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