The Resurrection of Christ, Part 2

Today we are in Luke chapter 24 looking at the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. It truly is the most magnificent event in all the world. It truly is the most marvelous event, the most monumental event in the history of mankind. So many times we don't understand as we should the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hopefully today we'll be able to understand it a little bit better. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the confirmation of his execution. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the confirmation of his execution.

That is, Jesus really did die. It was confirmed by the soldiers. They knew he was already dead. That's why they didn't break his legs. They would thrust a spear in his side and out would come blood and water indicating that he was already dead. And that's why the Bible says in the book of Matthew verse chapter 28 verse number five, this Jesus or you're looking for is the one who has been crucified.

In other words, no one has ever survived a crucifixion. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the confirmation of his execution. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the interpretation of his crucifixion. The resurrection is the interpretation of his crucifixion. In other words, apart from the resurrection, the cross means nothing. That's what Paul says over in first Corinthians 15 when he says this.

Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your preaching is vain. Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we witness against God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise. If in fact the dead are not raised, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. In other words, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Sunday, resurrection Sunday, interprets Good Friday. In other words, the church chose not to meet on Fridays. They chose to meet on the first day of the week.

They chose to meet on Sundays in celebration of life, in celebration of new life. Buried in the likeness of his death, but raised in the likeness of his resurrection. That's what salvation is. And so Sunday interprets Friday. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the interpretation of his crucifixion. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the affirmation of his mission. Are you writing these down? These are really good. These are really good. Thank you. See, someone's awake this morning. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the affirmation of his mission.

He came to die. He came to remove iniquity. He came to restore man's dignity. And the only way to do that was to come in the flesh, die and rise again. And so this becomes the affirmation of his mission. He didn't come just to die. He didn't come just to be a martyr. He came to die and rise again to show he was the victor over the enemy, over the works of Satan. First John 3, he came to destroy the works of the devil.

If he dies and does not rise again, he cannot do that. And so through his resurrection, then comes the affirmation of his mission. So make sure you get these down. The resurrection is the confirmation of his execution. It is the interpretation of his crucifixion. It is the affirmation of his mission, and it is the cancellation of your condition. It is the cancellation of your condition. At the crucifixion, the penalty of sin was canceled. At the resurrection, the power of sin has been canceled. You need to understand that at the crucifixion, the wages of sin is death, right?

So the gift of God then is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So the crucifixion then, or the resurrection, then is the cancellation of man's condition. While the crucifixion cancels the penalty of sin, the resurrection cancels the power of sin. And when Jesus comes again, you'll be rescued from the presence of sin. This is such a good thing. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the vindication of our expectation. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the vindication of our expectation.

What is our expectation? That we one day will live again. If a man dies, Job says, will he live again? Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus said, because I live, you live. So the resurrection now is the vindication of our expectation. And what is our expectation? That we will live again. That when we see him, we'll be like him, we'll see him as he is. That's our expectation. And the resurrection is that which vindicates that. Next, the resurrection is the accentuation of our proclamation.

It is the accentuation of our proclamation. If you read the book of Acts, Acts 2, Acts 4, Acts 10, Acts 13, in the proclamation of the gospel, there's a huge accent on the resurrection of Christ. He came, he died, he rose again. God raised him up from the dead. And the apostles would preach about the resurrection. That would be the accent to their proclamation. They would accentuate over and over again, this Jesus whom you crucified, God raised from the dead because they preached new life in Christ.

And you can't have new life if you serve a dead Messiah. And so therefore, they would accentuate that aspect in the gospel presentation. And number seven, if you're counting, number seven, even if you're not counting, the number of perfection, that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the inspiration behind our invitation. It is the inspiration behind our invitation. For if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And so what inspires us to offer an invitation is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I don't know about you, but that's just good stuff. I mean, that's just, that's just, that's just good stuff to hold on to because we need to understand the resurrection. Listen, if you understand the resurrection, you will see today, okay, the resurrection dispels, it dispels your fretfulness, your fearfulness, your frightfulness, your forgetfulness. That's good too. You'll see that in a minute. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is something that causes extreme joy.

Listen, if there's no joy in your life, you don't understand the resurrection very well because the resurrection springs you into joy. That's what happened with the women. That's what happened with the disciples. All you got to do is read the book of Acts. All you got to do is read the epistles. It's all about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So important. So Luke 24 is where we're at. This is how it goes. But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices, which they had prepared.

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel. And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he is 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 they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were married, Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, also the other women who were with them, telling these things to the apostles. And these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen wrappings only, and he went away to his home, marveling at that which had happened.

Last week we told you we were going to cover four things in Luke 24. Number one, the tomb exposed. Number two, the truth explained.

Number three, the tidings exclaimed. And number four, the testimony examined. All four points prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. The first point was the tomb was exposed.

It was exposed so we could see in. The tomb wasn't exposed so Jesus could walk out. The stone wasn't rolled away so Jesus could exit the tomb. He walks through walls. He has a glorified body. And so the stone was rolled away and the tomb was exposed so we could see in. And we told you last week and how important this is to be able to understand Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to understand the sequence of events and how everything took place, because it says in Luke 24 that the women went, the women which were the women who followed Jesus in Galilee.

They're named here in Luke. Not all of them are named, but most of them are named to understand that the accounts are that they came at different times, that Mary got there first according to John 20 because she was all alone and she had seen that while it was still dark, the tomb had been still been rolled away from the tomb.

She never looked into the tomb. She assumed that the body had been stolen. So she goes and runs and tells Peter and John. She goes a different direction than when she left with the other women at early dawn. Because she didn't run into them, they then would show up at the tomb. They would look into the tomb, as Luke 24 says, and realize that Jesus isn't there. You read all the gospel accounts. They run into two angels and those angels explain to the women what has taken place. Also, we showed you last week that before Mary ever got there, the soldiers were there.

They had no idea that the soldiers were there because the soldiers were appointed there on Saturday, on the Sabbath. So when they went, according to Mark chapter 16, they would go asking themselves a question, who will roll the stone away for us? Because they were going to prepare the body. They were going to finish what Joseph and Nicodemus did not complete on Friday. And so they were going to anoint the body of Jesus. They were going to see Jesus' dead body. They were not going to see a resurrected Jesus.

They were not going to see an empty tomb. They were going to a tomb that was occupied with Jesus. They did not believe in the resurrection, but the Pharisees did. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection. That's why they said, this deceiver in Matthew 28 told us when he was alive that he would rise three days later. So we need to post a guard. Some four, some eight, some 16, some 32 soldiers. The number is not completely known to us, but it's more than four. And they are posted there at the tomb because they believed in a resurrection.

And there was a great earthquake. And there was an angel that would descend, roll the stone away. And the guards became so frightened that they fainted because of fear. They awoke and they left because they knew the tomb was empty. No need to stay in guard and empty tomb. Matthew 28 tells us that they went to the Pharisees and they told them what had happened. Matthew 28 verse 11 and following tells us that they said, this is what happened. And so they would reiterate to the Pharisees, there was an earthquake.

You felt the earthquake, right? There was an earthquake and we shook and an angel descended, rolled the stone away. And we were so afraid we were frightened. And the Pharisees said, according to Matthew 28, that you will give you some money and you will tell the people that the disciples came and stole the body. They lied. And why do you tell a lie? To cover what? The truth. The Pharisees didn't say, you know what? Come on, fellas. There was no earthquake. Are you kidding me? You saw an angel. You guys must have had too much chili for dinner.

You didn't see an angel and the stone was rolled away. Come on. You know what? Let's go check it out. How come they didn't go check it out? Because they believed in a resurrection. They didn't check it out. They didn't go assess the situation. There was no examination of their testimony. There was no going to the, to the scene of the so-called crime. What's going on here? Nothing like that happened to it because they all believed in the resurrection. That's why they said, you're going to tell everybody that the disciples came and stole the body away.

And they paid him. And that's what they said. Interesting. But the women coming on that day did not believe in a resurrection. They came prepared to anoint the body of Jesus. So they came, there were no soldiers. All right. There was no stone and there was no savior. So you pick up the story, the tomb being exposed to the truth being explained through the divine revelation of God through his angels. So they get there. It says they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

So you see, they went a step further. Mary Magdalene never went into the tomb. She assumed the body had been stolen. So she has run to tell Peter and John. Okay. Now the question is where are Peter and John? We don't know. They could be in Bethany. We don't know that that would be on the other side of the Mount of Olives, but the women show up. And when they show up, they go into the tomb, they enter it, the exposed tomb they enter. And now there needs to be an explanation. The Bible says this and it happened that while they were perplexed about this, Behold, two men suddenly stood near them and dazzling apparel.

And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living one among the dead? This is so important because the women are fearful. The women are frightful. The women are fretful. The women are forgetful. And so what the angel says to them dispels all that. First of all, they give a word of consolation to those who are fearful.

Matthew 28 says it this way. Matthew chapter 28, verse number five it says, and the angel answered and said to the woman, do not be afraid. When you read Luke's account, they were afraid. They saw two men there in the tomb and they were scared to death and they bowed their faces to the ground. They were in fear. So to the fearful comes a word of consolation. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Same thing that took place at the birth of Jesus. When the shepherds in the field bowed down at the gleaming light that would come and the angel would say to the shepherds, fear not for unto you this day and this day has been born a savior as Christ the Lord.

Same thing was said to Zacharias. Fear not, Zacharias. The father of John the Baptist in Luke chapter one, when he was told about the birth of the forerunner who would come before the Messiah. Same thing was said to Mary at her annunciation when she received word from the angel that she would be with child. Fear not, Mary. There is a word of consolation that comes to those who are in fear. And that word of consolation always centers on the identity and the ministry of the savior himself, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And so comes a word of consolation to those who are fearful. It says in Mark's account, you are seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified. In Luke's account, why do you seek the living one among the dead? So to the fearful comes a word of consolation. To the frightful comes a word of criticism, a mild rebuke to the women. Why do you seek the living one among the dead? Not why do you seek Jesus? Not why do you seek him personally? Why do you seek him here? For he's not here. He is risen just like he said.

You need to seek Jesus, but you got to seek him at the right place. They went to the wrong place to find Jesus because he's not there. See, why do you seek the living among the dead? Oh, they were frightful. What have they done with our Lord? Where is he at? What is taking place? They had no idea. They could not begin to comprehend the magnitude of a resurrection, even though they had been told that Jesus himself said that he would be crucified and rise three days later. There is always a life filled with fright when you never remember what Jesus says.

Always. You got to know what Jesus says. You messed it up. Your life is filled with fright. So for the fearful came a word of consolation. For the frightful came a word of criticism. And then for the fretful came a word of clarification. A word of clarification. He is not here. He is risen just like he said. Let me clarify this for you.

Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is the living God, right? If he is the living one, why do you seek him in a tomb? Why do you seek him among the dead? So let me clarify things for you.

Let me clear it up. Let me help you gain perspective. He is not here. He is risen just as he said. He is risen. There is a word of clarification. This is the truth explained by divine revelation to the angels that were there. And so they would begin to understand as the angel would clarify for them that death could not hold him. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. That's why the Bible says in Luke 24 that they were perplexed at what had happened.

They were fretful. So to the fretful, to the perplexed, there needs to be a word of clarification. God's revelation gives that clarification. To the frightful, a word of criticism. To the fearful, a word of consolation. And then to the forgetful, a word of confirmation. A word of confirmation. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee? Remember that? It happened just as he said it would. Have you forgotten? So for the forgetful comes a word of confirmation. And so it's imperative that the women not forget what Jesus has said.

Because evidently Peter and John forgot. Evidently the other disciples forgot. Evidently the women forgot what he said. How could they forget? He said it umpteen times. All in fulfillment of what the Old Testament said about his death and his resurrection. So he was confirming to them that everything the Old Testament said about him was true. And now you need to realize that this is exactly how it's going to happen. The Son of Man will be delivered up. The Son of Man will be condemned. The Son of Man will be mocked.

He will be crucified. He will die and he will rise again three days later. But they could not grasp that. It wasn't so much that they could not, I guess they just didn't want to grasp that. They didn't want to hear about death. They want to hear about their Messiah dying, being condemned and crucified. So by the time he got to the last part of what he was saying, he will rise again three days later, they'd already tuned him out. Came a word of confirmation. You should know this. Jesus said, no one takes my life from me.

I give it down on my own initiative. I give it away on my own initiative. I will take it up again. He'd raised Lazarus from the dead. So he showed the power, the supernatural power to raise the dead. He had raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. The widow's son named from the dead. He'd raised him from the dead. There had been those who were resurrected at the cross. So you'd think they would put two and two together and come to an idea. Hey, you know what? Jesus does have the power to do what he said he would do.

But the problem is they didn't remember what he said. Oh, by the way, that's your problem too. You don't remember what he said. See, our problem is not so much. We don't know anything. Problem is remembering what we say we already know. And then acting upon that. Because once you know it and you forget it, it's as if you never knew it. But if you can just remember, that's why we tell you to be in the word every day. Don't miss church. Don't miss Bible study. You need to be reminded of these things.

And that's why Peter said in his epistle in second Peter, I only write these things to you to stir you up by way of remembrance.

I'm not gonna tell you anything new. You just need to be reminded of what you already know. Because your biggest problem is your forgetfulness. You can't afford to forget what Jesus has already said. That's what Israel's problem is. Read Psalm 106. Read the book of Joshua. Read the Old Testament book of Proverbs. You realize that Israel's problem? They just didn't remember what Jesus said. They forgot. And that's our problem as well. And so to the fearful, a word of consolation. To the frightful, a word of criticism.

To the fretful, a word of clarification. To the forgetful, a word of confirmation. And then, and then to the faithful, a word of commission. In spite of their fear, in spite of all their fright, in spite of what they have already forgotten, in spite of the fact that they were extremely fretful, they were still there. And nobody else was. They were the faithful few. And that's why they would receive the commission. Because they were there. They were the only ones that were there at all the major events.

They were there at the cross. They were there at the burial. And they were there at the empty tomb on Sunday. Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus were at the burial. But the disciples were not. John was at the crucifixion, but the rest of the disciples were not. John was not at the burial. But the women, they were at the crucifixion. They followed Joseph and Nicodemus to the, to the tomb where they laid him. And they were there. And they were there the next day or on Sunday as well. And so therefore they were at all three places, witnessing, eyewitnesses to everything that had taken place.

They were the faithful ones. In spite of their fear, in spite of their fright, in spite of their fretfulness, they were faithful. They were there as best as they could doing what they knew only to do out of love and admiration for their Savior. And so in Matthew 28, this is what is said, go quickly and tell his disciples. The angel says, he is not here. He is risen. Just as he said, come see the place where he was lying. Come see it. Come on. Come on in. See, this is where he was lying. He's not here.

He's risen just like he said. And so go quickly. Tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and behold, he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Listen, revelation always begets responsibility. They received the revelation from the living God. He is not here. He is risen just as he said. Now go quickly. Here's your responsibility. You need to go quickly and tell his disciples. Mark says, go tell the disciples and Peter, go tell him. He needs to know that he can be restored.

He needs to know he can be reconciled. He needs to know that he can be forgiven. Go tell Peter, go quickly. And so therefore revelation always begets responsibility. When you receive the word of God and the truth, having been explained to you, you have one response and that's to do exactly what is said because responsibility and fulfillment of that always begets reward. It always does. Look what it says in Matthew 28. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. Okay. And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples.

There was dread and there was delight. There was fear and there was felicity. There was a great fear over what they had seen and what they had heard. But in the inner part of each of those women, there was joy, unexpressable joy and delight. And he, the angels, would commission these women because of their faithfulness. You go and you do it quickly and look what happens. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. See, revelation begets responsibility and faithful responsibility begets reward. It's all Jesus.

Jesus meets them on the way. Hello, ladies. What did he say? Shalom? I don't know what he said, but he greeted them. And the Bible says these words, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

They were awestruck. They came face to face with the living God, the living one. And they realized the great joy in seeing the resurrected Christ. He greeted them. Didn't have to. He chose to. And they would go and report to the disciples. Tomb exposed. The truth explained. The tidings exclaimed. They were so joyous. They were so joyous. It says, and therefore, Jesus said to him, don't be afraid. Go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee and there they shall see me. There they'll see me. Now, if you go back to Luke's account, it says this.

In Luke's account, it says, and they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. It doesn't speak of their fear. It doesn't speak of their felicity, their joy. But Matthew tells us they're going with great joy. We have seen the risen Christ. We know he is risen. We heard the angels speak. We saw the empty tomb. We came face to face with the living God. Can you imagine the joy in their hearts when they went back to the 11? The tidings were exclaimed at the highest level.

And the Bible says in Luke's account these words. Now, they were Mary Magdalene. Hold on a second. Mary Magdalene? Wait a minute. She had already been to the tomb and had left according to John's account. And she had gone to tell Peter and John. And it was the other women who encountered Jesus on the way. And it was the other women who had the angel explain to them what had taken place. So now, how does Mary get into this group? Go back to John 20. Go back to John chapter 20, verse 11. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping.

Okay, so she is gone. Retrieved Peter and John. Peter and John have come to the tomb. They've looked inside the tomb. They've stooped down. They have seen the grave clothes undisturbed. They've seen the face cloth lying in a different location folded up. They've seen this already. Mary has yet to enter the tomb. She's weeping. So she wept. She stooped and looked into the tomb. Now, she looks for the first time.

She beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been lying. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. See, she still did not believe in a resurrection, did she? Someone stole my Lord. Where is he? It says, when she had said this, she turned around and beheld Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? Supposing to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. She had no idea this was Jesus, because Jesus had not revealed himself to her. Just as the two men on the road to Emmaus had no idea they were walking with Jesus along the way until he revealed himself to them. She had no idea. Supposing to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you had carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her. So the picture is the women on their way back, they encounter the living Christ, and they are going to tell the disciples.

They arrived to tell the disciples, listen, we've seen the risen Christ. He's alive. The tomb is empty. And Mary, she bangs to the door. She shows up. Oh, me too. I've seen him. He has risen just like he said he is not here. And they go bonkers, exclaiming the tidings of great news that Jesus has risen from the dead. And the disciples didn't believe. They didn't believe. It says verse 11. And these words appear to them as nonsense. And they would not believe them. And all that just proves the resurrection.

It proves the resurrection because they didn't fabricate a lie about the resurrection. They didn't steal the body. They simply did not believe in spite of the overwhelming testimony of these, at least four women, maybe more, because it says these four and others. So there were probably more of them. And the women were ecstatic, overjoyed with the good news that Jesus is alive. And they thought it was nonsense. They thought they were crazy. And these men, having examined the testimony, did not believe the women.

Imagine that. They did not believe. They would later believe because Jesus would appear to them. But at this point, they did not believe. You see, to believe in the resurrection doesn't take facts because the Pharisees had all the facts. They didn't believe. Had all the facts. To believe in the resurrection doesn't take feeling about the resurrection, good feelings. It simply takes faith to believe in everything that Jesus has already said. He already said it. All that was left was for him to fulfill it.

And these women, having properly understood the resurrection amidst all of their fear, amidst all of their fright, amidst all of their fret, amidst all of their forgetfulness, they were filled with unspeakable joy once they understood he is not here. He is risen, just like he said. The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes your attitude about everything. Everything. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is that confirmation of your future with him. Because I live, you too will live forever with me. I would trust that you understand and believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let me pray with you. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for the truth of your word. We are grateful for the opportunity to know that you are the living one. And we seek you in your word, determined to follow all that you say. In Jesus name. Amen.