A Morning to Remember

Luke chapter 24, verse one. Let's pray and then

Luke 24 · chapter mention

we'll get into the word. God, we thank you for

being good to us. I thank you for all the folks

that are here this morning. We thank you for

Jesus. We thank you that we have a reason to

rejoice, a reason for hope, dear Lord. And maybe

if there are some this morning that They don't

they don't feel like they have any hope They

don't feel like there's there's any light at

the end of the tunnel dear Lord. I pray today

this morning. I pray This empty tomb that we're

going to talk about would be a hope for them.

I Pray that your Holy Spirit will be among us.

I pray that you'd be glorified with every word

that is said today And I ask these things in

Jesus name Amen By the time we get to Luke 24,

it had been a rough few days for the followers

of Jesus. Jesus had been brought into town. He

had faced a mock trial. There was no real fairness

in it. There were a lot of accusers that came

against Jesus. Ultimately, Jesus was mocked and

he was beaten and he was nailed to a cross. And

for those who hated Jesus, they rejoiced. But

there were certainly many who loved Jesus. There

were many there at the cross that we see. There

are those that we see that get his body down.

There are the ladies that we see that go to the

tomb. And while there were certainly many in

the crowd who yelled, crucify him, there were

many in the crowd who loved Jesus as well. And

Jesus had spent three years plus. Really pouring

into people and and loving old people and being

compassionate to people But also teaching his

apostles and and preparing his followers for

the day that that he was gonna leave but that

he was gonna rise on the third day and and Jesus

had had made that point to him, but His disciples

were they were a little slow. They're they're

not so unlike you and I always appreciate or

at least it makes me feel better let me say when

I read about the Apostles that that these were

men who walked with Jesus and they didn't always

get it. And these women who went to the tomb,

they didn't remember the words that Jesus has

said. And you may say, why do we do this every

year at Easter? We get together and we go over

the same scriptures. We go over the same story.

But this is what gives us our hope. This is what

gives us reason to rejoice. This is why we're

here. This story. that the Son of God died so

our sins could be forgiven, that He was placed

in a tomb, and that death did not have victory

over Him. That is why we have reason to get up

every day. That is why we have reason for hope

every day. And so even though we've heard the

words of Jesus and the words of Scripture, perhaps

many times, for some of you, I suspect you've

been to dozens of sunrise services. 30, 40, 50,

60, 70 sunrise services for some of you, maybe

more. And we continue year after year to look

at the same story. And what other story in our

life do we continue to come back to year after

year? What other story like this in our life

has an impact on our life? Do we continue to

read the words of the man that this story is

about thousands of years later? Now, there are

plenty of good stories in the world. There's

no question about that. But this is a true story.

This is not fictional. This is a true story about

the Son of God whose words are so powerful, whose

example is so powerful, whose victory over death

is so powerful that 2 ,000 years later, the gospel

has gone strong. And there's men and women of

Jesus Christ, just like you and I, that are gathered

all around. the world. Some of them this morning

are watching the sunrise. Some of them are like

us and there's clouds in the sky and there's

rain that's falling. But God is still good. The

sun still rises whether we see it or not. For

some there's bright days for others there's gloomy

days and isn't that so true of life? Some days

are good and some days are just just don't feel

so good but But on the good and the bad, God

is still the God of them all. And we can rejoice

even on the gloomiest of days, because Jesus

Christ rose from the grave. Luke chapter 24 verse

Luke 24 · chapter mention

one, on the first day of the week, very early

in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing

the spices they had prepared. They found the

stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in

but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly

two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So

the women were terrified and bowed down to the

ground. Why are you looking for the living among

the dead? Asked the men. He is not here, but

he has been resurrected. Remember how he spoke?

to you and while he was still in Galilee saying

the son of man must be betrayed into the hands

of sinful men be crucified and rise on the third

day and they remembered his words isn't that

interesting and they remembered his words now

you would think that people who believed that

Jesus was the Messiah who trusted him and who

followed him That they would have just been sitting

there after he was crucified and they would have

all just said we're just gonna hang out because

in three days we know he's gonna rise again because

he told us you would have thought there wouldn't

have been a worry in the world or a fear in the

world and Yet it seems as though these women

had forgotten the words of Jesus and Maybe the

trauma of the whole experience I mean, things

have been pretty bad. I mean, you get it. Everybody

in here gets it because you know what it's like

to lose somebody that is close to you. And they

didn't just lose somebody. They lost somebody

who was close to them in the most excruciating

and painful way. That they had to experience

this and see the death of Jesus and the way that

it was. It was not an easy death. He was beaten.

He was nailed to a cross Nails through his hands

and nails through his feet and his friends had

to see that And maybe just in the trauma of loss

and in the trauma of life For whatever reason

they forgot God's words They forgot the words

of Jesus And what about you and I? Perhaps that's

true of us, too Maybe we've read the words of

Jesus. Maybe we trust him and we follow him,

and we believe every word he says, but sometimes

maybe life gets in the way. Maybe for us it's

loss, maybe it's stress, maybe it's work, maybe

it's who knows what, sickness, there's all kind

of things. But perhaps this is a good reminder

for us today, that as we reflect on the fact

that Jesus Christ has been resurrected, That

as we look at this story, that it's a reminder

to us of his words, of his example, of his life,

of what he gave for us and what he taught us.

And these ladies had to be reminded. Don't you

remember what Jesus said? Maybe that's a good

question for us to consider today. Do you remember

the words of Jesus? Do you remember the love

of Jesus, praise the Lord? Do you remember that

that He says He's gonna be with you, He's gonna

take care of you, He's gonna forgive you of your

sins, that He cares about you, that He's prepared

a place for you, that He's gonna come back for

you. Like these are the promises of Jesus. These

are the promises that we see in God's Word that

God will never leave us or forsake us. The words

of Jesus that Jesus says, don't worry about tomorrow.

Just simple little words that Jesus said. that

sometimes we just forget and maybe when we read

this passage maybe the light bulb will go off

for us like it did those ladies who went to the

tomb that morning and the scripture says and

they remembered his words for a moment they had

forgotten for a moment they were they were overwhelmed

by what was before them but then in a minute

a moment they remembered what Jesus said Maybe

today you need to remember what Jesus said. Maybe

today in this moment you need to remember that

Jesus loves you. Maybe today you need to remember

that Jesus has got you. He's taking care of you.

Maybe today you need to remember, don't worry

about the things of this world, but trust in

the Son of God. Verse nine. Returning from the

tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven

and to all the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna,

Mary the mother of James, and the other women

with them were telling the apostles these things.

Okay, let's pause there for a second. Now, I

would venture to say that there were probably

no people who spent more time with Jesus, at

least in these last three years, than the 12

apostles that he had chosen. They were with him

a lot. They traveled all over the place. and

they had seen so much stuff. I mean, I cannot

even imagine. The scripture says that if all

the works of Jesus had been written, that the

books of the world wouldn't contain them. Jesus

did so much stuff. We have a smidgen of it. But

Jesus did so many things that we'll never know

about. But I suspect that the twelve who were

with him, that they saw a lot of those things.

I mean, they saw Jesus raise a man from the dead.

They saw Jesus heal people that couldn't see,

to take deaf people and let them hear, to take

lame people so that they could walk. They saw

things that you and I could only imagine what

that would look like. And they heard the teachings

of Jesus. Could you imagine? Could you imagine

how beautiful of a teacher that Jesus was? I

mean, everything that Jesus said had to have

been... So beautiful. And they didn't always

understand it. Sometimes they had to ask him,

hey, what's going on here? Explain this to us.

But can you imagine these men had been with Jesus

for three plus years? If anybody had known Jesus

and remembered his words and had trusted in him

and was looking forward to his resurrection,

it would be these 11. So that when these women

came to them and said, wait, let me tell you

what happened. The tomb is empty. Jesus is gone.

You would have thought they would have said,

we knew that. Where's he at? Let's go see him.

But they got this news and listen to what the

scripture says in verse 11. When they heard these

words, it says, but these words seem like nonsense

to them and they did not believe the women. What

in the world? Of all the people in all of the

world that should have known and been ready for

Jesus, they heard these words and it seemed like

nonsense to them. They had to be reminded. They

had to be reminded that what Jesus said had come

true. That all the words he had spoken had come

true. And maybe for us today we are not so unlike

these women that went to the tomb and these apostles.

that we need to be reminded that everything in

this world hinges on whether the fact Jesus was

going to be in that tomb or out of that tomb.

Everything in the world hinges on that because

if Jesus' body was in that tomb then all of his

followers probably would have gone on their way

and over time he would have probably been forgotten

and you and I would not know each other. Many

of us would not even know each other. We wouldn't

be here this morning if Jesus would have been

in the tomb. Because if Jesus would have been

in the tomb, he would have been a liar or lunatic.

Because Jesus said he was the son of God. Jesus

said he was going to raise again after three

days that death was not going to have the final

say. And if Jesus would have been in that tomb,

there'd be no hope for us today. But praise the

Lord, he was not in that tomb. Those women got

there and the body was gone. And it even caught

him by surprise. and his apostles who should

have known and been looking forward to him. When

they heard the news, it sounded like nonsense.

They needed to be reminded that Jesus was not

in that tomb, that he said he wasn't gonna be

in that tomb. And because of that, he was just

who he said he was. He was the Son of God. And

he gave his life on the cross so that your sins

and my sins could be forgiven. And he was raised

from that grave by the Lord. so that death would

not have the final say. So for us today, we have

reason to rejoice. We have reason to rejoice

because when Jesus died on that cross, our sins

were nailed to that cross. And when Jesus overcame

death, for those who trust in Him, we shall overcome

death. The apostles did not believe, but one

did. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.

When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen

cloths. So he went home amazed at what had happened.

Now why do you think Peter was different? I say

Peter believed. Maybe he was just as much in

shock as the rest of them. But I suspect maybe

Peter wanted to believe more than any of the

rest of them. And I believe that's probably because

Peter had just denied Jesus. Peter was pretty

bold. Peter was pretty bold throughout his time

with Jesus to speak up, and he had already said,

Jesus, I'll die with you. Well, that didn't come

to be true. As soon as the water got hot, Peter,

he took out, he denied Jesus three times, adamantly

denied. I don't know the man. And so you know

that had to just be eaten away at him. You know

how it is when you feel like you've hurt somebody

that you love. Man, you just... When you know

that they love you and they hug you and you say

you're sorry and they say it's okay and you make

up, man, that's a good feeling. That's a bad

feeling when you hurt somebody and you know you've

hurt somebody, but it's a good feeling when you

know that they still love you. And I suspect

that Peter was feeling some of that hurt because

he had betrayed Jesus and now Jesus was dead.

And there was no opportunity for him to say,

Lord, I'm sorry. Lord, do you still love me?

And I think Jesus knew that because when we look

at the end of the Gospel of John, we see just

that, we see that situation take place. That

Peter there is before Jesus and three times Jesus

asked him, do you love me? And every time Peter

says, yes, Lord, I love you. There's that moment

of restoration where Peter knew that he had sinned

so greatly, but a moment of, I'm sure, Joy that

is almost unexplainable to know that he was forgiven

I Say almost unexplainable, but but really I

guess it's not Because for those of you who followed

in Jesus Christ you felt that joy You know that

joy of what it means that your sins Have been

forgiven Maybe you've never heard the words of

Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ,

but today you heard just for a moment the truth

of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus came

to die on a cross to forgive your sins, and He

has been resurrected from the dead. Maybe today

you know those words and you know that truth

and you know the teachings of Jesus, but maybe

today you just need to be reminded of the truth

of the gospel. Maybe today you're not so unlike

Peter. Maybe... You feel like you've sinned in

such a horrible way and you feel the burden and

the shame of that. And maybe today you need to

respond like Peter did. And on hearing this news,

you need to run. You need to run to Jesus. And

when Peter saw the tomb was empty, he left in

amazement. He left in amazement because he knew

that Jesus had been raised. He knew that there

was hope, and the same is true for you and I

this morning. When you hear these words of the

scripture, will you go and eat a pancake and

forget about them? Or will we rejoice in these

words and be amazed that Jesus Christ has risen?

Let's pray. God, we thank you for the truth of

these words. We thank you for Jesus. God, we

are so... We are so rotten and we do and we say

so many things that we are ashamed of and we

are not worthy of your love and of your grace

dear Lord But we thank you for Jesus that he

gave his life on the cross that we could be forgiven

and God maybe For some of us in here. We know

your words and we trust in Jesus and we just

need to be reminded We just need to remember

What Jesus said so I pray God that you would

just Help us to do that today and in the days

moving forward. I pray God that For those who

who think these words seem like nonsense That

they would go back and read and study who Jesus

is dear Lord that they would know this truth

God for those who hear these words that that

believe that Jesus is the Messiah that that we

would be like Peter That maybe there are things

in our life that we're ashamed of we can know

that we can go to you dear Lord and just as you

restored Peter You can restore us so God I pray

dear Lord that we would know that Jesus Loves

us this morning that every person will know that

then we would seek him and we would stand in

the presence and be amazed At the risen Savior

today. I pray that you bless this food I thank

you for all the ones who have prepared and worked

so hard to make all this I pray that you bless

our time of fellowship bless all the folks that

are here today, and we thank you For all you

do for us in Jesus name. I pray it amen