March 27, 2016 The Resurrection of our Lord Text: Luke 24:1-12 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. (ESV) Christ the Victor! Perhaps you have heard the story about a man who has an unusual pet--a piranha. It s about 5-6 inches long. Each morning he puts six or seven goldfish into his giant aquarium. Within an hour they re gone. Once they get into the aquarium there s only one way out, only one way to fish heaven -- through the teeth of the piranha! It s somewhat surprising to watch the goldfish when they re first born into this deadly world. You see, they re totally oblivious to the peril. They swim around the piranha, bump into him, even float past his mouth without a care in the world. If I were a goldfish I would try to hide behind the artificial plants. Not that it would do me any good, because when this grim reaper gets hungry he always knows where to find his next meal. Goldfish are mortal. And so are we. There is no way out of the aquarium of this world except by way of the jaws of death. Indeed, unless Jesus comes first, nothing is more certain than the grave. 1 So how are you going to deal with that? How am I? It doesn t make any difference how healthy your diet is. It doesn t make any difference how religiously you exercise. It doesn t make any difference how many trips you make to the plastic surgeon. We are all going to die physically, i.e., our souls will be separated from our bodies. After that millisecond, we will enter into eternity. Eternity: Think about that. The only way to avoid the eternal punishment of God is through Jesus. He who is true God and true man came into our aquarium as our great substitute. For us he lived the perfect, sinless life that God demands of us, but which we have fallen so far short. For us, he paid the wages of sin on our behalf--so that we don t have to. So let s remember that on Easter morning a few brave women left the upper room. In the predawn hours, they went to the tomb to finish the Jewish burial ritual of applying spices to Christ s Page 1 of 5
dead body. But when they went to the tomb they were stunned because the stone had been rolled away. 2 They were further stunned because, when they looked into the tomb, his body wasn t there. Suddenly, two angels appeared to them. They said to the frightened women, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 3 The angels asked them to recall what Jesus had told them. And what had he told them? Just this: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. What an incredible prediction! Actually, it consists of eight distinct prophetic predictions. In other words, Jesus had told them in advance what was going to happen to him. Let me ask you, can you predict how you will die? Jesus did. Can you predict that you will rise from the dead? Jesus did. Can you predict how many sequential days there will be from your death to your resurrection? Jesus did. And it all happened just as he said! And the women remembered these words, that he would be crucified and rise on the third day. Now a breakthrough occurs. The words of Christ finally penetrate their perplexed hearts and produce faith. And what does this faith do? Behold, they run to tell the apostles the good news. But despite their excitement, the men don t believe a word of it. In fact, the women s words seem to them as nonsense. Nonsense! So, here, we learn that these men reacted as we probably would. I mean, who can believe a thing like this? Who can believe that a brutally flogged and crucified dead man would rise from the grave? We all know that when you re dead, that s it! It s the end! Yes, you turn out the lights because the party is over! Or is it? We all know that the wages of sin is death. But bodily death is not the end. Those who die in Christ shall rise to eternal life; but those who die without trusting in Christ will face eternal death. That is not what you want; and it is not what God wants. But if you reject his gift, it s on you! That s why God sent us Jesus. Jesus is the enfleshed Son of the living God. The Bible tells us that, even if we sin only once in our entire lifetimes, that one sin is enough to send us into the outer darkness. 4 When Jesus came into the world as the God-man, he came to rescue us from this death and to earn eternal life for us. His job description was unbelievably hard and terrifying. He had to do two things for us. First, he had to live a sinless life, the same sinless life which God demands of us but which we have failed to do. Second, he had to die with the sins of all humanity on his back. The question that must be answered is this: Did he succeed? Did he live a sinless life? Was his sacrifice on the cross sufficient to pay for the sins of the world? Page 2 of 5
And so I stand before you today to tell you, with all the strength God gives me, that the answer to both questions is emphatically yes! How do I know? Because the resurrection proves it so. His resurrection proves that he has lived a sinless life for us. It also proves that God the Father accepted Christ s death as payment-in-full for all of our sins. But the apostles still did not believe the women s news of the resurrection. But let s give them a little more time. Our text tells us that Peter finally got up and ran to the tomb. Peter marveled at what he saw. He realized that Jesus had simply vacated his burial wrappings. This was, yet, another sign of his resurrection. But Jesus would show himself alive that evening (crucifixion wounds and all) to the apostles and women. When he did, they all came to know the incredible truth. Jesus had, indeed, risen from the dead. And he would also show himself alive to over 500 eyewitnesses in the space of 40 days. 5 My friends, there are many things in history that are open to debate. Who really shot JFK? Did O. J. Simpson get away with murder? Will Natalee Holloway s body ever be found? Yes, there are many things that are debatable. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not one of them! Let me explain. Indeed, in nearly every century of the last millennium many attempts have been made by thoroughly competent scholars to refute the resurrection. Among them are Gilbert West and George Lyttelton (Oxford scholars), Dr. E.V. Rieu (a literary scholar), 6 and Frank Morison (a legal expert). Significantly, Morison ended up writing a best-selling book in defense of the resurrection. 7 But in each case, the result has been the same. Those who start out trying to disprove the resurrection end up conceding the truth of it. Why? Because it happened, plain and simple, just as Jesus said it would. So, what must we do to be saved? 8 Do nothing. For God s sake, do absolutely nothing! No, simply believe, i.e., simply trust that Jesus has totally and completely earned the ticket to heaven for you. For you he lived a sinless life. For you he died to pay for all of your sins. If you trust in Christ alone for your salvation, you are a child of God and an heir of everlasting life. Christianity is unique among all the religions of the world, for it alone claims to be based upon the historical resurrection of its Founder. All other religions are built merely on the teachings of their founders, all of whom died and remain in their tombs. Muhammad s tomb is visited annually by thousands, for he, mere man that he was, could not beat the grave. Neither could Buddha, or Confucius, or any other religious leader, past or present. But Jesus is alive! Since the beginning of time, multitudes have stood beside the dark hole of the grave. As they watched the remains of their loved one lowered into the earth, they wondered. They wondered if, beyond the blackness of death, there was any hope for life beyond the grave. Page 3 of 5
On Good Friday, Jesus descended into the darkness of death. His friends and disciples wept and wailed. They didn t expect a resurrection. But on this Resurrection morning, as the sun rose in the east, the Son of God rose from the dead. He declares, Just as I promised, I have been raised up on the third day! There is, my dear children, a paradise beyond your greatest expectations. And, there, the heavenly Father waits with outstretched arms to wipe away every tear from your eye. And all of your loved ones who preceded you in the faith will greet you there! 9 And so on this Easter day, I say to you, He is risen! And the people of God reply, He is risen, indeed! In the name of Christ the Victor, Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! Endnotes 1 Adapted from a 2002 sermon by Rev. Dean Kavouras. 2 See Luke 24:2. 3 See Luke 24:5-6. 4 In James 2:10, we read, For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all. (CSB, Holman Christian Standard Bible). 5 See 1 Corinthians 15:6. 6 C. George Fry, Christ Comes to His People, The Concordia Pulpit for 1985 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1984), p. 99. 7 See his defense of the Christian faith in Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone, London: Faber and Faber, 1967. Morison s book has become a classic apologetic work on the historicity of the resurrection. Morison, an English journalist and barrister, had a tremendous drive to learn about Christ. The strangeness of the Resurrection story had captured his attention, and, influenced by skeptical thinkers at the turn of the century, he set out to prove that the story of Christ s Resurrection was only a myth. His probings, however, led him to discover the validity of the biblical record in a moving, personal way. Significantly, the first chapter of his book is titled The Book That Page 4 of 5
Refused to Be Written. Available from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/who-moved-stone-frank- Morison/dp/0310295610/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458924892&sr=8-1&keywords=who+moved+the+stone+frank+morrison. 8 See Acts 16:30-31. 9 These words are my own. They are, however, a summary of what Jesus taught. Page 5 of 5