Shownotes
When we consider Easter, it’s easy to focus on the crucifixion and resurrection and forget about Jesus’ burial. Pastor Kevin explains the significance of Jesus' burial and its relevance to our faith.
Scriptures Referenced
Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Psalm 22:18; Isaiah 53:9; John 3:9-15; 8:34-36; 19:31-42; Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 2:9; 1 John 4:16-18
About Springhouse
If you’re looking for a church in Smyrna, TN that is focused on Loving Big, Living Truth, and Healthy Family, we’d love to connect with you. We are home to a vibrant children’s ministry, powerful middle school and youth ministries, and incredible ministries for men and women of all ages. Our local and global outreaches include partnerships with missionaries in the US and abroad, Isaiah 117 House, local retirement communities, and more.
Additionally, we are home to Springhouse Theatre, an award-winning theatre in the Nashville area. Through the theatre, we serve both the greater Nashville theatre community, and thousands of patrons each year, and we are expanding our vision to impact the culture through the arts into additional mediums and through an expanding network of relationships.
We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.
Additional Resources
- Follow the podcast to listen on the go
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- Join our livestream
- Church website
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 10:30 AM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
It's a good day to be in the house of the Lord. If you're joining
Speaker:us on live stream, thank you for joining us. It is Spirit break
Speaker:week and, some people decide to go out of town. So I hope that they
Speaker:are on a on live stream today. And
Speaker:next week is resurrection Sunday and that is and and
Speaker:guys we should be excited about that. But do you know that he didn't just
Speaker:resurrect on March 31st? It's every day we get to
Speaker:celebrate that Jesus is alive. Are you glad Jesus is alive
Speaker:today? Before I get in too deep into where I
Speaker:wanna go, today, let me make a few announcements leading up to this week. This
Speaker:week is Holy week. And so, as a part of Holy Week, we have some
Speaker:things happening here at Springhouse that we want you to be aware of. First of
Speaker:all, on Thursday night, we'll be closing out the series lessons from the table
Speaker:that pastor Jonathan, Jesus has been leading.
Speaker:And, man, just a wonderful word each Thursday. If you haven't had an
Speaker:opportunity, go back and look at that online. And, it's
Speaker:rich and you'll learn a lot, and you don't have to have come to the
Speaker:last ones to come this Thursday and be a part of it. It's Maundy Thursday.
Speaker:It would be a great thing to do during Holy Week to come and worship
Speaker:with us from 6 to 7 on Thursday. And then, again, on Good
Speaker:Friday, we're going to be meeting from 6 to 7 and having a worship
Speaker:service, that evening in this room from 6 to 7, we'll also be doing
Speaker:communion together, on Good Friday. So we want you to be a part of that
Speaker:as well. And then of course, Easter Sunday, Jesus is
Speaker:alive, we're gonna celebrate. As I mentioned last
Speaker:week, I do have a favor to ask. If you are not serving in
Speaker:any capacity next Sunday and your and your schedule
Speaker:allows, if you could come to the early gathering, they will be
Speaker:repeat gatherings. You won't miss anything. That will just make some
Speaker:more room in this gathering for those new people who will be coming that
Speaker:week. We find, typically throughout history, we have
Speaker:more people show up on Easter Sunday and this service tends to get kind of
Speaker:packed out. So if you're able to come to the early gathering, I would appreciate
Speaker:the following week we're gonna have something special happening here at Spring House. We're gonna
Speaker:have the Lee University Singers are gonna lead us in worship and that's gonna be
Speaker:followed by an outdoor picnic, okay? So the reason why we're putting our
Speaker:picnic there is because we want an opportunity to
Speaker:get to know the people who come on Easter Sunday and the week after.
Speaker:So next week, if you if the people you bring enjoy the service,
Speaker:enjoy the gathering, and you want to invite them back, let them know there's gonna
Speaker:be a picnic the next week and we will feed them. People like food, that's
Speaker:what I learned. People like food, so we will feed them. We want them to
Speaker:come and be a part of that. The thought I don't have a slide for
Speaker:this, but the following week, Jonathan Evans is gonna be with us and that's gonna
Speaker:be a real, real rich, Sunday, as well. So God
Speaker:has saved the very best for Amen. Right now. And,
Speaker:and I'm so grateful for the word that the Lord has given me,
Speaker:today. We are in the middle of a mini series within a series. And,
Speaker:we've been talking about His word at the beginning of the, of the year. We
Speaker:are in His life, and then, in a few weeks, we're gonna be opening up
Speaker:His church for the remainder, of the year. And within the His
Speaker:life, portion of our series, we're doing this mini series because it is
Speaker:Easter. And last week pastor Justin did a phenomenal job of unpackaging
Speaker:It is the truth. Jesus went through the torture on the cross
Speaker:for us and we need to hear that and be reminded of that.
Speaker:Man, sometimes we can skip right over those portions of scripture that we don't want
Speaker:to feel, but sometimes we need to feel the whole
Speaker:truth, to to better lean in and to understand.
Speaker:And then this week we're gonna talk about his burial. Next week we're gonna talk
Speaker:of course about, his resurrection. And so, we're God to stand today
Speaker:and read from John theater 19. If you'll stand with me. And we're
Speaker:going to start reading. Here we go.
Speaker:Now it was the day of prayer and the next day was to be
Speaker:a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not
Speaker:want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath,
Speaker:they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies
Speaker:taken down. The soldiers therefore came and
Speaker:broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with
Speaker:Jesus and then those of the other. But when they
Speaker:came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they
Speaker:did not break his legs. Instead, one of the
Speaker:shoulders pierced Jesus side with a Spirit,
Speaker:bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man
Speaker:who saw it has given testimony and his testimony
Speaker:is true. He knows that he tells the truth and he
Speaker:testifies so that you also may believe.
Speaker:These things happen so that the scripture would be fulfilled.
Speaker:Not one of his bones will be broken and as another
Speaker:scripture says, they will look on the one they have
Speaker:pierced. Later, Joseph of Arimathea
Speaker:asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph
Speaker:was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because
Speaker:he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission,
Speaker:he came and took the body away. He was
Speaker:accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had
Speaker:visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a
Speaker:mixture of myrrh aloes and about £75.
Speaker:Taking Jesus body, the 2 of them wrapped it with the
Speaker:spices in strips of linen. This was an accordance
Speaker:with the Jew burial customs. At the place
Speaker:where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden and in
Speaker:the garden, a new tomb in which no one who'd ever
Speaker:been laid because it was the Jewish day of preparation
Speaker:and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus
Speaker:there. Father, I thank you for your word and that it brings life.
Speaker:My prayer today is that the dark things would be exposed
Speaker:and that light would penetrate darkness and that
Speaker:redemption would draw near. I love you today in Jesus
Speaker:name. Amen. You may be seated.
Speaker:We're talking, this week about,
Speaker:about his burial. In the middle of looking at his
Speaker:death and his resurrection is his is his burial. Does anybody
Speaker:like a good game of hide and seek? Anybody? When was the
Speaker:last time you played hide and seek? In fact, I'm gonna count and if you
Speaker:guys would go hide. No. I love a good game of
Speaker:hide and seek. In fact, I like playing hide hide and seek right now. When
Speaker:my kids try to look for me, I'm hiding every time, but they always seem
Speaker:to find me. But I love I love playing
Speaker:hide and seek. In fact, a few years ago, I remember I was at the
Speaker:school and, the teens at the school enjoy a good lock in.
Speaker:They love staying up all night and they love being at the school during the
Speaker:lock in. And, and one of the things that they like to do during
Speaker:the lock in is play hide and seek. And so what I what I
Speaker:did because hide and seek is no fun in the light, so I went and
Speaker:cut all the power off to the building and we played hide and seek.
Speaker:And I'm a really good hider. And so I went and I found
Speaker:a great hiding space. I went into the library of the school and
Speaker:I laid, I laid horizontally on the top of
Speaker:one of the bookshelves. And, and I just laid there and
Speaker:it was 20, 25, 30 minutes that they
Speaker:were searching and looking for me all over the school. And what was so
Speaker:fun was when they would circle the bookcase looking for me
Speaker:and I would literally be laying there on top and they had no idea. And
Speaker:I would hear them, they would say, Maybe he's down on this end of the
Speaker:hall, or maybe he's in a locker, or maybe he's in the restroom, or maybe
Speaker:you know, and they could not find me. And I was content to lay there
Speaker:all night long. I had no there was no rush for me to
Speaker:get out of a hiding spot. I would have let them just continue to look
Speaker:and look and look, but something happened, that caused
Speaker:my hiding place to be discovered. The
Speaker:bookcase crashed down onto the floor. So here
Speaker:I go a tumbling down on all of the books with a loud cry
Speaker:and all of the teens knew where I was whenever I
Speaker:screamed out loud from falling, on the on the on the bookcase.
Speaker:But man, I pride myself on being a really good hider during hide and
Speaker:seek. But something that I'm not so very proud of is that I'm good at
Speaker:hiding my sin.
Speaker:If I'm really honest, I am really really good at hiding
Speaker:the things that really need light in my life.
Speaker:And I wonder if anybody could join me in that sentiment.
Speaker:That we become really really good at
Speaker:hiding. Paul writes a letter to the Corinthians
Speaker:and he wants to be sure that they understand the very
Speaker:basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's in 1 Corinthians
Speaker:15 he says this, Now brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the
Speaker:gospel I pray to you church you have received, and on which you have
Speaker:taken your stand. By this gospel, you are saved. If you
Speaker:hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed
Speaker:in vain. For what I received, I passed on to you
Speaker:as a first importance. And this is the gospel,
Speaker:that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
Speaker:that he was buried, and that he was raised on the
Speaker:3rd pray according to the scriptures. So
Speaker:the gospel literally translates into good news, and the
Speaker:good news is that Jesus Christ died according to the
Speaker:scriptures. He was buried and he was raised again
Speaker:3 days later. That is the crux of the gospel. But
Speaker:we spend a lot of time, especially around this time of year, we spend
Speaker:a lot of time focusing on His death, which we should, and we
Speaker:spend a lot of time next week focusing on His resurrection,
Speaker:which we should, but there's this middle section that is
Speaker:included in the picture
Speaker:encapsulation of the gospel. His death, his burial, and
Speaker:his resurrection. Well, the reason that the burial is a
Speaker:very important part of the 3 piece
Speaker:encapsulation of the gospel, the reason that's important is because we need to
Speaker:understand that Jesus Christ was emphatically dead.
Speaker:If he was not dead, he would have not been able to raise from the
Speaker:dead. He was emphatically
Speaker:dead. He did not faint. He did not fall asleep.
Speaker:There was a Gnostic movement that believed that Jesus wouldn't even have a
Speaker:body. He was just a he was just a figure or a spirit. No,
Speaker:Jesus had a body and Jesus died,
Speaker:completely died on the cross. And he died at
Speaker:the moment when he uttered those words, it is
Speaker:finished. Three powerful words. Of course, he
Speaker:did not say it is finished. He, he said he did not say it in
Speaker:English, but that was the translation. It is finished,
Speaker:meaning it is done. Now, did it is finished mean
Speaker:that the work of Jesus Christ was just done and
Speaker:we just move forward in time? No, it is finished
Speaker:meant that Jesus commission from his father had
Speaker:come to completion, but the redemption of mankind was just
Speaker:beginning. The redemption of mankind was just
Speaker:beginning. The Roman crucifixion, as
Speaker:Justin pointed out last week, was one of the or
Speaker:the most grueling, shameful
Speaker:ways to die. Painful, horrific
Speaker:ways to die. The Romans wanted to ensure that
Speaker:there was complete and utter suffering when it came to the
Speaker:cross. And suffer, Jesus did. And
Speaker:so what the Romans would do after they had
Speaker:crucified the people is they would leave the bodies
Speaker:on the crosses for days, perhaps sometimes weeks.
Speaker:And sometimes because of the way Justin was talking about how the
Speaker:feet were nailed in the hands and they would have to pull up for breath
Speaker:and then allow themselves to go down until they suffocated to
Speaker:death. Some of this would sometimes this will last for a few days
Speaker:because they were able to pull themselves up, but theatre Romans would allow the
Speaker:bodies to stay on the cross for a long period of time.
Speaker:And oftentimes they were crucified up on a hill so that all the
Speaker:people who would look up on those people who had died would know you better
Speaker:not cross the Roman law or this could become your fate.
Speaker:And so these bodies would just decay. They would be if they were
Speaker:when they were taken off the cross, they were just thrown into the trash heap.
Speaker:They weren't given dignity. They were not given a dignified burial or
Speaker:any type of graveside service. These bodies were as
Speaker:if they were trash. Crows would nibble at
Speaker:them. Dogs would, they were nasty. They
Speaker:smelled. These bodies were left there for a very long
Speaker:time, except for this occasion. Why? Because of
Speaker:this occasion. Well, this was a very special
Speaker:time period that Jesus was crucified. This was the day
Speaker:before the Sabbath. The Sabbath was about to happen, but not just any Sabbath.
Speaker:This was the Passover. And those who
Speaker:crucified Jesus wanted to get home to their families to
Speaker:enjoy supper, to enjoy their time of Sabbath without having to know
Speaker:that these crosses with these individuals were were on were on
Speaker:on on the crosses decaying there. What's more, their
Speaker:law told them that they had to take the bodies down. This
Speaker:is what it says in Deuteronomy. If someone has committed a crime worthy of death
Speaker:and is executed and hung on a tree, the body must not remain
Speaker:hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the
Speaker:body the same day for anyone who is hung is cursed in the
Speaker:sight of God. And so they were ordered by their law, by their
Speaker:custom to take these bodies down before the Sabbath and get them
Speaker:buried. And so what did they do?
Speaker:Well, the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and they said,
Speaker:hey Pilate, according to our customs, we need to have
Speaker:these bodies taken down and they need to be buried. So could you please
Speaker:God? Would you please go and break the legs of the people on
Speaker:the crosses so that their death could be quick and we could
Speaker:remove the bodies from the cross? You see, when you break the
Speaker:legs, that means that any chance of them lifting up and getting prayer,
Speaker:it's taken away from them. And so in a way,
Speaker:breaking the legs was actually an act of mercy because
Speaker:death happened a lot quicker. Well, it
Speaker:was customary in Roman and Roman times that there would be 4
Speaker:Roman soldiers assigned to the cross,
Speaker:assigned to do the work and they sent the 4 Roman shoulders up and they
Speaker:see the person who is hung to the left of Jesus and
Speaker:they beat the legs of the person to the left and break his
Speaker:legs. He dies. They go to the person on the right of
Speaker:Jesus and they take their club and they beat the legs and
Speaker:they break the legs of the person to the right and he dies.
Speaker:But as they gaze upon Jesus, they notice that
Speaker:Jesus has already died. And
Speaker:instead of breaking his legs, the Roman soldier
Speaker:takes a spear and thrust it into Jesus side.
Speaker:And the word tells us that when that thrust happened, out of
Speaker:the wound, out of the Holy came both blood and
Speaker:water. That's significant. That's significant.
Speaker:Hold on to that thought for just a second. Over in Numbers, Exodus and Psalm
Speaker:34, we are told that none of Jesus' bones would be
Speaker:broken. None of Jesus' bones were
Speaker:broken. They didn't break his legs. Why didn't they break their
Speaker:theatre, his legs? He had, they had every right to do it. That was the
Speaker:order that they were given, but they didn't break
Speaker:his legs. Morticians
Speaker:would look at, morticians would look at the flow
Speaker:of water and the flow of blood and they would see these two
Speaker:ingredients together. I believe that the theater would be called,
Speaker:pericardial fluid. I'm probably saying that wrong.
Speaker:But the fluid that would be mixed in with the blood, they would look at
Speaker:this, morticians would look at this and they would pray, they would determine that the
Speaker:reason or the cause of death would be because of heart failure, because
Speaker:of something surrounding the heart, the pressure on the
Speaker:heart. So it could be believed that Jesus died because of some
Speaker:type of heart failure. Now morticians would actually call
Speaker:this broken heart syndrome. If you've ever been notice
Speaker:anybody that's been married for a very very very long time and they have a
Speaker:spouse that goes on and they die and you see them start to
Speaker:just completely lose everything within and then they die right after,
Speaker:broken heart syndrome is actually a real thing. And it
Speaker:means that there's lots of pressure put on actually on the
Speaker:interior artery of the of the heart Pressure is put there and it just
Speaker:caves in and you can imagine the amount of stress,
Speaker:emotional, spiritual, physical that
Speaker:Jesus was enduring. And so if this is
Speaker:correct, if Jesus died of heart failure,
Speaker:it could be said that Jesus died because of a broken
Speaker:heart. Jesus died
Speaker:on this cross.
Speaker:In fact, in Psalm 22 and later in John
Speaker:19, he records the story. Jesus dies
Speaker:and He didn't die in dignity or honor
Speaker:because they were casting lots for His very clothing. I
Speaker:mentioned earlier, there were 4 Roman soldiers. Well, there were 5 pieces of
Speaker:garments on a on a Jewish person. There was the inner tunic, the
Speaker:outer tunic, a belt, a hat, or a covering rather, and
Speaker:shoes. So there would not be an even distribution between the
Speaker:Roman soldiers of any of the garb that Jesus would have worn.
Speaker:And so they cast lots and they didn't wanna shred the garment.
Speaker:So they cast lots for it just as the prophecy
Speaker:foretold. Why am I laboring on these points? I want
Speaker:you to understand that Jesus never leaves
Speaker:anything undone. Jesus never leaves
Speaker:anything undone. Everything that he said was going to
Speaker:happen,
Speaker:You can trust, you can believe that the word of God is
Speaker:true. It is accurate. It is sound and it will be
Speaker:done according to his will.
Speaker:And so here is Jesus hanging on the
Speaker:cross, the Jewish leaders need to get these bodies completely
Speaker:dead, get them off the cross. Everyone that rolls with
Speaker:Jesus, all of his friends, all of his comrades, the people
Speaker:who broke bread with him, the people who are surrounding him,
Speaker:all of them leave and flee Jesus and they go
Speaker:into hiding. Have you ever
Speaker:felt a sense of abandonment in your worst moment?
Speaker:Jesus abandoned by the ones he spent
Speaker:the most time with. There is a quote
Speaker:that goes like this. A friend is someone who comes in when the
Speaker:whole world goes out. Jesus
Speaker:had some friends show up that were not over
Speaker:followers of him, not pronounced followers
Speaker:of him. The scripture tells us that a guy named Joseph of
Speaker:Arimathea and a guy named Nicodemus, which we read about in John
Speaker:3, come and they decide that
Speaker:they want to take the body of Jesus off the cross to give
Speaker:him a proper burial.
Speaker:Now, I want you to understand that both Joseph and Nicodemus
Speaker:were a part of the Sanhedrin, which meant that they were a part of the
Speaker:Jewish council. They both were a part of the group that
Speaker:was saying, crucify him, though we don't know that they
Speaker:actually agreed with the verdict of crucify
Speaker:him. Yet while Jesus was alive, both of these
Speaker:men were in the shadows hiding.
Speaker:But after his death in an act
Speaker:of courage, an act of boldness, and I
Speaker:believe in an act of belief.
Speaker:Joseph goes before Pilate risking
Speaker:everything. This rich man, Joseph, who we learn about, goes before
Speaker:Pilate and he says, may I please take this body
Speaker:down so that I may bury him with
Speaker:dignity. And Pilate shocked that Jesus has already
Speaker:died, says, Absolutely, yes, you
Speaker:may. This fulfills the scripture in Isaiah that says that he was assigned
Speaker:a grave with the wicked, but he was to be buried among the rich.
Speaker:The scriptures continue to unfold and be
Speaker:done as it is said. Guys, that is something to be excited
Speaker:about. It's exciting to know that we can
Speaker:count on what he says he's gonna do, that he will do it, he will
Speaker:complete it to the end of the age.
Speaker:And so Joseph and Nicodemus, they
Speaker:take this body off of the cross. Now, I want you to understand
Speaker:that this is not a pretty thing. I don't believe Listen, Nicodemus and
Speaker:Joseph probably had lots of servants. They would have had a lot of people that
Speaker:would work for them. I believe that these 2 guys took Jesus
Speaker:off the cross. And I imagine because of
Speaker:Jewish custom, they had to prepare the
Speaker:body for burial. And they had to do it in haste,
Speaker:because Sabbath was coming. So here's the thing. They take
Speaker:the body off of the cross. And can you just imagine
Speaker:that they had to take every defiled part of the body pray? So
Speaker:can you imagine the thorns that were still stuck in his head,
Speaker:That they had to pluck out those thorns, any of the thistles that are
Speaker:in there. That they had to take rags and cloths and wash
Speaker:the wounds that were caused by the cat of 9 tails.
Speaker:That they were washing the body to prepare for the burial. And I can
Speaker:only imagine Nicodemus sitting there and reliving
Speaker:his encounter with the Holy of Holies, with the Lord of
Speaker:Lords, who said, you must be born again. Well, how
Speaker:do you be born again? How can someone go back into the mother's flesh
Speaker:and come out? And and Jesus says, no, you don't get it. Flesh gives birth
Speaker:to flesh. Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Speaker:This Nicodemus and Joseph who witnessed the miracles,
Speaker:the teaching. I can only imagine as they have this
Speaker:body and they're preparing it for its its burial, that they're reliving
Speaker:and recounting these things and thinking to themselves, surely this
Speaker:was the son of God. Surely
Speaker:he is who he said he was.
Speaker:Mind you, he had not resurrected yet.
Speaker:I think Nicodemus and Joseph give a bad pray get a bad rap because they
Speaker:were in hiding. But I want you to know they came out of hiding and
Speaker:they made a choice. They made a choice and you have
Speaker:the opportunity and the ability to come out of hiding today and make a
Speaker:choice. No matter what the choices were in the past, you can make new
Speaker:choices for the future and God will give you the strength to make those
Speaker:choices. So we need to understand
Speaker:that Jesus was emphatically dead.
Speaker:He was dead. Anybody that would go up to Nicodemus and
Speaker:Joseph and say, oh, I bet he's just fainted. I bet he's alive. I bet
Speaker:they punch him right in the nose.
Speaker:Because they were dealing with the body of
Speaker:Jesus. £75
Speaker:of Spirit, of aloe, of
Speaker:myrrh. It was usually about £10,
Speaker:£75 for Jesus
Speaker:to wrap him up in strips of linen
Speaker:And to take Jesus
Speaker:to the grave, to take him to the rich man's
Speaker:tomb. The word tells us in Hebrews 2, but we do see
Speaker:that Jesus who was made lower than the angels for a little while now crowned
Speaker:with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of
Speaker:God, he might taste death for everyone that he might taste death
Speaker:for you and me. Jesus Christ
Speaker:separated from God in the midst of
Speaker:darkness, taking on the weight in the sin of the world,
Speaker:tasted death so that you don't have to. So
Speaker:that I don't have to. Jesus Christ experienced
Speaker:hell so that you don't have to, so that I
Speaker:don't have to. So
Speaker:why is it then that we are okay
Speaker:with frequent visits to hell on earth?
Speaker:Because we gravitate to our sin and our worldly flesh
Speaker:desires when Jesus has life abundant
Speaker:available for us.
Speaker:Nicodemus and Joseph came out of hiding.
Speaker:And I believe that the truth that they had to own was it is
Speaker:not too late. And I want you
Speaker:to understand this morning church, that no matter what
Speaker:decisions you have made, no matter what choices you have made, it
Speaker:is not too late for you to be redeemed and
Speaker:restored to savior Jesus Christ.
Speaker:It is not too late for you to experience life in
Speaker:its fullest form. Here's what the
Speaker:word says in John, everyone who sins is a slave
Speaker:to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but
Speaker:a son belongs to it forever.
Speaker:So the sun set you free, you will be free
Speaker:indeed. What does sin do? Sin separates
Speaker:us from the father. Do you recognize also though, I've learned
Speaker:sin doesn't just separate us from the father, sin also separates us from
Speaker:one another. When we're dealing with
Speaker:sin and we're hiding and we're in shame, there is a wall that
Speaker:begins to build between one another. And you know what's hard about that
Speaker:is God's most chosen instrument when He's revealing His glory and His grace is
Speaker:to use people. And when we're building walls between each other, we're building walls
Speaker:within, sin is separated and sin is the culprit.
Speaker:And so we become shackled to our sin yet
Speaker:We have a promise that we've been set free.
Speaker:So if it's supposed to be dead, if the sin
Speaker:is supposed to be dead, and if it's true that Jesus
Speaker:has set us free, why then church
Speaker:do so many of us bury our sin
Speaker:alive? Do you know that you're not
Speaker:supposed to bury things that are alive?
Speaker:Burial is reserved for dead things.
Speaker:But so many of us can get up. We have the propensity to get up
Speaker:on Sunday morning and say, well, I gotta go to church, So I'm just gonna
Speaker:bury that thing for a few hours knowing good and well, I'm gonna come right
Speaker:back to it on Sunday night.
Speaker:I'm about to go hang out with that group of people and I certainly
Speaker:don't want them to know what it is I'm doing. So I'm gonna
Speaker:go and bury him and dig a just a shallow enough Holy to bury this
Speaker:sin for a moment, knowing good and full well I'm coming right
Speaker:back to it when the moment presents itself.
Speaker:Somebody said it this pray. We want to
Speaker:defeat our demons, but we can't defeat our demons when we are
Speaker:still enjoying their company.
Speaker:But I like my sin. Or
Speaker:maybe I don't like my sin, but I don't know how to get rid of
Speaker:my sin. I don't know how to release it.
Speaker:And so I'm just content being in hiding and I wonder
Speaker:why I do not feel an experience the goodness and the
Speaker:glory of God in my life. The extraordinary promises are not
Speaker:unfolding in front of me. The extravagant love of God,
Speaker:muck and nasty and in the muck and mire and there you are as the
Speaker:prodigal son who has run from God and all he's doing is saying,
Speaker:come home. Come
Speaker:home. Are you hiding
Speaker:this morning? Are
Speaker:you hiding this morning? The invitation
Speaker:this morning is to come out of hiding
Speaker:into a place of light so that you can experience this
Speaker:God in a way that you have never experienced him before.
Speaker:And what ends up stopping us from making that
Speaker:step, from taking that step, most of the time what stops
Speaker:us is fear. What am I afraid of? I'm afraid
Speaker:of what Barbie's gonna think of me if I'm exposed.
Speaker:I'm afraid of what TJ is God say if I'm around him and hanging out
Speaker:and all of a sudden he sees the evidence of my
Speaker:sin. I'm so scared of
Speaker:what they might think about me, but guys,
Speaker:raise your hand if you need a savior in this place. Would you just raise
Speaker:your hand? Would you look around this room? Every single one of
Speaker:us need a savior. Every single one of us need this
Speaker:God to do a mighty work in our lives. And the lie of the
Speaker:enemy, the tactic of fear that he places in your life is that you
Speaker:are the only one and you are alone.
Speaker:But that is a lie from the accuser of the brethren. That is a lie
Speaker:from the devil. That is a lie from the father of lies. You are not
Speaker:alone. In fact, not only are you not alone, you have been set
Speaker:free. You have been set free. And so
Speaker:when it comes to fear, the antidote to fear, we
Speaker:talked about this, is is love. Listen to this. This is how we know
Speaker:that we live in Him and He in us. He has given us His Spirit.
Speaker:And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be
Speaker:the savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
Speaker:God lives in them and they in God and so we know and rely
Speaker:on the love God has for us. Listen to this, God is
Speaker:love. God is love. Whoever lives in
Speaker:love, lives in God and God in them. This is how love
Speaker:is made complete among us so that we will have the confidence on the
Speaker:day of judgment. In this world, listen to this, we are like
Speaker:Jesus. We are like Jesus. There
Speaker:is no fear in love, but perfect love
Speaker:drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who
Speaker:fears is not made perfect in love. Listen to me, when
Speaker:you obedience the true love of Christ,
Speaker:that sin becomes far, far, far less desirable.
Speaker:That sin becomes so so less desirable in your
Speaker:life because you are loved by
Speaker:the one who breathes stars. The one who knows
Speaker:your name. The one who puts you on this
Speaker:planet. The one who knows the prayer, numbers
Speaker:of hairs on your head. The one who sees the hurt and the
Speaker:brokenness and the pain that you have endured. He's the
Speaker:one who endured the cross and was buried
Speaker:dead, but came back to life. So
Speaker:that you would have the power in your life to overcome any
Speaker:obstacle in any sin. Today is
Speaker:Palm Sunday. Historically, we celebrate the
Speaker:story in the scripture where Jesus rides in triumphal
Speaker:triumphantly as the King. But here
Speaker:is the crux of this, of this, of this story. This is this is
Speaker:the problem. Jesus Christ was indeed
Speaker:their king, but it was only from a positional
Speaker:standpoint. It wasn't from a life changing
Speaker:standpoint. We have access to a king that wants to change our life, wants to
Speaker:change our heart. He didn't
Speaker:come to give you just a wonderful life. He came to change
Speaker:your life and for the better.
Speaker:They wanted a king to liberate them from the Roman
Speaker:oppression and law. That was the reason why they were crying out to this
Speaker:king. But they didn't really want a King to liberate them
Speaker:from their own wickedness and their own sin.
Speaker:Because true freedom comes when we are liberated
Speaker:from ourselves and reconciled to him.
Speaker:So the cry of Hosanna, do you know what Hosanna actually means? This is
Speaker:crazy. This is crazy. The people are crying
Speaker:out, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest,
Speaker:Hosanna. Well, Hosanna literally
Speaker:means literally translated, deliver me, save
Speaker:me. In other words, Hosanna is a cry for help and they
Speaker:didn't even know they needed to help. Help
Speaker:God in the highest. Help
Speaker:God. Glory, glory God, the King
Speaker:of kings, the King of the Jews but not just the Jews now, the King
Speaker:of everybody. Holy, Hosanna. And I
Speaker:wonder if there's somebody under the sound of my voice that needs to cry out
Speaker:for help. Because the minute you cry out
Speaker:for help, he draws near to you. The word tells us if you draw near
Speaker:to God, what's gonna happen? He's gonna draw near to you. And there's no
Speaker:caveat there, clean up your mess and then draw near to me. Get your life
Speaker:straight then draw near to me. I don't cry out
Speaker:for help when I don't need help. I cry out for help when
Speaker:I'm in danger. When I need help, there's a
Speaker:story that I've shared before of my daughter Lucia.
Speaker:Sherry and I were getting in obedience night and I have a tradition of going
Speaker:around and kissing all of the girls. And I went into
Speaker:Hadassah's room, and I went to Ruby and Nora, and give them a
Speaker:kiss. I see that Lucia is not in her bed. I'm like, what's going
Speaker:on? Well, maybe she's in the restroom.
Speaker:Stairs to get a drink. So I rode downstairs and I don't see her downstairs,
Speaker:downstairs to get a drink. So I rode downstairs and I don't see her downstairs.
Speaker:It's like 11:12 that night, and I run downstairs, I don't see her down there,
Speaker:and there's the back doors cracked open.
Speaker:You want to talk about a father's heart?
Speaker:I Spirit to panic. And so I go to the back
Speaker:door and I go outside and say, Lucy, Lucia,
Speaker:Lucia, where are you? She's not answering.
Speaker:Nobody's answering. So I start to fly through the house and of course I go
Speaker:to the front door and I opened the front door and I go out to
Speaker:the front porch. Lucy, Lucia. By this
Speaker:time, Sherry's getting worried and she's like, what's going on? And I come inside, I
Speaker:can't find Lucia. She's not upstairs, not downstairs, the back door is open. And as
Speaker:I started to make my way up the stairs to go and grab my shoes,
Speaker:I hear a noise and
Speaker:it's coming from the front bathroom. I'm like, well, I passed the
Speaker:bathroom, but maybe she's in there. So I quickly go in there and open the
Speaker:door and I don't see anything. And so I turn around and and I hear
Speaker:something else and I stopped and I get real still.
Speaker:And I slowly turn around and I go into the bathroom.
Speaker:And when I go down to the bathroom, I go to the vanity
Speaker:and I get down on my knees and I open the
Speaker:door, and there's Lucia
Speaker:with chocolate all over her face.
Speaker:Sin leaves residue.
Speaker:I want you to know at that moment, as a dad,
Speaker:it didn't matter what Lucy had done. It didn't
Speaker:matter that she had chocolate on her face, that she had gotten out of bed,
Speaker:that she had gotten into the candy jar. What had mattered was I
Speaker:couldn't find Lucia and now she had been found.
Speaker:And I want you to know that it doesn't matter how much chocolate you
Speaker:got on your face, doesn't matter what you've done, Jesus is sufficient for all of
Speaker:it. Can I say that again? Actually is sufficient for all of it. Can I
Speaker:say that again? Jesus's blood is actually
Speaker:sufficient for all of it. The totality of
Speaker:it. And if you will accept
Speaker:and believe that his blood washes you white as white
Speaker:as snow, then you have access and you can come
Speaker:into God's presence and you can benefit as
Speaker:a son and a daughter of God Most High.
Speaker:Do you wanna stay in the vanity or do you wanna come
Speaker:out and be liberated this morning?
Speaker:3 weeks ago, I really messed up.
Speaker:I really really messed up and I got caught. Sherry found
Speaker:me and I got caught.
Speaker:And Sherry had every right to be angry with
Speaker:me. She had every right to to for us to be
Speaker:talking for weeks about it, for her to to just be on my
Speaker:case, all of this stuff, I really messed up. But you know what Sherry did
Speaker:in the middle of my mess? She grabbed my face,
Speaker:looked me eyeball to eyeball, and said, Kevin, you could do
Speaker:nothing that would separate the love that I have for you.
Speaker:I want you to know that that is the grace of your
Speaker:savior. There is nothing that you can do, no mess up that's
Speaker:so big that He will not meet you where
Speaker:you are. And so God, this week,
Speaker:I have been so praying for today, because we are going into
Speaker:Holy week. We are about to celebrate Easter. Guys, what if
Speaker:Easter 2024 was a celebration without
Speaker:the shackles? What if 2024
Speaker:Easter was a celebration where we actually
Speaker:access the power of the gospel? Where we actually
Speaker:access theatre this God of the universe. And when we came in
Speaker:here and we jumped and we shouted and we sang praise, it was
Speaker:because we're free. And we are sons and daughters of the most
Speaker:high God. What if this year was different people?
Speaker:All it takes is a choice to come out of hiding
Speaker:into his glorious light. This week, I have been praying for you. I
Speaker:have so been praying for you. And there were 3 specific areas that
Speaker:the Lord gave me that he wants to liberate people from this morning.
Speaker:The first area is to a 2 a 2 pronged thing.
Speaker:The first area that the Lord wants to set people free from is pride and
Speaker:pornography. Pride says,
Speaker:I can do it myself. I don't need your help.
Speaker:Situation going on in my home or my family with my life. I don't want
Speaker:to call anybody. I don't want to let anybody know because I can take care
Speaker:of it myself. I don't want to bother people. I don't want to invite people
Speaker:in. And so it causes you, whether
Speaker:it's inch by inch, small by small things, it causes you to hide.
Speaker:Pride says, I don't need you.
Speaker:Pornography. I don't have to go into an explanation. Pornography has a grip on
Speaker:somebody in this house, maybe more than 1 person, but pornography has a grip.
Speaker:And you have been struggling and struggling and struggling and you don't know how to
Speaker:get free and you feel like like shame every single time.
Speaker:And God says there's freedom today. The second thing
Speaker:is this, some of you have confessed
Speaker:your sin to somebody. You've
Speaker:gotten liberated, but you buried that thing alive and it's
Speaker:come back. And so now what you're dealing with
Speaker:is, I already put that to death, but
Speaker:it's reared its ugly head and I can't face the shame of going back to
Speaker:that person or going back to those people and saying, I'm dealing with
Speaker:this again and again
Speaker:and again, and the 8th time, and the 20th
Speaker:time. And so instead of confessing it
Speaker:again, you have just gone right back into hiding.
Speaker:And so now the issue isn't the sin of what you're doing, it's deceit.
Speaker:And God says, don't believe the lie.
Speaker:Come out of hiding. Go back to that person, go back to
Speaker:them and say, listen, I am so flawed and messed up. I
Speaker:I I did it again and I want to be set free. I want to
Speaker:be right. I don't want there to be anything dark inside me.
Speaker:And the third thing, if you are a leader at Spirit House or
Speaker:in a workplace, if you are a leader, you would consider yourself a leader either
Speaker:here or in a workplace, would you stand?
Speaker:I am a leader of people in any facet.
Speaker:Probably the hardest word I received this
Speaker:week was the Lord wanted me to say,
Speaker:you are not exempt from this word. You
Speaker:are not exempt from this word. In
Speaker:fact, leaders hide the most.
Speaker:And the ultimate courageous act of humility a leader
Speaker:can make, is to abandon their ego and position and
Speaker:fall flat at the feet of Jesus and say, I need the savior
Speaker:like everybody else. And the invitation
Speaker:is for you. The invitation is also for you.
Speaker:Jesus sees you. And it does not
Speaker:lessen your importance or value in what you do by you
Speaker:committing to him. And by you, surrendering
Speaker:whatever it is that you're holding on to, to him.
Speaker:And so the invitation is to you as well. And so if
Speaker:you are a part of any of those three things, or you're just
Speaker:in hiding, today is the day
Speaker:of salvation. Today is the day to get
Speaker:things right so that you can walk out of this place into
Speaker:this world knowing, I'm free.
Speaker:I'm free. This is what Romans 8 says,
Speaker:Therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Speaker:Jesus. No condemnation.
Speaker:Guys, everyone in here needs a savior.
Speaker:And so if you come this morning, it's about you and Him, and
Speaker:Him liberating you. And you know that every single
Speaker:person on the side of my voice at one time or the other needed to
Speaker:do that and will need to do it again and
Speaker:again and again. And aren't you glad we have a
Speaker:God who is the God of the again and again
Speaker:and again. And so this morning, I want to
Speaker:invite you to come to the altars
Speaker:and be liberated and set free,
Speaker:so that we can go into Holy Week with a celebration like
Speaker:none other, unshackled, unashamedly,
Speaker:wonderful, extraordinary God who loves us. Would you stand with
Speaker:me this morning? And if you're gonna come
Speaker:this morning, you come on down right now. Don't hesitate.
Speaker:Is it me? Do I need to come? Yes, you need to come. Am I
Speaker:included in this? Yes, you're included in this. God, are you wanting
Speaker:me to clean this up? Yes. Come. Come.
Speaker:Come to the altar.
Speaker:And I want to say that it is impossible
Speaker:for you to do this alone. And so
Speaker:if you are not one of the ones coming this morning, would you come behind
Speaker:these and would you agree with them? Come on down
Speaker:here guys. Come on down. There's plenty of room right here in the altar.
Speaker:There is freedom happening in the house this morning, friends.
Speaker:And it is the most awesome thing when light meets darkness
Speaker:and he clears things out. Get ready for a move of God like
Speaker:you have never witnessed before.
Speaker:God in all of his glory wants you. He
Speaker:sees you. Let's worship and let's clean up what's
Speaker:going on in our hearts.
