Keion Henderson - The Laundry Master

Listen, we will be covering three passages of Scripture today. I want you to follow along with me as we weave this thread through the text. First of all, I want you to go with me to Luke chapter 2, verse 12; secondly, Mark 14, verse 51; and third, John 20, verse 7. Fourth, please stand out of respect for the reading of God’s Word: Luke chapter 2, verse 12. Alright, this is not a message that you can jump in and catch up in the middle and still know what I’m talking about. You 're going to have to follow me all the way through. The Bible says in Luke chapter 2, verse 12, this is when Jesus was born: «Then you will know that it is Him; there will be a sign: you will find Him because He will be a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes .» Alright, let’s go over to Mark chapter 14, verse 51. Mark 14, verse 51. Now, this is when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, and there was a young boy, according to this text, who follows Him in linen. When they went to grab him, he left the linen behind, so you literally see a naked boy running after Jesus. How many of you have never heard of that before? Just about a show of hands-it’s right here in the text: «And he left the linen cloth and fled from him naked.» So, you have Jesus born wrapped in linen, then you have Him in the Garden of Gethsemane being followed by a boy who was also wrapped in linen. Now, let’s go to John chapter 20, verse 7. «And the napkin that was about His head was not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.» Do you see Jesus, born wrapped in linen, pre-resurrection, pre-crucifixion, being followed by another boy wrapped in linen? Then we see Him in the borrowed tomb of His stepfather, yet again wrapped in linen. I want to talk about what we’ve talked about all day: I want to talk about the Laundry Master. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord-the Laundry Master. All over the world in churches, both big and small, churches with enormous budgets and those that are just barely open, all of our sanctuaries are filled with people who have come to pay homage to the Lord God our Father for His ability to bring Jesus Christ out of the tomb. Antiquity teaches us that there are those who are under the assumption that Jesus was not dead and that somewhere along the line He regained consciousness, which means that He was resuscitated and not resurrected. See, that’s the entire argument of the pericope of salvation: that Jesus Christ was just a man like everybody else, which is not true. The entire argument of Christendom has been laid at the feet of BC and AD, unaware of the fact that this is not the factual argument that really needs to be addressed. The world is not demarcated by AD and BC, although our chronology is. We are in the year 2019 AD, which means that we are now living 2019 years after the death of Christ. BC would be anything that took place before He died. So, Peter was alive BC. You 've got the Egyptian pyramids that were built BC, the Great Wall of China that was built BC. You 've got all of this history that shows us men were alive as long as six or seven thousand years ago. Some would suggest, then, how can dinosaurs be millions of years old if the world is only 6,000 years old? Only God can answer those questions, and we will find out later by and by. But we do know that humanity was created out of the voice and the mouth of God. Here we are today in church on Easter, shouting, «His mercy endures forever!» We are exhilarated and exuberant about the fact that Jesus got up, and that is because you have an open book test. You know He got up; you know He rose; you know He’s coming back again. But can you imagine the adrenaline pumping through the veins of those who attended the first Easter service? They hoped that He would get up; they hoped that He would come back again. They did not have an open book test because, remember, all they had was the law, and grace had not yet been revealed. All they had were commandments: that we should not lie and that we should not commit adultery. Matthew, Mark, and Luke had not yet been espoused -right? -by the gift of the Holy Spirit. So they did not have the information that you and I have: that the just shall live by faith. See, every once in a while, God will let you miss the facts to see if you’ll live by faith. He’ll keep some parts of the story missing to see if you’ll trust Him for the beginning, the middle, and the end. Most people don’t trust God because they always want to know how this thing is going to end up. But you’ve got to understand that when God is on your side, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. So just in case you fall asleep before the sermon is over, I’m going to tell you it’s going to end well for you. Touch three people and say, «It 's going to end well for you .» It may not feel good now; it may not be prosperous.