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[0:00] I'm going to start with the scripture this morning. Matthew 28. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

[0:18] There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat in it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow.

[0:33] The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

[0:49] He is not here. He has risen just as he said. And let's rejoice on this Easter Sunday morning over the fact that the Lord Jesus who went to the cross and died for our sin.

[1:07] On the third day he rose and he lives. And he makes intercession for us even now as we come to him in prayer. So let's pray for a moment.

[1:17] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Easter Sunday morning. And we thank you for all that that means. The significance of that.

[1:29] We thank you that on the third day, on the Lord's Day, when the woman went to anoint the body of Jesus, when they went to look for his body in the place where it had been laid, they found that his body was not there because he had risen just as he promised to.

[1:48] And we thank you because he lives. We also have the promise of eternal resurrection life if we believe in Jesus. So just as the woman came looking for Jesus and then found the wonder of the gospel message, we pray that each of us today, as we come into this place, would come looking for Jesus and that we may know the power of resurrection life, that you would give us faith, that each of us would believe.

[2:20] And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, good morning and happy Easter. It's good to see you all. If I say good morning, you'll all say good morning back.

[2:31] If I bring a happy Easter into it, nobody knows what to do. So good morning. Good morning. And happy Easter. Happy Easter. It's good to see you all this morning. And it's good to have some visitors, quite a few visitors with us this morning.

[2:44] You're especially welcome. If you're able to stay behind for tea and coffee at the end of the service, you'll be very welcome too. For the boys and girls, there is a holiday Sunday school for the primary school age.

[2:58] And so you can go out after the singing, after the children's talk. The evening service is at six. And in the course of the week, we have the usual things at the usual times, basically.

[3:10] We have the ladies' fellowship and Little Fishers, Road to Recovery and the prayer meeting in the usual times, usual places, as you've got on the screen before the service began.

[3:22] The clubs on Friday for the young ones that were off before the holidays are back on this coming Friday. So be encouraged to come along to that if you're of age.

[3:33] Pray for it if you're not. And the services next Sunday, I expect to take the morning service. The evening service is a Gaelic service. So be mindful of that.

[3:43] I'll maybe say a little more about that next Sunday morning. And the evening service will be taken by the Reverend Donald MacDonald. Dolan MacDonald. So these, I think, are all the notices.

[3:55] And we're going to begin this or continue this time of worship now singing to God's praise. Mission Praise 52 and the words on the screen. God sent his son.

[4:05] They called him Jesus. He came to love. Heal and forgive. He lived and died. To buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

[4:18] So let's stand and sing to God's praise. God sent his son.

[4:33] They called him Jesus. He came to love. Heal and forgive. He lived and died.

[4:48] To buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

[5:00] Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone.

[5:15] Because I know, I know, I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives.

[5:30] Heart's feet to hold. Heart's feet to hold. A newborn baby. And feel the pride.

[5:41] And joy he gives. But sweeter still. The calm assurance.

[5:52] This child can face the certain days. Because he lives. Because he lives. Because he lives.

[6:04] I can face tomorrow. Because he lives. And then one day. I'll cross the river. I'll find my smile.

[6:16] Because I know, I know he holds the future. And then one day. I'll find my smile. And then one day.

[6:30] I'll cross the river. I'll find my smile.

[6:41] A war with pain. And then I'll stand. And then I'll find my smile. I'll find my smile.

[6:52] I'll find my smile. And then I'll see the light of glory. And I know he lives. Because he lives.

[7:03] Like this tomorrow. Because he lives. All fear is gone, because I know he holds the future, and life is sparkling just because he lives.

[7:33] Boys and girls, can I ask you to come forward now please? How are you all today? Happy Easter. Pardon? Happy Easter. Are you all well today? You had a good holiday?

[8:01] I won't ask you if you get any stories, we'll be here till one o'clock. But, something to show you today. Tell me what's that?

[8:17] It's a what? It's an Easter egg. It's an Easter egg for those who are over that way, and those at home. It's an Easter egg. Now, here's a little puzzle for you. What is it that makes this an Easter egg?

[8:35] Because Michael said it's a sweet. Because it is a sweet, isn't it? It tastes great. Tastes great. But that's not what makes it an Easter egg. It's a chocolate Easter egg.

[8:45] It's a chocolate Easter egg, but it's not the chocolate that makes it an Easter egg. Katie? The shape. It's like the rope that's still locked between the tomb.

[8:56] See, this is where the children's thought is going to develop. I wasn't going to go down that road, but it's the shape. It's an egg, and it's like the stone that was rolled away from the tomb.

[9:08] And that's true. I wasn't going to go there. So when you roll your eggs down the hill, if you do that, that's what you're remembering, isn't it? Remembering that the stone was rolled away. But that's not the answer I was looking for.

[9:19] I like your ears, by the way, your Easter bunny ears. They're super cool. I didn't notice you in there behind the lecture. So it's not the chocolate. It's not the shape.

[9:31] It's not the fact that it tastes good. That makes it an Easter egg. What do you think? John Rory? You eat it at Easter.

[9:44] Well, no. That's not what I was looking for. Easter egg hunt. Easter egg hunt. I hunted and found this one in Tesco, but no, that's not what I was looking for.

[9:58] Shawnee? You should really get the full impact of this. He just put his hands in there and he says, because it's just, it's made for Easter.

[10:12] How thick is this, minister? That's not the answer I was looking for. No. Keep going. It's delicious.

[10:23] Callum, you had your hand up. What were you going to say? Did God make it? Did God make it? Yes. Well, he did. Ultimately, he did make it. He made everything, didn't he? Yes. Because the milk and the cocoa and all the things that went in, you trace it all the way back, goes to God.

[10:38] But that's not what I was looking for. Is it the packaging? Pardon? I'm not going to.

[10:51] I'm not going to. Okay. So, is it the packaging that makes it an Easter egg? No. No, that's not the answer I was looking for either. Is it the Kit Kat inside it?

[11:04] Look at that. It's not even a Kit Kat. It's half a Kit Kat. Is that what makes it an Easter egg? No. That's an Easter egg. That makes it an Easter egg. That's an Easter egg. That's an Easter egg. But you know what makes it an Easter egg?

[11:18] Gold. Not the gold. Chocolate. Not the chocolate. Shape. Not the shape. It's an egg. Not that it's an egg. Shh, shh, shh. Give you a clue, okay?

[11:28] Listen. Because there's stuff inside of it. Pardon? It's hollow. It's hollow. It's hollow. It's hollow. Because there's not stuff inside of it. Because there's not stuff inside of it.

[11:40] I thought you were going to say it's hollow. See, the Easter egg, it's an Easter egg because inside it, it's hollow. It's empty.

[11:51] So if I smash that, you look inside. In the olden days, you used to get sweets inside.

[12:03] These days, everything sweets has got smaller and the Easter eggs have nothing inside them. And the egg's now cracked. But it's not going to be wasted.

[12:15] But anyway. So let's just think about that for a minute. So the Easter egg, it's got nothing inside it. It's empty.

[12:26] So what does that remind us of? When you're eating your Easter eggs this afternoon and you smash them and you start to eat the shell, what do you think that reminds us of?

[12:38] A name. No. What was empty? What was empty, Emily? The tomb was empty. I thought it was the heart. The tomb was empty.

[12:50] That's the right answer. Because we were just reading that a minute or two ago. The ladies, remember, they came to the place where they saw Jesus' body being laid. They saw Jesus' body and it was put into a tomb.

[13:01] And they saw exactly what it was. And then they went to see the body and they were going to put spices on. Because that's what they used to do. But when they went in to the tomb, it was empty.

[13:15] And what makes the Easter egg an Easter egg is that it was empty. Why was the tomb empty? Where was Jesus' body, Ailey?

[13:29] He had risen. He had risen from the dead. And Jesus promised, didn't he, that everyone who believes in him, although we die, we rise again.

[13:44] We have everlasting life when we trust in Jesus. So, boys and girls, that's the message today. When you're eating your Easter eggs, think about the empty egg, the empty tomb.

[13:59] The fact that Jesus, he rose from the tomb. He rose from the dead. And he said, the same life, everlasting life that's in him, is given to us if we believe in him.

[14:12] So, let's pray about that. Let's close our eyes. Let's put our heads down and let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this Easter Sunday morning again.

[14:24] And we thank you for this amazing story of Jesus. Father, you sent your son into this world for us.

[14:35] And as we sang, he lived and he died so that we could be forgiven. And we thank you that the grave, the tomb, is empty because Jesus was risen from the dead, just as he promised.

[14:51] Help us all, we pray, to believe that. And we ask that in believing that, we would know the joy of our hearts because you promised that all who believe have everlasting life.

[15:07] We pray for those today who are sad, whose hearts are sore. We can think of some who have been with us many Easter's in years gone by and who are no longer with us, who have died.

[15:20] But we thank you that the promise that we are given is that for all who believe in Jesus, although our bodies die, our souls go to be with the Lord forever.

[15:35] And there's coming a day where all the bodies will rise back up and those who believe in Jesus will know that everlasting resurrection life. And bodies that are never sick and sad and sore, but are healthy and wholesome forever.

[15:51] So we ask, Lord, that you would help us to trust you and help us in all the busyness of Easter Sunday to remember that Jesus lives.

[16:03] And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing now the words on the screen. And we pray this in Mission Praise 1105. And it's a hymn about the resurrection morning.

[16:14] See what a morning gloriously bright with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem. Amen. C abandonment.

[16:41] Sometimes, everything else's in Jerusalem京 but it's a bridge of truth. For in the great cross To fill with life As the angels and out Christ is risen See God's salvation Man wrought in love Born in pain Paid in sacrifice Fulfilled in Christ the man For he lives Christ is risen from the dead See Mary weeping Where is he laid As in sorrow she turns From the empty tomb

[17:44] He hears a voice speaking Calling her name It's the master The Lord raised to life again The voice that spans the years Speaking light Stirring hope Bringing peace to us Will stand till he appears For he lives Christ is risen from the dead God with the Father Ancient of the Lord Ancient of days Through the Spirit Your close faith With certainty Honor and blessing Glory and praise And praise to him

[18:45] And with power and authority And we are raised with him Death is dead Love is one Christ is conquered And we shall reign For he lives Christ is risen from the dead Amen Okay boys and girls If you head through to Sunday school And if you have Bibles with you Then you could turn to Luke chapter 19 And we are not going to be focusing on Luke 19 today

[19:46] That is where we finished up two weeks ago We are looking We are doing things slightly differently today We are going to look at the Easter story And I am going to read quite a large section of scripture From Luke 23 through into Luke chapter 24 And we will do it over Is it four or five points And we will sing in between these So if you turn first of all to Luke chapter 19 And where we finished up in Luke chapter 19 two weeks ago We see Jesus and he is approaching Jerusalem From Luke chapter 9 onwards Jesus he sets his face for Jerusalem He knows he is headed for Jerusalem And in Luke chapter 19 We see him on that first Palm Sunday And if you scan the verses

[20:47] I am not going to read from Luke 19 But you can just scan the verses On that first Palm Sunday As we see Jesus approaching Jerusalem The crowds are cheering There is a real buzz about the place And there is palm branches being waved It is a scene of joy And Jesus has been proclaimed to be the Messiah The son of David The saviour But Luke can In the detail of the chapter He takes the camera And he zooms in on the face of Jesus So we can imagine The faces of all the disciples And the crowds who were there And the joy The jubilation But then the camera cuts And we see the face of Jesus And he is weeping As he approaches Jerusalem

[21:47] And he is weeping because he knows That when he got to Jerusalem The peace that he was offering Would be rejected He would be rejected And Jesus knows That as he reaches Jerusalem He is going to have to suffer Unimaginably He is going to have to suffer So that he can become our saviour So what I want to do Is I want to flick forward To fast forward From Luke 19 to Luke 23 And today we are going to take A very sweeping look At the whole of the Easter story We will come and study this In more detail in future But today we are not going deep But we are looking at a broad section And we see in Luke 23 Going into Luke 24 What happened in Jerusalem

[22:49] Jesus anticipates it in Luke 19 But in Luke 23 and 24 We see what actually happened In Jerusalem Luke tells us the Easter story So the first thing we see As we look at verses 1 to verse 25 Is we see condemnation The first point is condemnation Jesus is condemned And just to put this in context By now As we pick up In Luke 23 Jesus He has been arrested In the middle of the night Jesus was arrested And there was An illegal court Held by the Jewish leaders As they cross examined him And they tried to press charges on him But the problem the Jewish leaders had Was In order for Jesus to be killed That was what they wanted They needed an order to be given

[23:49] By the Romans The Jews didn't have The authority To grant the order To crucify That had to come through Rome It needed to come from Pilate And so Jesus In the very early hours Of the mornings About 6 o'clock in the morning I think He's He's brought before Pilate As they tried to get this Permission To have Jesus crucified So let's read this section From verse 1 To verse 25 It says Then the whole assembly rose And led him Jesus Off to Pilate And they began to accuse him Saying We have found this man Subverting our nation He opposes payment of taxes To Caesar And claims to be a Christ The king So Pilate asks Jesus Are you the king of the Jews?

[24:47] Yes It is as you say Jesus replied Then Pilate announced To the chief priests And the crowd I find no basis For a charge against this man But they insisted He stirs up the people All over Judea By his teaching He started in Galilee And has come all the way here On hearing this Pilate asked If the man was a Galilean When he learned That Jesus was Under Herod's jurisdiction He sent him to Herod Who was also in Jerusalem At that time When Herod saw Jesus He was greatly pleased Because for a long time He had been wanting to see him From what he had heard about him He hoped to see him Perform some miracle He plied him with many questions But Jesus gave him No answer The chief priests And the teachers of the law Were standing there Veemently accusing him Then Herod and his soldiers Ridiculed and mocked him Dressing him In an elegant robe

[25:48] They sent him back to Pilate That day Herod and Pilate Became friends Before this They had been enemies Pilate called together The chief priests The rulers and the people And said to them You brought me this man As one who was inciting The people to rebellion I have examined him In your presence And have found no basis For your charges against him Neither has Herod For he sent him back to us As you can see He has done nothing To deserve death Therefore I will punish him And then release him With one voice They cried out Away with this man Release Barabbas to us Barabbas had been thrown Into prison For an insurrection In the city And for murder Wanting to release Jesus Pilate appealed to them again But they kept shouting Crucify him Crucify him For the third time

[26:50] He spoke to them Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him No grounds for the death penalty Therefore I will have him punished And then release him But with loud shouts They insistently demanded That he be crucified And their shouts prevailed So Pilate decided To grant their demand He released the man Who had been thrown into prison For insurrection and murder The one they asked for And surrendered Jesus To their will So it's very clear there In that section That Jesus Is condemned He's condemned By the Jewish Religious leaders They've been condemning him For months in advance Of this He's condemned By the crowd As they cry out Crucify him Crucify him

[27:51] And ultimately He's condemned By Pilate And yet as we Have the details Of the cross examination Here as we Listen to How Pilate Asks Jesus Questions And examines him It's crystal clear That Jesus Is not guilty He's accused In verse 2 Of subverting The nation Which meant Stirring up the people To revolt But Jesus Didn't come to subvert He didn't come To stir up the people In some Political crusade He came to save That was crystal clear And Jesus Another charge That's pressed on him Is in verse 2 He opposes The payment of taxes And yet all we have to do Is flick back A couple of pages To Luke 20 And verse 25 And Jesus Clearly teaches

[28:52] The people With all the Jewish Religious leaders Present That they are to Render to Caesar What is Caesar They're to pay taxes And Jesus Is accused Of blasphemy Of Claiming to be The Christ But for Jesus To claim to be The Christ That was not Blasphemy It was the truth He was the Christ So these are the charges That Jesus faced And he could have Given a robust Defense Against All of them He could have Swept them aside It was crystal clear That he wasn't guilty It wouldn't have been Hard to argue That he wasn't guilty And Pilate knew He wasn't guilty Three times He says He's not guilty He says it in verse 4

[29:52] He says it in verse 14 He says it in verse 22 And yet still In spite of Pilate's Clear understanding That Jesus Is not guilty Jesus Is condemned He faces Condemnation And the question is Why Why was this Allowed to happen And the answer Is an answer That we often sing Remember the hymn Bearing shame And scoffing rude In my place Condemned He stood Jesus was Condemned For us Jesus could have Answered Any and all Of these charges He could have Swept them away

[30:52] But as was Prophesied In Isaiah 53 He remained silent He gave no defense He did not Open his mouth It says in Isaiah He allowed himself To be led Like a lamb To the slaughter Of the cross For us So that our sin So that our guilt So that our condemnation Could be transferred From us To him So that we Could be forgiven Paul speaks about this In Colossians chapter 2 As he thinks about The workings Of the cross And he says He Jesus Forgave All our sins Having cancelled The charge Of our legal Indebtedness Which stood Against us And condemned Us He has taken It away Nailing it To the cross

[31:54] I mean Think about Your life Even In the course Of the last Few days As I Have thought Of mine In preparation Think about How many Charges Of sin Could be Pressed Against us Things that We've said We knew The moment They went Out of our Mouths We shouldn't Have said Things that We've done And as We've done Them We've felt That weight Of guilt Things that We've thought And perhaps No one else Has seen These things But God Has seen And sin Is against

[32:55] God And our Sin Condemns Us But here We see Jesus Taking our Place And taking Our sins And taking Our condemnation Upon himself Jesus was Condemned So that we Would not Be condemned And so Paul can Write in Romans 8 And verse 1 There is Now no Condemnation For those Who are in Christ So let me Ask the Question Before we Sing Are you In Christ It's good to Be in Church But we Can be in Church And not In Christ Are you In Christ Do you

[33:55] Have faith In Jesus Do you Believe in Him Do you Have an Interest In the Blood Of the Saviour That is About to Be spilled As we read On We're going To sing Now And we're Going to Sing That hymn Mission Praise 33 And can It be That I Should gain An interest In the Saviour's Blood And it's A hymn That begins There and Ends With the Wonderful Verse No Condemnation Now I Dread Jesus And all In him Is mine So let's Stand to Sing To God's Praise God And can it Be That I Should Give An interest In the Saviour's

[34:56] Blood Died Died For me For me Who Caused This Pain For me Who Hick To death Pursued Amazing Love How Can it Be Not Thou My God Just Die For me Amazing Love How Can it Be That Thou My God Should Die For me Tis Mystery All Immortal Dies Who Can Explore His Strange Design In In The First Forms Dead Of Tries To Stand

[35:57] The Death Of Love Divine Dis Mercy All Let Earth Adore Let Angel Mind In Quar No More Dis Mercy All Let Earth Adore Let Angel Life In Fire No More He Left His Father Shown Above So Free So In Finite His Grace Empty Himself For For Love And Bled For Adam's Help Lest Race Tis Mercy All In Men Sun

[36:58] Free For Oh My God It Found Me Tis Mercy All In Men Sun Free For Oh My God It Found Me For My Prison Spirit Lay Fast Mound In Sin And Nature's Night Thine I Defused A Quickening Ray I Woke The Dungeon Famed With Light My Chains Fell Off My Heart Was Free I Wrote Went For And Followed Me My Chains Fell Off

[37:58] My Heart Was Free I Wrote Went For And Followed Me No Condemnation Now I Dread Jesus And Lord In Him Is Mine Alive In Him My Living Head And Clothed Righteous Best Divine Old I Approach The Eternal Throne And Clean The Crown Through Christ My Own Old I Approach Eternal Throne And Clean The Crown Through Christ My Own Well let's continue to follow through the Easter story as

[39:09] Luke tells it and we've looked at verse 1 to 25 we see Jesus is condemned and now as we go from verse 26 to 33 we see that Jesus is crucified the second point is crucifixion as they led him away they seized Simon from Cyrene who was on his way in from the country and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus a large number of people followed him including women who mourned and wailed for him Jesus turned and said to them daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me weep for yourselves and for your children for the time will come when you will say blessed are the barren woman the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed then they will call say to the mountains fallen us and to the hills cover us for if men do these things when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry two other men both criminals were also led out with him to be executed when they came to the place called the skull there they crucified him along with the criminals one on his right and one on his left crucifixion remember what Luke is writing here he tells us in chapter 1 he's writing what he describes to be a carefully investigated account he's writing a report for a man called

[41:00] Theophilus and so Luke the doctor who's a man of details he gives us facts and when he tells us about the crucifixion the brevity with which he tells the story is startling this is the single biggest event in all of history and we have it in half a verse verse 33 when they came to the place called the skull there they crucified him four words to describe the crucifixion and we might wonder of Luke and the other gospel writers why not spend more time on the details there was a film a few years back the passion of the

[42:10] Christ I didn't actually see it but it's a film that went to gruesome detail of the crucifixion and I understand the detail with which they went into the crucifixion was historically accurate but the thing to note here is that the gospel writers they don't do any of that four words used to describe crucifixion of God the son and we asked the question why is that and I think the answer is because although the suffering that Jesus endured physically was excruciating the greater suffering was spiritual we can't describe that or to put it another way the most painful wounds inflicted on Jesus were not caused by the weapons of the

[43:18] Roman soldiers but were caused by our sin that's why we are told to survey the cross that's why we are to see from his head and his hands and his feet the flow of sorrow and love that mingle down it's our sin that caused this see for my sin for my condemnation to be cancelled Jesus had to be crucified it's hard it's hard to use illustrations when we're thinking about crucifixion but if you think back to your mischievous childhood I think back to the days when I was maybe five or six or seven remember there were things in the house and you weren't to touch them remember over in nest there was two dogs on the mantelpiece china dogs you must not touch these dogs some of you will have been told the royal dolton whatever you do do not touch the royal dolton and then one day you touch it and the next thing it's smashed now what happens when a child does that what happens when you know you were told not to take the black currant juice to the television and watch it as you sat on the cream couch but you did it anyway and in a moment of horror you see the stain what tends to happen as the child is taught about the wrong they did they're taken through and they're shown the royal dolton remains lying on the carpet they're shown this dog that's in 16 pieces on the fireplace they're shown the stain that's on the cream couch and they're told do you see what you did now say sorry and Luke shows us the cross in this passage we're taken actually much deeper by the psalmist in Psalm 22 go there this afternoon we're taken deeper into the spiritual sufferings of Jesus by Isaiah in Isaiah 53 and God is saying to us as he takes us to the crucifixion do you see what your sin did to my son now confess say say sorry receive forgiveness be saved we're going to sing again and we're going to sing that hymn mission praise 755 that causes us to survey the wondrous cross cross

[46:36] When I surveyed the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died My riches gain I count the loss And bore contempt for all my pride Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Still in the hand of Christ my Lord O loving things are charming most

[47:43] I sacrifice them to His blood Sleep from His head, His hands, His feet Sorrow and love from evil down In air such love and sorrow weep Or forms composed so rich a crown The whole realm of nature mine Not where the north ring far too small

[48:44] Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all So in Jerusalem, Jesus He faced condemnation And then He was crucified The third thing we see here is We see conversions And if you look at verse 34 To verse 49 With me now please Jesus said Father forgive them For they do not know what they are doing

[49:45] And He divided up His clothes By casting lots The people stood watching And the rulers even sneered at Him They said He saved others Let Him save Himself If He is the Christ of God The Chosen One The soldiers also came up And mocked Him They offered Him wine vinegar And said If you are the King of the Jews Save yourself There was a written notice above Him Which read The King of the Jews One moment, sorry I lost my place Verse 37 There was a written notice Above Him Which read This is the King of the Jews One of the criminals Who hung there Hurled insults at Him Aren't you the Christ?

[50:49] Save yourself and us But the other criminal rebuked Him Don't you fear God? He said Since you are under the same sentence We are punished justly For we are getting What our deeds deserve But this man has done nothing wrong Then he said Jesus remember me When you come into your kingdom Jesus answered him I tell you the truth Today you will be with me in paradise It was about the sixth hour And darkness came over the whole land Until the ninth hour For the sun stopped shining And the curtain of the temple Was torn in two Jesus called out with a loud voice Father Into your hands I commit my spirit When he had said this He breathed his last The centurion Seeing what had happened Praised God And said Surely this was a righteous man When all the people Who had gathered

[51:49] To witness this Site Saw What took place They beat their breasts And went away But all those who knew him Including The woman Who had followed him From Galilee Stood at a distance Watching These things As Jesus hands on the cross Which is where we're taking In these verses We see The clearest expression Of God's love Even as we think about These words These words In verse 34 Father Forgive them We are confronted With the most powerful Expression of God's grace And I think As Jesus Hangs on the cross We see two conversions Two people I think We see

[52:49] Whose lives Are changed forever And the first Is a criminal We're told elsewhere That he's a thief And he Is guilty Of His offence He admits that In verse 41 He confesses the sin And he recognises And speaks to The other criminal Saying That he He believes that Jesus is innocent He believes that Jesus is the king And so this criminal In his dying moments He calls upon The name Of the Lord Jesus He He prays the most Simple prayer Remember me And he saved Never got to church Never did any Good works You know To try and Justify himself

[53:49] Himself He simply calls Upon the name Of the Lord Jesus And he's He's saved He's converted But I think it's important As well That we Notice that Beside Jesus On the other Side of Jesus Is another Criminal And he sees The same thing And he hears The same words Coming from Jesus Lips But he Hardens his Heart He will not Call On the name Of the Lord Rather He uses his Dying breaths To curse Jesus On his deathbed He's cursing Christ And he's Lost He's

[54:50] Condemned And these Two criminals Represent the Whole world These two Criminals Represent Everyone who's In this church Building today Anyone who's Watching at a Distance We are one of These two There's only two Categories There's no Inbetweeners We are either Those who Believe in Jesus And are Saved Because we've Reached out to Him Called upon His name Or we're Those who Don't And at this Point in time Are still Lost Are condemned You know Luke is Showing us These Criminals Like putting A mirror In front of Us And he's Saying Which image Do you

[55:50] See Who are You So there's A criminal And he's He's Converted And then There's the Centurion It's less Clear but I think he's Converted He's the Man who Gave the Order to Carry out The crucifixion He sent His men Off To actually Nail Jesus Hands and Feet to A cross And he's Seen this A thousand Times before But as he Watches Jesus And as he Listens to Jesus As he Sees the Poise with Which Jesus Suffers As he Sees the The majesty With which Jesus dies As he Lays down His life He Believes This is no Ordinary man Verse 47 He Says This was a Righteous Man Mark

[56:52] Tells us In Mark 15 And verse 39 The centurion Said Surely This man Was the Son of God The centurion After Seeing the Cross Praises God Verse 47 And I Think he's Converted But Luke Doesn't tell us For sure Because that's Not the Main point The main Point is Not Is he Converted The main Point The main Question That's coming To us To the Text Is What About You Are you Converted So there's A Convergence And then There's a Confession Of faith And we See that In verse 50 to 56 Now there Was a Man named Joseph A member

[57:53] Of the Council A good And upright Man who Had not Consented To their Decision And action He came From the Judean Town Of Arimathea And he Was waiting For the Kingdom Of God Going to Pilate He asked For Jesus Body Then he Took it Down Wrapped it In linen Cloth And placed It in A tomb Cut On the Rock One in Which no One had Yet been Laid It was Preparation Day And the Sabbath Was about To begin The Woman Who had Come With Jesus From Galilee Followed Joseph And saw The tomb And how His body Was laid In it Then they Went home And prepared Spices and Perfumes But they Rested on The Sabbath In obedience To the Commandment And we Know from The gospel Accounts That there Were some Luke doesn't Tell us about All of them Tells us about One man Here But there Were some Who had been Watching Jesus

[58:53] And listening To Jesus And who Gradually Over time Had come To believe But their Faith was Being kept Secret Joseph was One of them Nicodemus Was another We're told Elsewhere he Was with Joseph As they Went for The body Of Jesus But Luke Zooms in On Joseph And he Tells us He was a Member of The council He's a Man of Status A man Of some Reputation But the Problem for Joseph was If he Came out On the Side of Jesus No longer Would be Would he Have the Status of Being a Member of The council That would Be stripped From him So for Joseph of Arimathea It was Going to Be costly To confess His faith In Jesus And so

[59:54] He kept Quiet He believed But secretly But now Having been To the Cross Having watched Jesus die Having seen The extent Of the love And the Grace of Jesus He determines That he Can no Longer be Silent He can No longer Hide in The shadows And so He steps Forward boldly And in Asking for Jesus Body He comes Out On the Lord's Side He confesses His faith In Jesus The time When things Were so Highly charged And all The eyes Of the Powerful People Were on Jesus And on This scene Joseph Steps Forward And he

[60:56] Confesses That his Faith is In Christ And maybe There's someone Here Who over The course Of time Has come To believe Maybe there's Someone at Home Watching A great Distance A safe Distance And over The course Of time You've Come to Believe But you're A secret Believer Because you Know it's Going to Cost you To confess Faith in Jesus It may Cost you Friends It may Cost you Things in Terms of The family Dynamics It may Cost you Some Habits Some Practices It may Cost Just seem Too much To come Out and Actually say That you Are a Disciple Of Jesus But surely Today When we See how Much it Cost Jesus

[61:57] To save Us Surely If there's A secret Believer Here You'll Come out And confess That Jesus Is your Saviour That you Believe in Him We're going To sing Now Two verses Of Psalm 34 And we're Going to Sing this In Gaelic A psalm Where There is That open And public Confession Of faith In God God will I bless All times His praise My mouth Shall still Express My mouth Shall boast On God The meek Shall hear With joyfulness Extol the Lord with Me Let us Exalt His name Together I sought The Lord He heard And did Me From All fears Deliver These two Verses We sing In Gaelic We remain Seated to Sing In Gaelic facebook F

[63:23] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji

[64:53] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji

[66:23] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji as Joseph of Arimathea, as he steps out of the shadows and into the light.

[67:19] And the final thing we see in the Easter story and the thing that we celebrate on Easter Sunday, well, it's celebration. So let's look at the first section in chapter 24 before we finish.

[67:37] On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the woman took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

[67:49] But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the woman bowed down with their faces to the ground.

[68:04] But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee.

[68:16] The son must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. Then they remembered his words.

[68:27] When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told us to the apostles.

[68:40] But they did not believe the woman because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.

[68:53] Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves and he went away wondering to himself what had happened.

[69:04] So celebration is our last point. Who is celebrating? Well, those who are celebrating are those women who had seen that Jesus had risen.

[69:21] And Luke does put the camera on Peter for a moment. And Peter was not sure about all this. He's not reached celebration yet. He's at the confusion stage.

[69:32] He hasn't reached celebration. His sin, the sin of denial that we see in previous chapters, has dulled his vision. But Jesus is Peter.

[69:43] He's patient with Peter. And Jesus will bring Peter to repentance. Jesus will help Peter overcome his doubts. Soon Peter will see.

[69:56] And he'll celebrate. But the woman they saw and they believed and they celebrated because Jesus was risen from the dead.

[70:18] And I want to simply ask as we finish, do you see? Do you see this? Do you believe? Do you believe?

[70:32] Likely there are some with furrowed brows sitting down thinking, wondering to themselves about all this story and all the things that were reported to have happened.

[70:46] And if you're one of them, if you're with Peter and you're wondering and you're not sure, then why not ask for the faith from Jesus that he's so willing to give?

[70:56] Faith is a gift from God. But if you do see, celebrate today.

[71:12] Take time today to thank God for all that he has done for you. I'm going to enjoy the Easter egg.

[71:25] Some of you will be encouraged to see the daffodils. The kids might be bouncing around with Easter bunnies. But Easter is so much bigger than that.

[71:38] Easter is about the fact that Jesus has done everything to take away our condemnation. Did you walk into the church this morning with a weight on your shoulders?

[71:55] Is there anyone who has that knocked in the pit of their stomach because they know and they can feel the guilt of the things that have been done and left undone, the things that have been said, the silences that have lingered when you should have spoken?

[72:13] Is there a guilty conscience pressing down on anyone here today? Well, the good news of Easter is that because of Jesus and all that he has done, we can walk out that door forgiven, free, and with the promise of resurrection life.

[72:41] So we'll pray. Amen. Lord, we thank you for your word once more and we thank you for the wonder of the Easter story.

[72:57] We thank you, Lord, that you have done everything to make it possible for us who are condemned by our sin to be forgiven. We thank you that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin and all we have to do is is cry out as the dying thief did, remember me.

[73:20] And when that is a prayer of faith, it's a prayer that saves, saves from sin and saves into everlasting life. So we pray, Lord, for faith.

[73:35] Pray for those who are struggling to believe this. Pray for those who may be in rebellion against this. And we ask, Lord, that you would work in the life of each person.

[73:50] You'd give us eyes to see Jesus and ears to hear the wonder of the gospel message. We pray that the scales would fall from our eyes and that this report that Luke has given us would not simply be facts that we can take into our brains but it would be good news that is taken into our hearts by faith and changes everything.

[74:16] And we thank you that Jesus does change everything. We see so much in this world that troubles us. we sometimes are fearful and yet even as we hear the welcome noises of the young ones here with us we can sing how sweet to hold a newborn baby to feel the love the joy that they give but sweeter still the calm assurance that the empty grave is there to prove the saviour lives and because he lives no matter what happens in Ukraine no matter what happens here no matter what happens in the details of our lives we can face tomorrow and we thank you that because Jesus lives even when we come to death's dark veil we pass through it into everlasting life because of the hope that has been given to us in Christ so give us faith to believe we pray and enable us as those who believe to celebrate that in Christ alone our hope is found and we ask this in Jesus name amen we're going to sing now that hymn to close in Christ alone our hope is found

[75:37] Christ the Lord my hope is found he is my light my strength my soul this cornerstone this solid ground third to the fiercest drought and storm what tides of love what depths of peace when fears are still when strivings cease my comfort my all in all here in the love of Christ I stand in Christ the Lord who took on flesh foolish of God in helpless pain this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save till on thy cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was made here in the death of Christ

[77:13] I live and in the ground his body laid light of the world by darkness slain and bursting forth in glorious day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory since Christ has lost his grip on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first try to final bread

[78:24]  Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ us stand and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forevermore Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen