said vengeance belong to me. I will recompense saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judge who? His people. It is a fearful thing. He's not going to save people here. He's not going to save people trying to wake them up on the chastisement of God. Look, the chastisement of God on the believer, on your life on this earth is nothing to shake a stick at. That's what he's trying to do. He's trying to wake people up. You will find people. I even asked this question myself before I was saved and somebody gave me the gospel. I even asked somebody myself they're telling me the gospel's free. All I have to do is just trust on Jesus. And I'm like, you're telling me I can be a drunk and beat my wife and I'll still go to heaven. As long as I trust in Jesus. And the answer is yes. But God will beat me. God will beat me possibly to death is what Hebrews 10 is saying. The chastisement of God is nothing to joke about. I mean, you're saved. Great. But don't abuse that because God will chastise His people severely. And look, as far as the unsaved goes turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. As far as the unsaved goes they should fear the Lord as well. But they won't as much as they should just because they don't take Him seriously. But they should. And people in the Bible knew this. David knew this. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 17 and look at verse 26. Goliath was coming out and he was challenging the army of Israel. He was challenging the army of Israel and he was just making fun of them and they were all just terrified and in fear. And David was just like, look at his reaction here. Look what he says in verse 26. David knew that Goliath should fear God. Goliath knew that even these pagan people even though they didn't, they should. Look at verse 26. It says, And David spake unto the men that stood by him saying, What shall be done to the man that killed this Philistine? And take it the way the reproach from Israel. And he's saying, look, it's an embarrassing thing. Israel has reproach upon it because they're allowing somebody like this. And look at this. Look what he says. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine? This unbeliever is what he's saying that he should defy the armies of what? Of the living God. You know what David is saying? Doesn't this guy know that God intervenes? Doesn't this guy know that God is active? Doesn't this guy know? I mean, he hears what Goliath is saying. He's like, he's afraid for him. He's like, he's defying the armies. He's not of Israel. He's defying the armies of the living God. David was insulted for God. Look at 2 Kings 19. Same thing with the armies of Syria. And Rab Shaki, who comes and just starts insulting God. 2 Kings 19, look at verse number 4. Everybody, saved and unsaved, should fear the living God. Look at 2 Kings 19, verse number 4. The Bible says that maybe the Lord God will hear all the words of Rab Shaki, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to what? To reproach the living God. And he will reproach the words which the Lord God has heard. Wherefore, lift up thy prayer unto the remnant that are left. They're saying like, we should pray that God intervenes here. He intervened. Nations that reproach the living God are systematically destroyed. If you don't get a theme from the Bible, look, nations are not individuals. Nations are judged on this earth. You are not saved as a nation. You are saved as an individual belief or not belief. Nations are judged now. And you just see that again and again and again in the Old Testament. Why do you think it's there? Nations that, no, think about this. Nations that reproach the living God are judged harshly on this earth. Do you believe me? Our president a couple days ago declared Easter Sunday as Trans Recognition Day. That's real. I had to read it twice. That's a real thing. That really happened. That will not go unanswered. Why? Because everybody should fear the living God. Why? Because God intervenes. Not because of anything I will do or you will do, but because God is active and he's a living God. And people that reproach him, nations that reproach him will be destroyed. I actually think that there's a silver lining here and I'm going to talk about that tonight. I'm going to get into that this evening. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter this morning. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter number four. I mean, everyone should fear the living God. This is, you know, churches that are removing all of, you know, talk of hell. Churches that are removing all of God's wrath so they can be nicer. I can just tell you how to get a bigger bank account or whatever they care about. And then we'll send a financial advisor to your house and tell you how you can, you know, give more money to us. Hello, what are people doing in these churches? Hello, what are people doing in these churches? What are people doing listening to this? What are Christians who are saved and believe the Bible doing listening to this garbage? The living God is active and the living God should be feared by everyone. Look at 1 Timothy chapter four. Look at 1 Timothy chapter four. My last point is this. My last point is this and this is really for us this morning. They're all for us this morning, but this one really I want you to focus on. The living God should be trusted. The living God should be trusted. Look at 1 Timothy chapter four and verse number ten. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter four and verse number ten, it says, therefore we both labor and suffer reproach. Guess what? As you live amongst a nation that at least has leaders that reproach the living God at this time anyway, you will be reproached because why? Because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men. This is such a great verse here. It totally disproves Calvinism in this one verse. It says this living God, we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. You know what those last two points of that verse say? They say that God is that, it proves God wants all to be saved. It calls God the Savior of all men. God wants to be. It is His will that all men should be saved. That is what God wants. It is not God's fault that people ignore Him. It is not God's fault that people turn against Him. It is not God's fault that people decide to hate Him. God wants all, it is His will that all would be saved, especially of those that believe, but only those that believe will be saved. See what's saying there? Doesn't that make perfect sense? So look, I pray that you're all saved this morning and if you're not, ask somebody after service. But you are saved through trust in the living God. You are saved through the trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of God's Son, the Son of the living God. You are not saved by following Him. You are not saved by turning from your sins or repenting of sins or whatever you want to call it. You were only saved by trusting in Him. But guess what? You had at least enough faith to trust in Jesus for your salvation, which guess what? You got something from. You were given eternal life personally for that. So my question for you this morning is this. Why can't you then trust in the rest of His Word? Why can't you trust Him going forward in your Christian life? Why would somebody get saved and then never even open the Bible to see what God has for their life going forward? Why would they not do that? Why can't we trust the Word of the living God? Because God doesn't just give us this path to salvation. He tells us, hey, now here's what I want you to do. I mean, wasn't that Mark 16? The end of Mark 16? Jesus literally saying, hey, there you go. Now go tell everybody else. He tells you what to do now. He didn't just save you. He tells you what to do now. I mean, you got something out of salvation. I mean, personally at this point, it's harder and harder for me to believe every single day that people would choose the way of this world over the Word of God. I mean, who in the world, this is just from my viewpoint, who in the world could look at this country? What believer could look at this country and the things that are happening and conclude that the Bible was the problem? I mean, what in the world? Who could do that in South Dakota? And I guess Georgia, they passed some new law, like literally limits free speech. Isn't South Dakota, this governor of South Dakota, like all the conservatives like, oh, pass a law that literally makes it illegal to preach that, look, it's to preach that it was the Jews that killed Jesus. She makes like Matthew 24 illegal. Look, I'm not mad at people that are of the Jewish religion, but they need to hear the gospel. But to pass laws that are against preaching the truth, look folks, you cannot choose Jesus Christ and the religion responsible for killing Him. I mean, how backwards much to be to believe that the Bible was the problem today? I mean, I preached a sermon. I preached a sermon at first worked called Honky Tonk Hip Hop. And I compared the themes of hip hop music versus country music. And you know what my first point was in the sermon? My first point was hip hop especially, but they both kind of do. Hip hop especially promotes the abuse of women. And somebody said to me a couple of days ago, I'm like man, that sermon was prophetic. Because you know, P. Dummy or whatever his name is is being arrested for abusing women and all this stuff. He's been singing about it for 30 years. He's been singing music and promoting people that sing music that's like, hey, we abuse women for 30 years. And I'm some prophet. What in the world? I mean, they're telling you what they're doing. They're telling you, we worship the devil. And there was like, wow, they worship the devil? They're telling you, we want your kids. We want to grab your kids. We want to pervert their minds. We want to destroy them. People are like, they're after our kids? Can that be true? They're telling you. They're telling you. They're coming out and they're saying it. How backwards must you be? Or how far? How far into the sand must your head be? To be like, I think the Bible, the problem. Facebook now is graying out Bible verse posts. We have to click an extra button where it says, this is sensitive. I don't even know what it says. Sensitive or graphic or violent content. And then it's like a King James Bible verse. Because the Bible is the problem. We're done with Facebook, by the way. Church announcement. I told the online manager, blow us out of this thing. I don't want anything to do with it. Why? Because it's bad. It's completely all bad. I'll preach a whole sermon on it, or I'll tell you after church or whatever you want. But it's all bad. There's nothing good there. There's nothing good there. But look, I'll talk about the craziness of a lot of this tonight and how there's a big silver lining here. And I do believe that there is a silver lining here. But the point is this. Back to the point. The clowns of clown world. And the less separated from it you become, some of the things in the Bible might even seem to be radical to you. If you don't know what's in the Bible. And all you do is fill your head with the garbage that this world wants to fill you with. I mean, don't hold illogical positions. As a Christian. You can't, don't think that you can do what everybody else does. Don't think that you can go where they go. Don't think that you can see what they see. Don't think that you can engage in what they engage in. Don't think that you can speak like they speak. Think like they think. And suddenly you won't reap what they reap. You won't become unsaved. But you will reap. Turn to Proverbs chapter 3. If you don't want those results, then you need to trust the living God. I mean, thankfully he gave you his word. But people, they'll get so entrenched in worldly things, then maybe even the Bible seems extreme to even a person that is saved. There's less and less and less knowledge of the Bible out there, folks. It's not getting any better. I meet more and more people every single month, every single year that haven't even heard of Jesus. Especially young people. Typically people would have heard of Jesus five years ago. Now you're meeting a lot of young people, never even heard of him. Look at Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 5. We must, as saved believers, we must still trust the living God. We must trust his word. Look at Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 5. The Bible says this, what? It says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And lean not onto thine own understanding. As things get crazier and crazier, thine own understanding is going to get worse and worse. The temptations of the flesh are going to get worse and worse. The less they put in front of you, even as a believer, are going to get worse and worse. Satan can't make you unsaved, but he can make you unprofitable. Just trust in the Lord. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy past. He'll tell you everything what you need to do. You don't even need to know anything. You know what it means? Look, if you just knew, it wouldn't be trust. If you just knew, it wouldn't be trust. Even if you read something in the Bible, you just have to accept this. Like, hey, you know what? If you read it, do it. If you hear it preached, just implement it. That's what trust means. Like it doesn't make sense to me. Lean not onto thine own understanding. You've been corrupted. You've been corrupted. Look at Matthew 24. Look at Matthew 24, verse number 35. Matthew 24, look at verse number 35. See, Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Word. And the Bible says in Matthew 24, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. We have the Word of God. We have the answer. It's just a willingness to trust in it. Notice at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 11, when it talked about all those wonderful things that those people were able to accomplish. All those weak men and women were able to accomplish. How does the chapter start out? It says through faith. Why? Because they trusted. Daniel's like, whatever, I guess. I'm not stopping praying. I'm just going to trust what God says. And you know what, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? I love their statement. I'm going to paraphrase it, but they're like, if God saves us, he saves us. If not, he doesn't. Whatever. We're not going against his Word. They trust his Word. Like I'm following the Lord, kill me, whatever. I'm following the Lord. You can't go to church anymore. Hey, whatever. Do your worst. I'm following the Lord. I'll follow the Lord. Because you know what? I'm way more afraid of him than I am of any man. I get it. There's people that can put fear in you. And we shouldn't have that fear. But look, we're men. We're women. We're flesh. You just fear the Lord. Fear the Lord more. I'm way more afraid of God than I am of you or anybody in this world. Look, folks. Jesus is the Word. And he's risen. And his Word will not pass away. He's the eternal King. That means it's just like forever. Forever, he's the King. We have a living God this Easter morning. We have a living God that is active on this earth with us. That is not... Look, Jesus was here and he lived what you're living. He lived the temptations that you can't get away from. He lived all these things and he succeeded against them all. Yet without sin. He lived amongst... He lived amongst a nation that was way worse than ours. There was way sicker and anti-God than ours. This Roman Empire that was of Jesus' time. But guess what? He's here and he's available to you. His Word is sitting right in front of you this morning. He not only wants you to be saved, but he wants you to follow him after salvation. And he gave you instructions to do so. So look, trust in this. Trust in this. This Easter morning. Say, what did you learn Easter morning? You already knew that Jesus rose from the dead when he came to church this morning. But you learned that you should trust him in everything. Just trust him in everything and you know what? The more you trust him in everything, the more sense. You may not like it, but it makes perfect sense. I'm not confused about anything that's happening today. I don't like seeing it. I don't like people reproaching the living God. But I'm not confused about anything. There's a lot of people that are confused. People tell me that all the time. Older lady yesterday. Beautiful, wonderful older lady. My wife sat down and visited with yesterday. And this gave us just like, it's crazy out here. It's crazy. And she's pointing to her front door. And I'm like, agree, 100%. But here's the thing, folks. Take advantage of this. Take advantage of this because who's going to hurt you when you have that? Who can do anything to you when you trust in the living God in everything that you do? When you just have Jesus directing your past. I mean, there will be no excuse. Just look at the front of your bulletin. I'll read for you Philippians 2. There will be no excuse for anyone. There's so many people, pastor, that have no interest in the Bible. They're not going to get saved. They don't seem to want to care if they're going to heaven or not. But at the name of Jesus, every knee. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Many people, when they do that, it will be too late. When you've been in hell for thousands of years and you're pulled out and standing in front of Jesus Christ, it's too late for you. But that tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Right before they're thrown into the lake of fire. We have a living God this morning. Jesus really rose from the dead. He was seen by hundreds of people. It was not a hidden resurrection. That's why I put this as the verse of the week. He was seen above 500 brethren at once. The resurrecting of Jesus Christ was not hidden from anybody. Neither will his second coming be hidden from anybody. It's not going to be poof when all your clothes are sitting here and I'm like, you know, well, I guess I'm gone too. That wouldn't make any sense. Everyone will see Jesus coming back. It's not some fantasy book where it's going to be hidden. Because we have a living God who is real. He's active. He's involved. He should be feared and he should be followed. By us especially. So happy resurrection day. Happy living God day. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.