Now, as we know, unfortunately, many in this world don't believe that there was ever a
man who lived, died and rose from the grave.
They either haven't heard the good news of Christ's victory over sin and death, or they
have rejected the whole thing as a false claim.
And that's the interesting thing about the Gospel, Ryan.
None of us were there.
Not one of us in this room was an eyewitness of that miraculous event.
But we believe it.
And we believe it because we grasp the whole thing by faith.
And that's what I want to speak to you this morning about out of this passage.
Are you going to believe?
Are you going to believe the Word of God?
Or like many in this world, are you going to succumb to unbelief?
You know, it's interesting this morning, Church, as you heard the Word read out just before,
and might I ask to have your Bibles open before you this morning.
But as we heard the Word read out, you may have noticed that Jesus himself in the text
that we have before us didn't appear to anyone just yet.
And that's very intentional in the way that Luke introduces the entire resurrection narrative.
It's intentional because our evangelist is pointing our attention to something, and that
something is faith producing.
And that's the Word of God.
The very words of Christ himself produces faith in us.
But before we look at any of these wonderful truths and dive into our passage, would you
please join me in asking our Father to help us in the task this morning?
Let's pray.
Father, we indeed thank you so much for your Word, that you sent the Word to become flesh,
and that your Word is given to us.
And Father, we ask by your Holy Spirit that you would enlighten the eyes of our heart this
morning, that Christ would indeed be held high among us, and that you would draw all
manner of people to yourself, that we would leave this place glorifying our risen Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask for your help in this this morning.
So just so we get our bearings of where we are in the book of Luke, if you look at the
chapter preceding this one, we're told of Christ's crucifixion, his torturous crucifixion
to where many people saw our Lord publicly humiliated and executed.
Unlike the trial that took place in the shadows and behind closed doors in the middle of the
night to get things to this point, our Lord's crucifixion wasn't done in the dark.
No, the death of our Lord was a publicly gruesome spectacle for all to see.
I mean even our Lord's own mother saw him draw his last breath.
All that to say, chapter 23 of Luke's account of the gospel, it's a graphic retelling of
Jesus being nailed to a cross, dying, being removed, and then placed in a tomb.
Now we're told that all of this happened rather late on the day of preparation, which is the
Friday, which was a day where Jews would get things ready for the Sabbath, which was the
Saturday.
And as we see in the few verses before us in this passage that we have here this morning,
none of these women saw our Lord laid in the tomb.
They didn't have time to prepare his body.
And so they went home to prepare spices and ointments and they rested on the Sabbath day.
And that's interesting to note because we see here in verse one, on the first day of
the week, being the Sunday, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they
had prepared and they went to the tomb.
Do you see that?
At the break of dawn, these women who loved and followed Jesus were on their way to the
tomb with the spices and ointments to properly give their loved one the treatment that he
deserved, the treatment they couldn't give him on the day that he was crucified.
And so they went to the tomb to prepare Jesus's body for the decomposing process.
Now this event is actually well attested to by the other evangelists.
And it's interesting to note in Mark's account that as they were on the way to the tomb,
that they had a concern about who among them would be able to move the great big stone
that had been placed in front of the tomb.
Clearly they didn't hear about the guards and the soldiers who had been posted at the
place to guard it.
Whatever the case may be, when they got there, we read in verse two that they found the stone
rolled away.
They found it rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus.
And if we continue to read a little further down there in verse four, we see that they
wondered about all of this, or as other translations put it, they were perplexed.
Now if we step back and have a think about what's going on here, we in no way want to
diminish the love and devotion of these women towards our Lord.
But look at why they had come to the tomb.
Look at what had motivated them to get up at the crack of dawn and to get on down to
that tomb.
Well it was to go and prepare Jesus' body, wasn't it?
That's why we read they didn't know what to do with the stone, that once they entered
the tomb, once they had seen that there was no body to be seen, they were bewildered,
perplexed, and wondering what on earth is going on.
Now in any other story we might instantly think the same thing.
What a mystery we might say.
But this gospel isn't just any ordinary normal story.
No as these women were privy to the teachings of Jesus and His public ministry, He had told
them plainly that He was going to die and that He would rise again.
He told them in as many words that the tomb wasn't going to be His final resting place,
and the very fact that they went to the tomb expecting His body to be there is an indication
that these women may have heard the word, but they didn't believe the word.
Just so there's no confusion among us this morning, these dear women, even though they
did this beautiful thing, wanted to do this beautiful thing for our Lord, they were in
the wrong.
And we see this in verses 4 through 7.
While they were wondering about all of this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like
lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said
to them, why do you look for the living among the dead?
He's not here.
He's risen.
Remember how He told you while He was still with you in Galilee, the Son of Man must be
delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.
It's amazing, isn't it, Church?
Jesus had told His disciples exactly what was going to happen to Him.
In fact, He's the only man in history to ever say that He would be killed and that He would
rise from the dead and actually do it.
These aren't words easily forgotten.
Imagine it.
The one you love, the one you've given up everything for, the one you follow with all
you are, telling you that they're going to be killed, but don't worry, they're going
to come back from the dead.
These are words that aren't easily forgotten.
Well, that's what the angels are reminding the women of here.
They're saying, remember the words of Jesus.
And they're doing that because the only way that these women will understand anything
that's going on here, for anything to make sense to the things that they're witnessing,
is to think back to the words of Jesus and understand what He had told them.
Just to make it clear, Luke is teaching us all something here this morning.
He's teaching us all something with this example.
We see it in verse 8.
We read, then they remembered His words.
And that, my dear friends, is a great example of what every Christian should hang onto in
this world.
The words of God.
We might be going through times of perplexity, doubt, and despair, but these women, they're
a wonderful example of being in the midst of their world, being turned upside down in
the midst of such uncertainty, yet they're reminded of the words of our Lord.
That's what they cling to in the midst of it.
In fact, these women, these women are an example, this example of what is going on here is the
example which the apostles, as we'll see soon, should have followed.
Verses 9 and 10.
When they came back, these women from the tomb, they told all these things, all these
things to the eleven and to all the others.
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told
this to the apostles.
It's really important that we get what Luke is showing us here.
What he's driving home.
This entire passage started out with these women who had gone out to the tomb to do what
any ordinary Jewish person would do in their situation.
Yet as we see here, they return only to tell the apostles all the things that had taken
place that morning.
In other words, they came back to convince the apostles that Jesus had risen, that he
was alive.
But notice it, though they had seen angels, and that would have been amazing to tell everyone
about.
The thing that Luke points out here to have changed their entire mindset was their being
reminded of what Jesus had told them.
Their remembering of our Lord's words that he would rise again.
His word made sense of the event in front of them.
Let's put it plainly, the exhortation to remember the words of Jesus was so that these disciples
could make sense of the events that they had right in front of them.
A missing body, an empty tomb.
The exhortation to remember the words of Jesus was the angels gracious exhortation to these
disciples because they wouldn't be able to understand these circumstances.
They wouldn't be able to witness to others apart from the words of Jesus.
But once they remembered what Jesus said, things changed dramatically.
And might I say, isn't that a picture of the whole Christian life?
I don't know about you brothers and sisters, but when hard times, when perplexing times
come, the natural thing to do can be to revert back to our old ways of doing things.
Our old ways of trying to make sense of the world around us, of trying to figure things
out.
It's not that we reject the word of God or even disbelieve it as the truth.
As Christians we say a hearty amen with the psalmist, thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path.
Yet if we're all honest with ourselves, when perplexing circumstances come, when hard times
hit, when tragedy strikes, we wrestle, don't we?
We wrestle with the things that we see right in front of us, with the situation that doesn't
make sense, with the loss, with the grief, the hurt.
I don't know if you've ever prayed these words and cried out these very things in desperation
and said to the Lord, what on earth are you doing with my life?
Lord, what on earth are you doing with this situation?
Lord, what's this all about?
As Christians we know deep down that God is good and that we can trust him and as his
children we know that we want to get to that place where we can say, I trust you and I
know that you're good.
Brothers and sisters, the angel here in this passage, he reminds us all that we won't get
to that place until you remember what God says, until you remember the word of God because
it is God's word that's life-giving and faith-producing.
Our apostle puts it like this, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word.
Have you ever had that experience personally?
Have you ever had that experience when you're in the depths of perplexity, uncertainty and
fear and then you get a reminder from your Bible app, from your spouse, from a friend,
from a brother or sister in the faith or maybe even from a little child and you're reminded
of what God says about this.
It's not that you then understand all the mysteries of the universe or every detail
about what you're going through but you heard the word of God and you said, I don't need
to understand everything that's going on here, I just know that God is good.
I trust what he has to say.
It may have been a thing that only you know about, that you were worried about, that you
had concerns over but somehow your Father in heaven, somehow in his gracious loving
care for you reminded you of his words and it brought you back to that place, brought
you back to that place of trusting him over and against what had happened, over and against
what you saw right in front of you, over and against the worries that you were carrying
about the future, that you felt so personally cared for in such an intimate way that you
were able to speak to those around you, that you were able to witness that God is good,
that he's trustworthy, that he's lovely, that he's caring, that he's beautiful even when
you didn't understand.
Well church, the word of God, it is faith producing and God's word is able to cut through
anything and interpret the events of our lives.
It was written yesterday but it speaks today and forever more.
So coming back to the passage that we have before us this morning, these women were clearly
wondering about the circumstances until they were reminded of the words of Jesus.
It was as they remembered the words of Jesus that everything changed, everything changed
because we see in our text, it points to their faith, it points to their trust in the words
of Jesus because they go running back to the apostles to tell them what they had been reminded
of on that morning, to tell them the words of Jesus and yet this is what's so sad, this
is what's tragic.
Even when the women went running back, even when the women testified to what they had
witnessed and reminded the apostles of all that had taken place, reminded them of the
words of Jesus.
Well they remain somewhat dim-witted.
We read in verse 11, they didn't believe the women because the words seemed like nonsense.
These men aren't a great example of how one should respond to all of this.
God's word was proclaimed among them, Christ's words were told to them and yes though we
see the apostle Peter get up and go out, he's still with the very words of the women ringing
in his head with the words of Jesus in his ears.
Well he didn't leave that tomb any better than when he went there.
It seemed like nonsense to him.
It seemed like idle tales.
Church, why is any of this important for us to understand?
Why do we need to understand any of this?
Well today on this beautiful Easter morning, we have gathered together like many Christians
are right now to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have gathered today to celebrate his triumphant defeat over sin and death that is the very
heart of the Christian faith.
You might say without the resurrection we don't have a hope in this world.
No the resurrection of our Lord is the very roots of our hope and therein lies the difference.
We don't put our hope in something that's unsubstantial or wishy washy.
We don't hope that the eagles get into the top eight or hope that the wallabies make
the finals.
That's a hope that really has no foundation.
That is not the Christian claim of the hope that we have in the resurrection.
No we have a very real hope because God has spoken.
He has spoken and he has told us through his word that he raised Jesus Christ from the
grave and that's important to know because the resurrection is the assurance that our
sin has been forgiven.
That's what we're celebrating here today.
That's what we're being reminded of this morning.
We're being reminded of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and it is indeed good
news because the resurrection was God publicly revealing that he had accepted the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ for the sin of his people.
And it is those that hear the word, that hear the proclamation of the gospel and believe
it that have been forgiven, that have been given everlasting life.
Today church we gather and we're reminded of the very real hope that we have at this
very moment because of the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.
The resurrection as told to us in the word of God is a very real hope.
A very real hope that will never disappoint anyone who trusts it.
So with that said I just want to leave you this morning with a couple of things to think
about.
The Bible is God speaking.
The writer to the Hebrew says the word of God is alive and active.
And so you might be here this morning and you have never heard the claims of the gospel
that Jesus lived a perfect life on behalf of his people, that he was crucified in the
place of his people and that he was raised victorious as a testimony to the whole world
that his very life was what was needed to rescue us from total utter and eternal devastation
and that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life and that
he will in no way, in no way cast anyone who comes to him.
No matter what you've done.
I see you here this morning and you've never heard that.
Let me tell you friend you're not here by any mistake this morning.
God is really holding Christ out to you through the gospel.
Really holding out forgiveness and everlasting life.
Will you believe and trust in the words of Jesus?
For those of you this morning who would say yes Michael I do put my trust in Jesus.
My hope is in him.
Then let me say brother sister the resurrection reminds us that we have a saviour who is in
a loop out there somewhere in the universe but by his very spirit is present with his
people.
Look at what the angel said.
Why do you seek the living among the dead?
Jesus is alive.
Jesus is alive which means when we go through perplexing topsy-turvy dark times we can go
and speak to Jesus and through his spirit he comforts us and he speaks to us through
his word.
We have a good shepherd who leads and guides us through the valley of the shadow of death
because he is a good shepherd who has experienced the terrain yet he came out victorious and
the resurrection reminds us that those things might be so hard that those things will be
so hard.
Well we too will be raised from our graves one day and we will be glorified and united
with our heavenly father forever because of the work of Jesus.
We're reminded here this morning that the word of God interprets our lives, our situations,
our circumstances and it is the word of God that produces the faith that we need in the
Christian life.
We can trust God and know all of these things and have great hope in this life because the
word of God has told us so.
The word of God has told us so and though dear ones we might not see it clearly now,
though we might not understand all the twists and turns of the circumstance, the resurrection
has told to us in the word of God tells us that we have a hope and it goes beyond anything
that we could imagine and that hope belongs to those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Would you pray with me?
Father, you have given us the words of eternal life.
Where else can we go?
Father, we began our time this morning by asking that you would enlighten our hearts,
that you would show us the truth of the gospel and that you would draw all manner of people
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, you know every single blood purchased child in this room this morning.
You know your people.
Every hair on our head is known to you.
You know our situations, you know our fears, you know our follies, you know our enemies.
Father, we would ask that we would be reminded continually of the hope that we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That today as we go to be in our various circumstances, that our hope and trust would cause us to witness
to those around us.
That we have a very real, living and loving, gracious God that has rescued us, redeemed
us, purchased us and filled us with your Spirit.
We ask for all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen.