Luke 24:1-12

In our series of studies during this time when we are having to worship together, but yet apart, our theme has been Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.

And this is why our focus is all on Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

We belong to him, and not a hair falls from our heads without his permission.

Yaroslav Pelikan was a scholar of the history of Christianity at Yale University until his passing in 2006.

He was the author of more than 30 books, including Jesus Through the Centuries, in which he says, regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost 20 centuries.

He is correct.

There have been more movies made about Jesus, more television specials focused on Jesus, more books written about Jesus, more magazine covers and articles featuring Jesus, more lives radically changed by Jesus, and there have been more missions and philanthropic efforts launched by the followers of Jesus than by anyone else in history.

He's simply the most talked-about individual and the most influential individual who ever lived, and there are myriad good reasons for that.

In the words of John Stott, one of my favorite Bible teachers from his book, The Incomparable Christ, Jesus Christ is the center of history.

And we base our whole Western calendar on him, don't we?

His birth.

Yeah.

He's the focus of Scripture.

And what that means is Old Testament, New Testament all find their fulfillment in the person and work of Christ.

He's the heart of mission, John Stott says.

In other words, he's what motivates us to want to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.

Not just because we want to do something religious, not just because we want to sort of do something humanitarian, but because we love him.

He laid down his life for us, and because we love him, it's our reasonable service of worship to respond in like manner to him.

This year we're all feeling a little bittersweet as we come to this holidayslash holy day that we call Easter Sunday.

And I feel it too.

We all have questions we'd like to ask God about all that's going on in our world, whether it's our city with a tornado or the pandemic that's sweeping the world and the financial collapse and all of that.

We've got questions, yeah.

What is the proper response to God in times like these?

Fortunately, the Bible has a category for the kinds of feelings that we are all experiencing.

It's called lament.

One-third of the Psalms are songs of lament.

Jesus himself experienced lament when he stood before the tomb of Lazarus, for instance, when he rode the donkey into Jerusalem, when he saw his own disciples scatter on the night of his betrayal.

Knowing that the religious leadership of his time would reject God's offer of salvation by grace through faith in Christ made him convulse with lament.

And in a broken world, these kinds of experiences, lamenting over suffering and pain and rejection of God and turning away from God and all the sin that follows, these are common to humanity.

The good news is we as believers are not restricted to respond with just a raw primal scream out into an empty sky or to shake our fist at the heavens in some kind of cosmic road rage.

We have a Savior who is our hope in life and death.

Jesus was called a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Jesus knows lament because he created lament as a way to express our sorrows before God.

And so when we do that, we must understand there's a huge difference between just complaining about the way things are and approaching God with a proper and a biblical lament.

A complaint is often an accusation against God, impugning his or defaming his character.

But a lament, that's our appeal to God based on our confidence in God's character.

And so you and I are right to grieve and to mourn all that's going on here, whether that's in our personal lives and our own loss, or whether that's in the loss of life, the loss of property through a tornado, or whether it's just the confusion and the darkness in the world by human trafficking.

Whatever it might be, there's much to lament over.

And God invites us to come to Him.

In a broken world, all of us will grieve, but because of the gospel, the Apostle Paul put it this way: we who are believers in Jesus grieve, but not without hope.

I love this.

And that's precisely why Jesus Christ came to earth, to bring the good news of God's salvation.

And this is why Jesus is our hope in life and in death.

With Jesus' death and resurrection, we have the breaking in of new life, resurrected life.

God has reversed the finality and the power of death.

But to do that, please notice Jesus did not sidestep the cross.

There would have been no resurrection if there had not been a crucifixion.

As pastor and Bible teacher Ray Steadman used to say, resurrection power works best in graveyards.

So then let's read one of the accounts of the resurrection from one of the four gospels.

This one from Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

If you'll turn there with me in your Bibles, we'll look at the first 12 verses.

It follows on the heels of the women who had been at the crucifixion, and they had followed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who took the body of Jesus down from the cross.

These women followed them to the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had purchased for himself, and they laid the body, the dead body of Jesus in that tomb.

The women followed along and watched which tomb it was.

So on this particular morning that Luke 24, verses 1 through 12 describes, they're going to the right tomb.

Luke 24:1–12

They know that Jesus was dead and buried.

Make no mistake about it.

And even in the way they approach, you'll see they expect to find a dead body there, and they've come to venerate or to honor the dead body of Jesus.

Listen to the text, set your eyes on the page if you happen to have a copy.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

And that's the way in their tradition they would honor a dead body with spices.

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

And one of the other gospel records, along the way, they're discussing who's going to roll away the stone for us.

They knew that there was this massive stone, heavy stone, that would prevent them from getting in.

But they brought spices nonetheless, prepared to anoint or honor the body of Jesus.

And yet there would be that stone, that pesky stone, that they'd have to find some way to get that rolled away.

And reminds me of the great question we should all ask ourselves, who are you counting on to roll away your stone, the stone of your grave?

It's a good question to think about, just uh by way of analogy or metaphor here.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, verse 2 says in Luke 24.

But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, where's the body?

They were expecting the body.

Where's the body?

They don't find the body, and they're perplexed about all of this.

Behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel.

And the idea were to catch from that is that these are angelic figures that have come along.

And we read that from the other gospel records as well.

Um these men are suddenly, they appear before them in dazzling apparel, and the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.

And the men said to them, Why do you seek the living one among the dead?

What a great question that is.

Timeless still, isn't it?

Another question for me to ask: why do I keep trying to find life in areas of the world and areas of my life that really can't provide life for me?

Why is it that we keep putting things at the center of our lives and hoping and placing all of our confidence in those things instead of finding our life in Christ?

Instead of looking to the God who created life, who has the power of life and power over death itself?

Great question.

They don't wait for an answer from the women.

They move on.

They move right on to this great news.

He is not here, but he has risen.

Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.

And the third day rise again.

And those of us, as we've studied through the gospels together, remember multiple times Jesus predicted his death.

He predicted that he would be in the tomb, that he would lie there for three days, and that he would rise again.

And yet they never seemed to quite get it when he did all of that.

And here we find the women coming to the tomb, thinking, nah, they're going to find a dead body.

And they're going to honor him, but nonetheless, he's still going to be dead.

And then these angels remind the women of the words of Christ.

And folks, I got to remind myself over and over again.

And that's why we study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel.

To remind ourselves of the word of God, that his word is true, that it's that it's sharp.

It cuts down to where, right to the truth that we need to hear and the promises that we need to hear.

I love this.

They say he's not here.

Remember how he spoke to you.

I love this.

And that he would die and that he would rise again.

I love this.

The word of God, as uh we've been reminded in the last couple of weeks, it's not always about explanations, but it is about promises.

And Jesus promised them that he would rise again.

And the promises of God are based on the character of God.

And I love that about God's word.

Well, in verse 8, it tells us how the women respond.

They remembered his words.

They return from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all of the rest.

It says the eleven there, uh, because Judas is scared, is gone now.

Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, because Jesus evidently had not performed the way that Judas wanted him to, and that reminds me so often how I um expect God to behave in a certain way.

And sometimes he doesn't do that.

And how do I respond to that?

Well, Judas responds by selling out, by in unbelief.

He's not trusting Jesus.

Um, and so he um he does this and then he regrets it horribly, and he becomes self-destructive, and he goes out and hangs himself, we're told.

So now there are 11 disciples, and the women come to the eleven and all the rest.

And then verse 10 uh Luke, who does such a great job as a writing as a historian, uh, he's he's both a physician and an historian.

He's he's given to detail and research, and I love this about him.

Um uh he gives us some of their names.

It leads me to believe that he probably interviewed some of these women himself.

Verse 10, they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James.

Also, the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.

Remember, the disciples and apostles are the same twelve group of people, and now there's 11 of them.

And these words appeared to them, to the apostles, as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

Two things there.

Um, often in the Bible uh we don't find faith where we expect to find faith.

And often in the Bible, we do find faith where we don't expect to find faith.

Like in the four gospels over and over again.

You might expect to find faith in the religious leadership of the time, but no.

Instead, there's this willful unbelief, and Jesus scolds the self-righteous religious leadership of the day over and over again for their willful unbelief.

And yet, at the same time, we find him dining, eating with, if you will, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, those who are desperately in need of redemption, and so desperate that they're open to redemption and to the word of good news.

And so this is fascinating.

Um, these words appeared to these apostles as nonsense to them, and they would not believe.

It also reminds us that in their day and time, uh, women were not considered credible witnesses in a court of law.

And so here are these apostles who are not uh believing this testimony uh that these women have presented to them.

And um, sadly that's the way it was back then.

They're probably dismissing them.

Uh oh, these are these are folks that are just given to sort of uh hysterical ideas or or to um to the idea that they saw an angel, that sort of thing, would be, they would find that a little bit hard to believe.

And so these apostles, it says here, they would not believe them.

And that reminds me of the role of the will in belief as well.

You see, belief is much deeper than mere empirical knowledge.

With empirical knowledge, we're trusting our senses to tell us that this or that is true, that this or that is real.

Um, you're looking on the screen, you're seeing me wave my hands, yeah, I have a Bible, so you believe that that's true, that that really is actually happening.

Um, and yet with belief, it's so much deeper than that.

And we believe many more things, just numerically, than we actually know with our five senses.

And so belief involves the will.

I wonder what is the disposition of our wills today?

Is it to believe and trust and hope in God in spite of the circumstances?

In spite of the fact that we're prepared as we go to the tomb, like these women, they're prepared to find death.

And yet, here's the angels telling them that they could trust the words of Jesus, that he would rise again.

They come with a hope-filled message.

These apostles would not believe them, it says.

Well, verse 12 is where I want to finish up uh in terms of the text today because it's so fascinating to me.

It's a contrast to what we just read.

It says, But Peter arose and ran to the tomb.

And John's gospel, chapter 20, tells us that John also ran along, and John's a little bit younger, and uh John is uh quick to tell us in his gospel that he actually won the foot race to the tomb.

But he's also honest enough to tell us that John did not go into the tomb.

He, because of their religious traditions, stopped short at the entrance to the grave, believing that if he were to touch a grave, he would become unclean.

And he didn't want to break his sort of pattern of religious rule following.

And that religious rule following was preventing him from seeing something amazing that God had done in raising Jesus from the dead.

So he stopped short.

But Peter, who's desperate, comes running along behind him in John's Gospel we're told, and he runs headfirst, right on into the empty tomb.

And what he sees, both John's Gospel and here in Luke's Gospel, is that the linen wrappings were there, but the body was gone.

And that's just fascinating.

And it says here in Luke's Gospel that he, Peter, went away to his home, marveling at that which had happened.

Marvel and wonder.

Man, I hope that's the result of what happens to us as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

To me, what's interesting is to watch the response of the various witnesses to the news that Jesus Christ had risen from the grave.

I'll put it up on the screen for you.

Prepared and perplexed, verse 1 through 4.

That's the women when they first come to the tomb, prepared to find a dead body, perplexed that they didn't find a dead body.

Look up on the screen.

Terrified and humbled.

That's the way they are, as the angels appear to them.

Reminded, verse six says.

And then verse nine tells us that the women remembered, returned, and reported.

And that's awesome.

What a pivot that is for them in their own faith journey to experience something like that.

And it's life-changing, and they must go tell someone else.

See, the Christian faith is a come and see faith, but it's also a go and tell faith.

I think a lot of us are good at coming and seeing.

Some of us are timid, though, to go and tell.

And this is the best time of year, the best time in my life that I've ever experienced, where this is the time when people are desperate, like Peter, desperate for redemption, desperate to hear a word of hope.

The women remembered, returned, and reported.

But just because we remember, return, and report doesn't mean we always are received.

Instead, verse 11 tells us the apostles rejected them and their testimony.

But Peter, on the other hand, redemption here is in his desperation.

He's the one who denied Christ three times.

His desperation means he hears the report of the women a little bit differently than the rest.

And as I said in John's Gospel, chapter 20, John tells us both he and Peter return by running towards the empty tomb.

Desperation often leads to innovation.

And if one is looking for redemption in the right place, desperation can ultimately lead to redemption and renewed hope.

And that's exactly what happened for Peter, who denied Christ three times, and who later on Christ will restore and recommission three times.

As Frederick Batner has said, resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing.

And that's what I love about this good news gospel story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It's not just about what happens after we die, but it's about how we live right now.

Nabil Kureshi was an American Christian and convert from a sect of Islam.

He was a speaker with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries from 2013 till 2016, and he was the author of three books, including one called Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, a devout Muslim encounters Christianity.

It's his own personal testimony.

And he says there, without Jesus, we approach life with the expectation of death.

With Jesus, we approach death with the expectation of life.

Nabil knew this, believed this.

He lived this all the way to the point when he died just a couple years ago.

And that's what freed him up to live life to the fullest for the glory of God, for the furtherance of the gospel, and for the good of his neighbor.

Nabil had an unquenchable hope in Christ in both life and in death.

I found a similar story on hymnery.org about Annie Johnson Flint.

She was a poet and a hymn writer.

19th century, end of that, or turning into the 20th century.

Hers was a story of both heartbreak and triumph.

Born on Christmas Eve in the small town of Vineland, New Jersey, she was welcomed by her parents, Eldon and Jean Johnson, as their greatest earthly gift.

But just three years later, little Annie would lose her mom, who died as she gave birth to Annie's little sister.

Mr.

Johnson, who himself was suffering from an incurable disease, wheeled the children to the Flint family, who would bring them up in the Baptist faith.

Not long after graduating high school, Annie became a teacher, but would also begin a lifelong and difficult struggle with arthritis that left her in a wheelchair and no longer able to teach.

Still, her faith in Christ was strong.

And she She soon began making hand-lettered cards and gift books with some of her own poems and verses.

Eventually, she learned how to share the hard moments of her life with others who could not understand and were struggling with the hardships of their lives.

Testimonies began to come in from many directions, of blessings and inspiration that had been received.

And all of a sudden, two card publishers printed some of her greetings and released the first little brochure of her poems, and one of which got turned into a hymn called He Giveth More Grace.

I'll put it up on the screen for you.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction, he adds his mercy.

To multiplied trials, he multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, his grace has no measure, his power no boundary known unto men.

For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, he giveth, and he giveth, and he giveth again.

So says Annie Johnson Flint.

Folks, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof positive that the God of the Bible genuinely loves sinners like me and like you.

And that Jesus Christ was indeed the very Son of God.

And that he came to earth to die and to experience all of the worst suffering a person can imagine, to die on a cross and pay the price for our sin.

And that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we learn that this God of the Bible can keep any promise that he makes.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in his uh one of his writings said this: in his death, he displayed his mercy, in his resurrection, his power.

Both combined to manifest his glory.

So as we continue to navigate the difficulties all around us in the coming weeks and months, and for however long God grants us life on this planet, I want to remind us all, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He is worthy of our faith, our hope, our confidence, and our trust.

If you have not yet done so, I wonder, would you put your faith in Christ today?

How about right now?

It really involves just two things repentance and faith.

Repentance means turning away from our sin and selfishness, and faith means turning toward Jesus Christ as your hope in life and death.

Exactly how should you go about doing this?

Well, pray along with me.

It's very simple.

It goes like this: God, I recognize that I'm a sinner, that I need a savior.

I want to turn away from my sin.

And I now put my faith in Jesus.

I want Jesus to be my Lord and Savior, beginning right now.

I want to trust and follow Jesus for the rest of my days.

Amen and amen.

Yeah.

I like to close with this quote from one of my favorite Bible teachers, John Stott.

Jesus is the life of the living and will be the resurrection of the dead.

For those who live will never die, and those who die will live again.

And that, my friends, is why Jesus Christ is our hope in life and in death.