Special thanks to all of the music folks of this
church, the praise team, all of the extra music
that we have today. Thank you so much. It is
a wonderful Easter gift. So that question, why
do you seek the living among the dead, has always
been a question that I wish I was there to get
that firsthand. Getting courtside seats that
we read it in the Gospel of Luke when the women
are there. and these men in dazzling clothes,
every tense and purpose we could think they're
angels, that is fine, that they ask a very important
question. Because we have to remember the last
couple days. The last couple days for the women,
for the disciples, for the kind of network of
Jesus, that inner network, if you will, it has
been brutal. And just a week ago, We talked about
it, that Jesus is coming in on the foal of a
donkey, a horse, a ride of peace, right? Not
a war horse like the emperors would have done
or a Pontius Pilate would have done. We've talked
about that. And everything's great. Maundy Thursday,
it starts to take a turn. The Garden of Gethsemane,
it takes another turn. And then he's arrested.
He's beaten. He's flogged. He's lied about. Mistrial
after mistrial. And then that early morning Friday.
He's put on a cross. But now, and I always think
about what was that Saturday like? I don't know
what you all did yesterday, but there's a heaviness
to Saturday. Now, in a post -resurrected society
that we live in, we know what's coming. Barring
the Lord coming back yesterday, we knew that
we were going to come and celebrate Easter. We
get that every year. But there's still a wait.
But for this moment, everything seems silent.
The cross had done its work. The body was laid
in a tomb. The stone was rolled away. And what
do we see? We see these women following Jewish
burial practices. They were going to be let in
just to put the anointing spices and oils and
perfumes on the body. Because at that fourth
day, it would have been a legitimate death. Now,
some of you go, wait, how did I know that? You're
all deep biblical scholars that have gone to
Lazarus. He has been dead in there four days
because it was a legitimate death. Now, I don't
know why. I think on day two, you're just as
dead as day four, but that's not for me to figure
out. But understanding that they were... Just
doing the work they thought they needed to do.
Is it a lack of faith, a lack of understanding?
Who knows? But all that was left was to move
on, right? Jesus is gone. We saw him die, right?
Joseph of Arimathea, we got to use his tomb.
The body's in there, and now we wait. They didn't
have any answers. There was no resolution. The
movement that they were all excited about with
Jesus, that movement of a mere seven days ago,
seemed to be gone. It's okay to be in that space,
friends. I'm even getting that space if I were
them. Because that is the human perspective.
Friday looked absolutely final. I don't know
how more final you get when you die on the cross.
When the spear is stabbed into his side. And
his body laid down. Saturday felt empty, but
then something happens. So we're going to look
at kind of specific pieces of this account this
morning. First is the stone. The stone moved,
but not for Jesus. Luke tells us what happened.
On the first day of the week at early dawn, the
detail is not accidental. The first day at dawn
means something new. Like in Genesis, when God
spoke light into darkness, now again light is
going to break into a dark world. And notice
who comes. The women. Faithful, present, still
grieving. They come with spices, prepared not
for resurrection, but for decay. They are not
expecting victory this morning. They're expecting
death. And then they find the stone rolled away
from the tomb. Luke doesn't tell us how it happened.
No drama, no explanation. Because the point is
not how the stone moved, but what is revealed.
And when they enter, what does Luke tell us?
They did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Not just Jesus. Luke calls him the Lord. Even
in death, he is still Lord. Death did not dethrone
the Savior of the world. And the empty tomb does
not immediately explain everything. Right? They
don't get a whole lot of answers here. There's
that tension and that pressure comes back. Because
the tomb is empty, just that alone raises a bunch
of questions, doesn't it? What kind of questions?
Just don't go super deep with it. What questions
come for these women, or for us if we're there,
when we see that the body is no longer there?
What questions arise? If you're new to us, I
ask questions, we get a little back and forth
going, so it's not just me talking to you for
45 minutes, just kidding, in half an hour. What
questions would arise? Go simple with it. Who
took it, right? Like, he's gone, we saw him die.
Who took the body? Any other questions? That's
basically it. Good. You passed. That's basically
it. But then another question comes. A question
that disrupts everything. What does Luke tell
us? Let's work with the text this morning. Luke
tells us they were perplexed. I don't know how
many times we use that word actually in our lives,
right, to be perplexed about something. Someone
else give me a definition of perplexed. When
you think of the word perplexed, what comes to
mind? Puzzled, okay. Confusion, absolutely. My
wife said it. She looks at me perplexed a lot,
don't you? Well, you didn't have to answer that
quick, but okay. Anything else? Confusion? Ooh.
Intrigued. To be perplexed is to be intrigued.
I think, Katie, that's really good. I think we
lean in on that fact. They're intrigued. They're
confused. They're disoriented. Their categories,
the things that they had that they planned to
do isn't going to work. They brought spices to
bless a body. The body's not there. What do we
do? Because resurrection doesn't fit human expectation.
Though we see churches filled today. If I'm being
honest, more than they're filled any other Sunday
that ends in Y. They're filled more today for
something that we don't fully understand. Because
resurrection is not a human expectation. Why
is that? Why is resurrection not a human expectation?
Don't go deep with it. Thank you, Henry. Because
we don't do it, right? Now, Henry, after his
surgeries, is now part bionic, but he still can't
resurrect. None of us can resurrect. Henry's
more like the Terminator than anything else as
far as resurrection. I'm done with that, Henry.
Don't worry. We'll leave it there. But understand,
we don't understand resurrection because we can't
have it. We don't resurrect. So do you see where
the tension really comes? The human expectation
of the moment to everything that God is intending
to happen. The angels speak. Why do you seek
the living among the dead? They don't say Jesus.
They say the living. That's who he is now, right?
He's the living Jesus. The living one. The question
exposes something way deeper. They were not wrong
to come. They were not wrong in what they expected.
They came to honor a body, good Jewish tradition,
but the body's no longer there. They came prepared
for death, but death no longer has the final
authority. And if we're honest, that's us. In
our reality, in our humanness, that is us. We
don't reject Jesus. We just expect less from
him at times. We believe in him, but still look
for places that are dead to live. Let me say
that again. We still look for places in our life
that should be dead. We look at those things
to live in our lives. It's called sin. We go
back to it time and time again. We still live
as though sin has the final word. We still carry
burdens that have already been lifted. Today
is the great burden lifting day, yet tomorrow
we'll lean right back into it. That's why the
declaration of what they say is huge. He is not
here, but he has risen. Not might be, not will
be, not I think that's what happened. No, it
is certain, it is final. And the angels say,
remember how he told you. Now, if I'm one of
the women and I hear that, there's a whole mix
of emotion, isn't there? Whole mix of emotion.
They came to do a job. Now you've got two people
in dazzling pajamas talking to me, right? They're
asking me questions that I should know the answers
to. But I'm probably still very just stunned.
They say it with such certainty. And then they
put it back on us. Remember how we told you.
Because at the end of the day, they should not
have been surprised. They should have seen this
as fulfillment. Yet, they miss it. Jesus had
already said, the Son of Man must suffer, must
be crucified, and on the third day rise. The
word must matters here. It had to happen. It
means that this was not accidental. This was
not reactive. This was not chaotic. This was
the plan that God was unfolding since when? Let's
go a little more specific. Let's go a little
more specific. Nope. The plan unfolds from when?
I'm looking for a specific place. Genesis chapter
3, right in the garden. This is exactly what
Genesis chapter 3 starts. This is a process that
goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Genesis chapter 3 now unfolding. This is something
that these women, the disciples, would have heard
over thousands of years. This is the Messiah.
Yet they act like they've missed it. This is
everything actually coming together. And now
we see the change in the women, don't we? What
does Luke tell us? The remembering. They remember
his words. And this is where Easter makes our
faith come alive. And they remembered his words.
So they just got kind of punked out a little
bit by these angels. Now they're kind of perplexed,
confused. Now they're like, oh yeah, right? I
liken that to after the 19th time I tell my boys
to do something or I tell them to remember something,
then all of a sudden you see that, right? That,
oh, dad was right. It doesn't happen often, right?
It's mostly mom. But understand, whoa, now they're
remembering. Now they're looking back. Now it's
starting to make sense. And that's the turning
point. Not the empty tomb, not the angels. It's
the word. They had heard it before. But now they
understand. Because resurrection reframes everything.
They had a certain understanding. And they thought
he was dead. They thought it was it. They thought
the silence had won. They thought that they were
going to have to stay in hiding. Who knows what
this meant politically. All of these things.
But now it's becoming clearer. Friends, we are
literally seeing your faith and my faith walked
out. This is how we come to faith. It's not built
on emotions first, not built on sight alone,
but built on remembering, trusting the Word of
God. That's why the Word of God is so powerful.
As the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us, faith
is the sure knowledge and wholehearted trust.
in what God has revealed to you and for me. Pastor,
what has he revealed? Why are we here? He revealed
that he has the final say. And in that moment,
their faith begins to awaken. And then they respond.
True faith has a response. Right? If you are
brought to that faith, what we call in the Reformed
tradition, we call that the regeneration of the
heart. When that faith, all of a sudden the scales
on your eyes fall and you go, now it starts to
make sense. There is always a response. I don't
know anybody that has ever been brought to the
cross, brought to the tomb and seen the resurrection
for their life and go, neat. No. This is life
changing. This means everything. For the believer.
The response, too good to be true, right? They
run to tell the disciples. I love that. They
run, right? This is the first kind of missionaries
of the gospel. What are they doing? They're going
to tell about the resurrection of Jesus. What
is that called? Anybody? The good news. This
is the good news of Jesus. We don't need to take
him all through the systematic theology. We don't
need to take him to Bible class. Those are all
good things, but the mere fact that they now
see that the tomb is empty, they are remembering
his words and they're going to tell somebody.
This is exactly what you guys could have done
this morning in your neighborhoods. This is exactly
what you could tell your family when you're having
your ham or whatever it is you eat, right? You
could say, Jesus isn't in the tomb. He's alive,
and I have new life in him. Guess what you get
to be? Missionaries. That's exactly what a missionary
does. They go back to the word of God. A missionary
is not good because they have their own words.
Missionaries are good because they have the word
of God. But even then, oh, the disciples. And
if I'm being honest, oh, Jim, oh, insert your
name here. These words seem like an idle tale.
Maybe you've been there in your life. Maybe you
get excited about your faith. You want to tell
somebody about it. And they look at you and go,
you're nuts. How can you believe that? I need
evidence. All the things. They call it nonsense.
Too good to be true. Too impossible to believe.
And let's be honest, some of us, maybe all of
us, we've had that moment in our life. Maybe
we're still there. Maybe we go, this sounds okay.
I mean, I have a lot of fun on Sundays, but I
don't know about every other day. I don't know
about this Jesus thing. And maybe it's because
you look at the church and how we make a mess
of it time and time again. Maybe you look at
pastors or preachers, Bible study leaders or
whatever and go, they're not that special. What's
so great about this? Well, let's get there. Resurrection
doesn't fit our categories. Dead people don't
rise. Graves don't open. Unless Jesus is who
he says he is. Isn't that the question we've
all had to wrestle with? And maybe here you're
young in faith or you don't have faith yet. You're
still wrestling with it. That's the question,
isn't it? Is this Jesus who he said he was? Because
on the other side of that answer is eternal life.
And the thing that keeps us from that answer
more times than not is ourselves and our desire
to control, to want to have the final say. But
hear me again. Dead people don't rise. Graves
don't open. But this Jesus is who he says he
is. I love Peter's response. He hears it. It
makes him confused. And what does he do? I got
to see it for myself. Let's be honest. That's
all of us, isn't it? I got to see it for myself.
I need my own experience here. I can't come to
faith because of these other people's experience
or because of that movie or whatever or that
sermon. I get it. I need it for myself. So what
does Peter do? He runs. He stoops down. He looks.
He sees. And what does Luke tell us? He leaves
marveling. Wait a minute. Isn't this the same
Peter that literally three nights ago? He denied
this guy three times. I am not with that man.
I don't know that man. For the love of me, I
don't know it. I don't know him. The cock crows,
he's now denied his rabbi three times. Meaning,
he doesn't have a rabbi anymore. Because when
a disciple denies three times their rabbi, that
relationship is severed. That rabbi gone. That
disciple orphaned. Isn't that all of us? Haven't
we done that maybe even more in this last week?
Denied that God exists, deny our relationship
with Jesus, go the earthly way. But Peter sees
and leaves marveling. Not fully understanding
yet, but knowing something has changed. Knowing
that this isn't the norm. Guess what? Jesus isn't
the norm. And that's what resurrection changes.
This is where everything starts to come together,
right? Because Easter is not just about an empty
tomb. It is about what the empty tomb means for
you, for me, for the world. It means three things
this morning. Take this with you, friends. That
sin is truly paid for. Your sin is paid for.
Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. Cool.
Right? My sin's paid for. So what are we going
to do with that? Let's be honest. What do we
do with that? Some brave souls respond. What
do we do? What? What was that? We abuse it. So
Katie's going right there. We're not even going
to flirt around this, right, Katie? We're going
to go right there. Hey, my sin is forgiven. So
what do I get to do? Sin more. Nope. Paul calls
that out. Should we continue to sin that we might
get heaped on more grace? Absolutely not. Good
Friday declares it. Easter confirms it. If Jesus
stays in the grave, we wonder, was he enough?
I guess not. But the resurrection is God's answer.
Yes, your sin paid in full. Done. Second thing,
death is no longer final. For all of you type
A's that want to know and control everything
about your life, and I'm looking at the mirror
first, death is no longer final. The grave is
no longer the end because Christ walked out of
it. Death is not removed yet. It is defeated.
The power of death is broken. The future is sealed.
And this should be all of the hallelujahs, all
of the right hands raised amens, right? Yet we
still freak out about death. And I'm not saying
you shouldn't. Death is a weighty thing. We look
back at this last year and think of all the people
we've lost. How for some it's going to be the
first Easter without that person. But isn't there
great hope and peace in knowing they're with
the risen Savior? Well, I just, I don't know.
It makes me uncomfortable. I don't like to think
about death. I think I'm going to live forever.
I love you enough to say you're not. Austin Clarks
loves you enough to say he's in med school. Do
we live forever? No. We can prolong it. Insert
Henry in new parts. But understand, at one day,
it's going to be done. It's going to be final.
Finite. Done. Over. End scene for all of us.
I don't know about you, I would much rather hold
on to a hope that there is something after this
life. And guess what? That's exactly what the
empty tomb shows us. Death is defeated. The power
of death is broken. Our future in Christ is sealed.
So this should teach that final thing, that Jesus
is who he says he is. He's not just a teacher,
he's not just a prophet, not just an example,
but he is Lord, he is risen, and he is victorious.
Amen. He is your king, he is my king. So what
do we do with this? Munster Church, friends,
family, online, let's stop standing at the tomb.
The women came expecting death. They left encountering
life. And the question for us is this. Are you
still standing at the tomb? Are you still trying
to figure it out? Are you still expecting defeat?
Where are you living in your life where you think
Friday had the final say? Because guess what?
It didn't. The stone is rolled away. The grave
is empty. The king is alive. Everything has changed.
I'll make it super simple, and then we'll get
out of here. Pastor, what's changed? Death no
longer has the final say in your life. Death
no longer has a final say in my life. That gives
me a reason to live because I'm not waiting on
death. Friends, stop standing at the tomb. Everything
is changed and go bring that change to a world
that desperately needs it. Final declaration
as we go into a brand new week. He is not here.
He has risen just like he said. And because he
lives, so do I, so do you, so do we. So let's
get out there and tell.