Resurrection

In today’s sermon Pastor Babij highlights one of history’s most contested events, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pastor Babij details how witnesses and facts confirm that this event occurred. Further, Pastor Babij explains that the resurrection calls believers not to a blind faith but to a living faith in the risen Lord Jesus. Finally, Pastor Babij exhorts believers to be consumed in love and service to Jesus while believers wait for His return.

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Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

hey this morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark Mark chapter 16 Mark 16 now looking at this Mark chapter 16 um there’s a real big problem here in this chapter and the big problem is is that uh the early manuscripts the Greek manuscripts end at verse number eight um later manuscripts have included verse 9 through verse 20 and then some manuscripts would include just there should be an italicized section down there in the bottom of of the passage some of them include that after verse number eight so um I’m going to probably mention some things next time about that but I do want to make you aware of that because in your Bible if you have an ESV it may not even include verse number nine through the end of the chapter uh and other translations may have brackets to let you know that there’s something going on there right but it doesn’t change anything in the message uh about the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and so maybe next time I’m going this text and finish up I will mention some of the reasons why there would be an issue all right so this morning we’re going to be looking at verse number 1 through eight and this would be the called the short and of course it highlights the resurrection that’s the main point here but there’s many things going on in these verses that I want to look at this morning and try to bring out and identify but before I do that let’s have a word of prayer Lord this morning as we come again to your word I pray Lord that you would make us ready to receive it because we know Lord the conclusion of your word is not just for information it’s to believe it and to live it because it’s the living word that comes from the living Christ so Lord you are seated right now at the right hand of the father and you’re preparing to come back again but you Lord defeated death you defeated Satan you accomplished what no man could have ever accomplished before you became a man because you were the perfect man you were the sinless man you were the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world and Lord for that we are forever grateful and thank you Lord that you left us four gospels as a witness and a testimony to your life and of course your suffering your death and your resurrection and Lord thank you that we have these Witnesses um to study to embolden our faith and to make us people who truly in any time that we live live out a life believing these things are true and that everything you said you have said did come to pass and everything you said now for the future will come to P pass and I thank you Lord for that and so I pray you’d bless us with these truths this morning in Christ’s name amen all right so we looking at verses 1-8 chapter 16 of Mark now let me just bring you where we where we came from and where we’re going it’s it was not long of course after 3:00 in the afternoon when Jesus died the gospel of Mark tells us in Mark chap 15: 37 and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last the the next day was of course the Sabbath the Sabbath began at 6:00 p.m.

on Friday or Sunset whatever came first second according to the Jewish law a criminal’s body might not remain on its had to be quickly taken down and rapidly disposed of very often bodies of crucified criminals were simply left once Tak off the cross and left there for the vultures and the crows and the wild dogs but the followers of Jesus had an influential friend who was able to help them to pay what they thought was their last tribute to their Dead Master his name was Joseph of arthea I let mentioned him last week he was a rich man he was part of the Sanhedrin he was was a devout man and he was a secret disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ he went to pilate and requested the body of Jesus that he might be given a decent burial pilate of course was surprised that Jesus had died so soon because crucifixion was supposed to be a long slow painful death but he willingly granted the request to Joseph and of course Nicodemus was aiding him the tombs of wealthy families in those days were not graves in the ground but were caves and of course with shelves on which the bodies were laid Joseph had such a tomb and it was never used it was brand new it was just HED out of rock and it was lo lo located near the Garden in a garden near calvary’s Hill the Apostle John records that Nicodemus came with a gift of spices to embal the body of Jesus as if it were the body of a king so the body of Jesus was wrapped in grave clothes which were like long linen bandages wound around and around the body and in between each round spices would be put in and then of course it was laid on one of the shelves in the Rock tomb such tombs were not closed with a door but with a heavy disc like Stone which ran in a Groove and of course it was rolled once the body was in there to close the tomb entrance it was very usually for a rich man’s tomb it was very large and heavy unlikely that any one person could move it now of course in verse number 47 of chapter 15 it says Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of josies were looking on to see where he was laid so they were paying attention where he was going to be put in a tomb and then meanwhile the Jewish authorities had not been idle even after they had seen Jesus die on the cross they were still uneasy about him they went to pilate and asked that ESP special precaution be made lest the Disciples of Jesus should steal his body and claim that he had risen from the dead of course pilate agreed and a guard should be that a guard should be posted and the stone should be sealed to make things safe as they could be made at that particular moment the time was to come when the bewildered guards had to report that the two was empty of course that really would have meant for them the death penalty for them but they were just giving the facts and when they were then bribed by the Jewish authorities to say that jesus’ disciples had stolen his body all the Sabbath day that’s our Saturday the body of Jesus laid in the Tomb and the tomb had no visitors on the Sabbath for the Sabbath day was a day of rest and to make a journey from the city to the tomb would have been breaking the Sabbath law so nobody visited the tomb on Saturday so Then There came the first day of the week our Sunday and so it was early Sunday morning before or shortly after Dawn that we read our text this morning now what happens next in the gospel of Mark is one of the most disputed events in all human history according to the gospel writers they are giving historical statements of factual truth now when we think of Truth at least the way we should think of truth truth is not negotiable historical statements of fact are not open to question you can’t change the facts when we read for example for uh that George Washington and his men spent the winter of 19 or excuse me 1777 enduring wretched conditions at Valley Forge we are obligated to believe it although none of us observe their long deadly winter what we know about this event is it really supported by written testimony of those who were there and also collaborated by those who studied the Revolutionary War and determine what the facts are so we usually trust the record of historians we usually do that in a historical sense the resurrection stands on ground that is just as solid reliable Witnesses wrote about meeting and talking with Jesus after his death skeptical enemies noticed his disappearance from the tomb extra biblical historical reports were given of his resurrection I Witnesses of Jesus post-death appearances after he died of course defending those truths and willing to die for them and of many other things so in order for an honest historian to be convinced that something actually happened he needs to see at least two specific criteria two criteria must be met the first one is this the event in question must be supported by the testimony of believable and trustworthy Witnesses reliable Witnesses and then secondly the circumstantial evidence must be authenticated it must be authentic when both both of these demands are clearly supported by the evidence at hand The Inquirer is really compelled by Logic to believe that the event actually took place if we appli these criteria to the resurrection we must conclude that it is factually true and did actually occur even with all the evidence we know some don’t believe it was Winston Churchill who made this observation about men and Truth Churchill said men occasionally stumble over truth but some but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened it’s the same when it comes to the resurrection people can hear about it they can hear messages on it they can read about it they can talk about it they can lecture on it and it may just be that they are just dealing with information and it never affects them nothing happens that should never be true for a Believer actually a Believer needs to submit to them give them self to the truth and believe it even if that means believing unto death so let’s examine the written testimony that we have and conclude for ourselves so we’re going to see several things going on here the first is the experience of faithful women and what they actually witnessed let’s look at verse number one and two this was the woman’s the women’s desire and their work it says in verse number one when the Sabbath was over Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and salomi brought spices so that they might come and anoint him very very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen now the woman’s desire here was they were just thinking on an Earthly level they came seeking a corpse in order to finish preparing the body Jesus of course had been dead since Friday in that climate the dead are buried that same day or they’re very they’re buried very early the next day so the women brought very costly aromatic spices to carefully prepare the body which of course also speaks volumes of their love and devotion for their master their lord now by the way why does Mark mention these women three times within really eight lines well because he is establish establishing these women as reliable witnesses to a historical account all right these are believable Witnesses they’re not coming to prove anything they’re coming to anoint the body of Jesus see the repeated names of the women here are really a source of citation these women must have been alive at the time of Mark’s writing it’s like Mark saying if you want to check out the truth of my story go talk to these three women and see what you get from them also we do know this that why why women and why no men show up where are the disciples they’re not there just the women are there now one re the body and uh compris those who come to the tomb to ref an entry to the tomb and could not think how they might move this massive Stone which which guarded its entrance so Jesus laid in the Tomb and the great Stone which some new testament manuscripts say that 20 men could hardly have moved it was rolled up in its Groove from its Groove to close the tomb so the women thought who will do this service for us that we can finish anointing the body of Jesus now you should remember that Mary of Bethany while Jesus was still alive gave her devotion of what was going on to the Lord Jesus Christ and actually her love to Jesus had an extravagance connected to it if you remember in chapter 14 it says these women with an this woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume pure nard and she broke the vial and poured it over his head and the reason why she did that because she was worshiping her Lord showing her love for her Lord but it says in Mark 14 and verse number eight she had done what she could she had anointed my body beforehand for the burial so in other words jesus’ body was anointed prior to him even dying uh that was all in scripture so we need to really offer thanks to the Lord that the women never had to use their costly spices in this instance so you see everything is pointing to something quite miraculous it’s pointing to an empty tomb but the women also we could see thirdly they were shocked in verse number four notice looking up they saw the stone had been rolled away although it was extremely large all right so those words put in there are are there for a purpose to give us the sense that this circular disc this Stone was so large that most likely even a group of people could not even move it there was a way to do it but you had to have strong people that did it so when the women looked up and they saw the extremely large Stone rolled violently from the cliff side because rich man’s tombs were larger than other tombs and they had openings of full height and had larger stones made proportionate to the size of the openings in other words the opening of this tomb was probably the height of a a regular person it wasn’t a small opening some say in Matthew’s account which says and behold the severe earthquake had occurred for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat on it so the observation is this the stone was not rolled aside in into its Groove in the regular way no it was hurled out of its groove by some tremendous power thrown flat on the ground in front of the Tomb making a seat for the angel again seeing it’s it this event being pointing to the empty tomb pointing to a miraculous happening and then and a second thing that we see in our narrative is the unexpected Declaration of the Heavenly Envoy to the women that’s the Angels who came and spoke with them in verse five and six the entryway to the tomb was now of course open to the women so the women went right in to see if the body was still there they did not see jesus’ body but instead encountered a very unusual young man and if you notice in verse 5 the Heavenly Envoy appearance it says entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting at the right wearing a white robe and they were amazed see Angels appear as male and as usually young his garments reflect the Purity and the Holiness of heaven but an angel that represents life and light and at the same time the women were it says amazed or dumbfounded is a good way to say it they were dumbfounded about what’s going on they’re coming to anoint a dead body and they don’t find no body but they find this Angel Who’s Got This brilliant as Matthew says his appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow startle them and then the angel rebukes the women in verse number six and he said to them don’t be amazed you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified in other words I know who you’re looking for so he rebukes them by saying don’t be amazed in other words stop being dumb dumbfounded no reason to fear no reason for amazement why Jesus is not here that’s why Jesus is not here so the Heavenly Envoy also gives a correction in verse number six he’s not it says he is risen he is not here behold here is the place where they laid him so he is inviting the women to examine the authentic circumstantial evidence for yourself come in the Tomb and look and see see the resurrection of jesus’ body was at the same time its glorification now don’t misunderstand the angel did not out the stone was removed instead to let the Witnesses in now when the angel opened the tomb Jesus had already risen Jesus left the tomb silently before the stone was rolled away his dead body was filled with new life and at the same instance his body passed did not have to unwrap himself no Jesus resurrected body passed right through the funeral wrappings then he stood up and through the walls of solid stone that were sealed and guarded by the Roman soldiers silently invisibly wondrously gloriously the living resurrected body of Jesus passed through the Rock and yet Jesus was invisible to the eyes of the soldiers then at this very point when the tomb was now empty the angel came and opened the tomb and violently removed the great Stone so that the women could go inside the two out his Earthly Ministry I will die but I will be raised the third day I will die I will be raised the third day I will die I will be raised the third day all throughout his ministry no one and I repeat no one anticipated a resurrection see the resurrection was actually a shocking in intrusion into what they were anticipating we know historically that the Greeks did not believe in Resurrection in the Greek worldview the afterlife was a liberation of the soul from the body from them resurrection of course for them Resurrection would never be part of an afterlife or after death as for the Jews some of them believed in a future General Resurrection when the entire world would be renewed but they had no concept of an IND individual rising from the dead the people of jesus’ day were not predisposed to believing in the resurrection anymore than we are and the the reason why is we could we just don’t experience it you know we don’t have many examples of it in fact Jesus is the first fruits of the Resurrection he is the first one who genuinely was raised from the dead now in light of that there’s a two-fold instruction that comes from this heavenly visitor from this Angel and this is what he says to the women who are there he says the first thing he says is go tell the disciples about the resurrection of the Lord in verse number seven it says but go tell number one in he’s saying there listen don’t you be surprised or amazed but go tell the disciples what you see go tell them about the evidence see the angel was saying something that really cannot be missed by the reader none of the male disciples showed up at the tomb and almost all of Jesus faithless fickle disciples departed and were hiding out cringing in locked rooms terrified that the same thing that happened to Jesus might happen to them and that’s rightfully so we would have done the same thing yet the words give given on behalf of the Lord from the angel to the disciples are kind and gracious words there’s not they’re not words of rebuke they’re word they’re kind words go tell the disciples what you have seen and then notice in verse number seven he says specifically go tell Peter about the resurrection notice but go tell his disciples and Peter is is singled out now there’s several reasons for that first Peter had to face his failure he was the biggest denier of the Lord Jesus Christ denied him three times he was the biggest failure of any of all the disciples secondly he had to know the Forgiveness of Jesus and thirdly Peter had to know that he could be restored back to in imate and useful service to his Lord and his people he had to know that it it would only be natural for the women who rushed with the news to the other disciples Luke tells the story Mary hurried to tell the story of the empty tomb to Peter and his disciples whom Jesus the disciple whom Jesus loved was loved who was John but at the same time she did not grasp the significance of the empty tomb but was kind of brokenhearted because she thought that someone had taken away the body of Jesus or stolen it away Peter and the Beloved disciples set out for the garden the the Beloved disciple John saw the empty tune and the grave clothed lying in it but he did not go in and of course Peter rushed right in it says this in John chapter 20 he saw the linen WRA wrappings lying there and the facecloth which was had been on his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself so the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered he saw and he believed so what was it about the grave clothes that was so striking well there’s two possibilities I gave you one already actually the first one is that it may be that the grave clothes in the face cloth were so neatly tidily laid out and folded that it was quite clear that there had been no hurried theft of the body but that it had been carefully taken off and laid away secondly it is possible that the Greek could mean that the linen grave clothes and face cloth were lying separately exactly as if the body of of Jesus had evaporated out of them and left them lying empty so Peter and the Beloved disciple returned to Jerusalem with the certainty that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead so the circumstantial evidence is is really piling up it’s very hard to refute and so the angel also says something else to the women he says not only go tell the disciples and Peter but he tells the women to go and tell them something else he said tell them to proceed to Galilee for a grand meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ notice what it says in verse number seven go tell his disciples and Peter he is going ahead of you to Galilee there you will see him just as he told you now Galilee is not around the corner Galilee is 100 miles north of Jerusalem so you have to get from one place to another it takes some time to do that all right we do know that Jesus was around for some 50 some days uh after he rose from the grave and he was meeting and joining himself and appearing to all kinds of groups of people but in this passage of scripture Jesus really is keeping his promise of of a special meeting with his disciples after he rises from the dead now take your Bibles and turn back to chapter 14 and verse number 28 for Chapter 14 verse 28 and it says this of course verse 27 says and Jesus said to them you will all fall away because it is written I will will strike down the shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered in verse 28 but after I have been R after I have been raised I will go ahead of you to Galilee and then of course it talks about Peter uh falling away so in other words Jesus had promised before the cross that he would meet them again after he rose from the grave well he’s keeping that promise he’s keeping that promise because after God accomplishes Redemption and and is raised from the dead then he will bring his scattered sheep together again he will meet up with his disciples in Galilee he will resume leadership over them now why Galilee J Jesus will appear to them as the great Shepherd of the sheep that leads his flock well remember galile is where he chose his disciples Galilee is where he commissioned his disciples Galilee is where he gives them the Great Commission that’s what he’s going to do when he meets with them he’s going to give them the Great Commission the Great Commission is going to be going to all the world and preach the gospel right of course from Matthew you’re going to go you’re going to baptize and you’re going to teach again uh the reader can’t miss this look at what it says in verse number seven of Mark chapter 16 he is going going ahead of you to Galilee and there you will see him just as he told you now what we see here is we’re getting a glimpse of the unconditional love of God the unconditional love of God towards his children specifically towards his disciples Jesus is saying via the angel I will see you again I’m going ahead of you and I will meet you there I’ll be waiting for you there in other words I want you back again because I love you I want you back again yes all the things you’ve done you ran away you denied me you weren’t up showing up in places you should be you should have shown up but I love you and I understand all those things now you have may you you have all heard of and sang the song Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so we think when we hear it that that is a good children’s hym and that that is the shallow end of the pool but in reality is actually the deep end of the pool it is the end that is over our heads we are conditioned that God loves us when we are good we really don’t believe that God loves us when we fall into sin oh don’t misunderstand unbroken habitual patterns of sin may prove a person does not even have the seed of God in their heart therefore unsaved I’m not talking about that I’m talking about when God’s people sin and they think they don’t God doesn’t love them them anymore see God’s love is not changing or fickle like our love is it’s consistent and unchanging with his character see so saying this to his disciples was a great encouragement as they took that 100 mile Journey back up to Galilee they’re thinking wow he really wants to meet with us he really wants a relationship with us again that’s why you know we have passages of scripture like in Romans 5 but God demonstrates his own love toward us while we were good and likable he died for us is that’s what it says while we were Sinners he died for us while we were ungodly while we were enemies while we were denying him and cursing him you know in my testimony when I give my testimony I say in my testimony you know what when God found me I was not looking for him I was doing all right I was having a good time I was experiencing the world I wasn’t looking for God but what I found out is he was looking for me and when I heard the gospel and I realized what it was and what I never actually did I never asked Christ to save me I never repented of my sins I never believed specifically in the death resurrection of Jesus Christ and when I did and everything changed I immediately was impressed by the love that God had toward me who I knew I was a sinner that that was very clear see so when God breaks in on our world with Mighty and amazing power usually it’s mixed with astonishment and it’s mixed with fear it’s mixed with amazement and we really don’t know what to do with it and the same is true in scripture look at verse number eight it says they were out they went out and fled from the tomb the women for trembling and astonishment had gripped them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid they were afraid they didn’t know what to make of it they’ve never experienced or even heard anything like this before but these women were trustworthy witnesses that Mark included in his gospel there was authentic circumstantial evidence plenty of it and Mark doesn’t even include all of it the other gospels include more of it see to revisit the account of the empty tomb reveals that the resurrection is not just an idea of the Mind it is not a figment of someone’s imagination but an event in history that actually took place and is true in every aspect an atheist passed up a note to him while he was speaking with the question what has your religion got that all these other religions have not God and of course there was a long long list Buddhism mamadisimo an answer on a piece of paper and sent it back up to the man and he said an empty tomb nobody has an empty tomb so fear astonishment is either going to leave lead to unb unbelief or it’s going to lead to belief or somewhere in between but belief and unbelief is this true did this really happen is Jesus real or don’t you believe it can’t be neutral and I’m under No Illusion to think everyone will come and believe in this truth it is a Doctrine specifically taught in Scripture it is a special message given by those who are God’s children it was the Apostle Paul who asked the question in the book of Acts why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead why would you think that is amazing he’s God he can do anything why would you think he could not raise the dead see jesus’ Resurrection hits a new note of Hope and Faith that what God did Once in a graveyard in Jerusalem he can and will repeat on a grand scale and he’s going to do that that Resurrection is going to happen on a grand scale Against All Odds the irreversible death will be reversed see the resurrection chapter in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that there is a link between the first Adam and of course the last Adam the old Adam brought death into the world the new Adam brought life into the world in fact in first Corinthians 15: 20- 26 this is what it says but now Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who are asleep for Since By A Man Came Death By A man also came the resurrection of the Dead for as in Adam all die so also in Christ all will be made alive but each in his own order Christ the first fruits after that those who are Christ at his coming then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and father when he has Abol abolished all Rule and all authority and power he must Reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet The Last Enemy that will be abolished is death see his victory over death is our benefit a thing which may very well seem to be incredible to any sort of thinking person it is for no other reason than no one experiences any living person or of seeing any such a thing happen in their lifetime we know that there are resuscitations where those who have been declared clinically dead for a few moments something no present human being can attest to the only place that I see it is in scripture I see that my Lord has done that and I see that if I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God had raised them from the dead I will be saved right so I must believe the doctrine of Resurrection the way the scripture actually communicates it see the whole structure of the Christian doctrine stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus in other words if Jesus just died and didn’t rise again there would be nothing if the resurrection could be disproved Christianity would crumble in the dust and be reg relegated to the junk pile of the wildest of myths see the res Resurrection though is the best established fact of antiquity most people who do not believe in the resurrection of Christ really have no support for their opinion because they have never examined the evidence well the Bible says listen Acts chapter 1:3 to these he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God so this morning as I preach to you I am preaching to you that Jesus Christ indeed did rise from the grave and my faith is not based on a blind leap in the dark my faith is actually based on evidence the Bible never calls us to a blind faith it calls us to a faith in evidence Blind Faith is without evidence the Bible calls us to believe in many infallible proofs many convincing proves and they are convincing and even the people if youve read ever read about resurrection that have gone out of their way to disprove the resurrection if they were honest in their starting point they have to be honest in their conclusion they end up believing the resurrection because the evidence is too overwhelming it’s too overwhelming the Witnesses are too reliable so this is the Glorious truth but now Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who are asleep that means those who believe in Christ death his burial his resurrection Christians that me I mean their preaching is not in vain their faith is not in vain Christians are not Liars Christians do not die in their sin Christians who have died do not merely perish Christians now living are not of all people most miserable they are people who are the the most thankful and prayerful and joyful because they have put their trust in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ why because Christ has been raised from the dead that’s the short ending of Mark next week next time I will look at the longer ending of Mark but I do want to admonish you that if you have not come yet to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior and tell him so today would be a good day to do that today would be a good day to come and ask Christ to save you he’s the only one who can save you he’s the only one who give you not only eternal life now but life forever Resurrection life life that can’t even really be described Beyond this life so he’s coming back to get us and while we wait for him we need to be living for him with all our heart all our mind all our soul and strength because all I have said in scripture will come to pass so where do you stand in relationship to the Gospel of Jesus Christ have you believed it are you committed to it are you living it are you telling other people about it has it consumed you are you being transformed by it every day of your life that’s where the scripture leads us to that’s what a real believer is a real believer is being transformed they being changed by the Lord himself they’re being Sanctified by the spirit of God they’re being conformed into the image of God himself that’s what the spirit of God’s doing in your life so I pray that that’s a reality to you it’s not something that you don’t know anything about but something it’s a reality it’s happening and you’re living it and uh you’re glad to be a Christian you are happy that God participating we comes to the Lord’s table this morning which we’re going to have right now and what are we looking at we’re looking at the elements of the Lord’s table right the elements being the bread and that’s the INF fleshman incarnation of Jesus coming into the world to do what to be the perfect man who dies in the place of Sinners right but then it’s also the element and of the wine that represents the blood of Christ because it without the shedding of blood there is no forgiving forgiveness of sins there’s no washing away of sin forever Christ does that but then we also know the Lord’s table gives us a hope to look for his coming to know that he’s defeated Satan in death and he’s coming again so we come to celebrate that so as I mentioned before there’s two agreed upon qualifications for participating in the Lord’s Supper the first one is those who have repented and believed in Christ can and of course have been baptized should participate because it is a sign of being a Christian it’s a sign of continuing in your Christian Life it’s a sign that you’re coming with a knowledge and understanding of what you’re doing also a second qualification would be the part part the of course the participation of self-examination that those who eat and drink are to discern the body the problem at the Corinthian Church was a failure to see their selfishness a failure to see their inconsiderate conduct especially towards one another instead of unity they had disunity instead of being steeming others higher than those themselves they were esteeming themselves so in other words let a person come and examine themselves and they ought to ask the question whether their relationships in the body of Christ are in fact reflecting the character of the Lord himself in whom we meet when we come to the table so those are the things that we need to look at in our own lives this morning so let’s prepare ourselves make ourselves ready to come the men who are serving please come forward and we’ll partake of the Lord’s table today thank you