Resurrection Sunday 2013

He is risen. He is risen. As I shared with those in the Sunrise Service, this has been a slogan in the Goat Home for the last few weeks. My wife had been listening to Bonhoeffer's Our Life Together while she drove in the car. And every morning, he says, the Christian should look up and see the sunrise and be reminded that Christ is risen. There should be a constant reminder that we serve a risen Lord. This is what Bonhoeffer says. The early morning belongs to the church of the risen Christ. At the break of light, it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate and defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind. Every morning, we should remember sin and death have been defeated. We serve a risen Savior. So we started this tradition every morning. I walk in to wake up Lillian and to get her ready. And I say, Lillian, he is risen. And she just simply responds with, indeed, she hasn't gotten quite the whole thing yet. But we did this for a few weeks. And all of a sudden, one morning she says, Daddy, he's not deed, he's risen. And I was confused and I had been so proud that I've been raising this resurrection confessing child that I walked in the hall hoping I didn't just hear what I had heard and so we got back the next week. He's risen indeed, but Daddy, he's not deed. So now I'm just wrestling with this conflicting message I'm giving my daughter. Because of all things, the one thing that we must be certain of is that He is risen and He's alive. And so we're wrestling if we're going to exchange the word indeed with hallelujah or amen, you can pray for us. We gather this morning because we must celebrate and we must remember regularly, not just one day out of the year, regularly every day that Christ is our risen Lord, because that is the one truth that changes everything about how we live each day. Our message this morning is simple. Jesus is our risen Lord. Jesus is our risen Lord. We are to be amazed and to place our faith in him. You can turn with me to your, in your Bibles, if you're using the, we're looking at Luke 24. Luke 24, we'll be looking at Luke's account. Luke is our historian, physician. He also wrote Acts. We're looking at Luke 24. If you're using a Pew Bible, that will be page 884 and 885. Just to kind of go ahead and look at this chapter, we will be looking at the entire chapter. I did try to make it a shorter sermon knowing we had testimonies, but well, those of you who are members know how that usually goes. I will try to make it shorter. Verses 1 through 12 make up one account, 13 through 35 another, and 36 through 53 another. There's three real episodes. There's different scenes, but these are the three main sections of this account. The first two end with Peter. Luke has great literary, he uses a lot of good literary tools, and the first two, the first little, the first episode, the first section, it ends with Peter running to the tomb. The last section, or the second section, just really out of nowhere says, and he appeared to Simon. And so you see some consistency there with the way Luke presents this. There's also a catch word, or a light vert, if you're a literary person. Every time Luke does this throughout Luke and Acts, any time sight or seeing or beholding is the language of sight is being used, he's drawing your attention to something. He's constantly using words for sight and eyes and beholding to draw our attention. And he's going to repeat a lot of these words throughout this record of the resurrection. Read with me, Luke 24. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their face to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified on the third day. Rise. And they remembered his words and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with whom, with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tell, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen clothes by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, what is this conversation you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered them, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, did not our hearts burn with us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures? And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you." And they were startled, and frightened, and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat? They gave him a piece of broadfish, and he took it and ate it before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in all into in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God." Here we have these three episodes, the three main scenes of the story, and each one has the same message. Remember, As we look at this, the angels are going to tell the women, remember what Jesus said when Jesus is speaking to the disciples. Remember what Moses and the prophets and the psalmist said. It's all about what has already been said and how Christ is fulfilling what God has said. The first thing I want us to see this morning is from verses 1 through 12. Jesus' resurrection is amazing. Jesus' resurrection, it is amazing. And I chose this word precisely because at one level, the resurrection, it's amazing in the sense that it's perplexing. It's bewildering. How could this be? It's unnatural. It's not expected unless you know the Word of God. Secondly, it's amazing in that it brings about a certain sense of wonder and awe. Let's go to the text. It's the first day of the week. Christ was crucified on Friday. They took his body down for the Passover on Saturday. And here it is the third day, the day that he had predicted he would rise again. They were coming on the first day. And this is why we gather on the first day of the week. We gather to regularly remember that Christ is risen to hear of the resurrection. They had come to anoint him out of custom. The women, they were not coming to see if he was alive. Notice verses two and three, there's a nice twist that Luke gives us. They came and they found the stone rolled away. They did not find his body. They came and they found that the stone had been moved, but they did not find his body. The stone had been moved. His body was no longer there and they were perplexed. Two angels appear. What's amazing about this scene, and after the death, is how insensitive the conversation seems to start. Why are you here, he starts. Here are these women mourning the loss of their beloved teacher. And he begins, why are you seeking the dedal of the living? And if I wasn't expecting, you should know that Christ wasn't going to be here. You should have known because he said he was going to rise on the third day that he wouldn't be here. Why are you looking for Christ here in the graveyard? He's alive. He doesn't belong here. And then he gives the great imperative. Remember how he told you look there in verse six. Remember how he told you. Christ had always predicted he would die and he would rise again. The message that was declared is that he would be delivered into sinful hands. He would be crucified by sinners. He would be crucified for sinners. And the third day he would rise again, just like he said. That's interesting. And even in the prophecies, even when he was foretelling his death and his resurrection, remember Peter? Peter didn't like this message. He tried to correct Jesus. You can't die. And Jesus has to confront him. Get behind me, Satan. Jesus knew what he was going to do. The disciples, as Jesus says here later on, they're foolish. They're slow of heart. They had even seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. In the passage where he declares, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus knew this was his end and what he was going to accomplish. Now I want to focus on something because he tells the story and he doesn't let on who is going to the tomb until later on. He reveals later that it's a large group of women. This is very significant. The first people to find out that Christ is risen, they're women. The first people to go and tell that Christ is risen. The first proclaimers of the good news, they're women. This is unusual because in this day and age, in this culture, women would not have been seen as a valid testimony. They were not respected enough to give testimony in court. In here, God had designed that the first eyewitnesses, the first people who recognize the resurrection, the first people to go and share the good news, they're women. Those who are disrespected and disregarded by their culture. First, we can see that Christ, Christianity, God, He is seeking to put women in their proper place, and that is a place of dignity and honor and worth. Christ restores women to their proper place of dignity. Secondly, God is his own testimony. God didn't need to go get the aristocrat who is respected and well-spoken to go and share his good news. He took those who were disregarded and disrespected, and he put his message in their mouths. This is helpful for us because it shows us that God doesn't need Those who are the most articulate. God doesn't need to have some other authority to prove his message. His message is authoritative in and of itself. The gospel proclaimed is the power of salvation for all who believe it is written. The resurrection is too good to be true. We see the women. This is what's so great about Luke's account. He talked about how the women were perplexed, the disciples are amazed. It really helps us get into the emotional position of those who are first hearing it, as we often respond when we first heard there's a risen Savior. The resurrection is too good to be true. But I want us to focus on this question, did Christ come to suffer and die? Did Christ rise from the dead? He risen. Is Christ risen? That's the most important question you'll have to answer your entire life because of how you answer that question determines and defines and changes everything. Paul makes it clear. If he is not risen, we're all to be pitied. We're here wasting our time. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we are all to be pitied because we're wasting our time. We're worshiping someone who is dead and we're going to join him. But the good news of Christianity is that he's alive and we worship a risen Savior. My challenge for you, Christian, are you hesitantly or half-heartedly investing in the resurrection? Would someone look at your life, who's not a Christian, and say, I pity the way you live because you're wasting your life on this myth. Have you so invested in the truth and the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that you truly live differently? You make decisions differently. The first thing that changes about someone who believes in the resurrection is that you join the saints to remember the resurrection every Sunday. Are you gathering with the Saints regularly remembering the risen Savior? Do you believe the resurrection? Are you denying yourself of worldly pleasures in order to accept the rule of the risen Lord? How are you investing your time and your possessions and your resources? Christian, Are you living as believers in the resurrection? And has it changed the way you live? The resurrection is amazing. The second thing I want us to see, Jesus' resurrection was the high point of history. Jesus' resurrection was the high point of history. If you look back, especially John captures this. I believe Lynn alluded to it. Jesus comes as the great incognito. He's God Almighty and no one ever recognizes it. He comes to his own and they don't recognize him. They even reject him. He there's nothing about him that makes people think this is this is God in the way he looks in the other than the way he acts in the way he speaks. He speaks to the authority of God, but he was God hidden in human flesh. Here he's hidden again. He appears to these disciples in such a way that they don't recognize them. It's their eyes that do not allow them to recognize them, according to verse 16. Verse 17, Jesus asks, what are you guys talking about? Now, Jesus is God. He knows what they're talking about. He's asking to get involved in the conversation and they respond. Friend, are you the only person in all of Jerusalem that does not know what we're talking about? Everyone's talking about Jesus, the one who was crucified. They then begin to tell Jesus about himself and what they believed, starting in verse 19. They believed he was a prophet because he was mighty in word and deed. They knew that he was crucified. He was dead. They watched him die. But now what were they going to do? They hope that he would redeem Israel. The issue is, what did they hope that redemption would look like? They even mentioned it's been three days. They know that the women are saying that he was risen in three days. They know there's something significant three days in there. They're not saying it's been three days and we're still waiting. We're not sure what's happening. And out of all that, some women have been telling us that an angel appeared and that he is risen. Again, a startling answer from Jesus. O foolish ones, you who are slow of heart. These are men mourning his death and here he is incognito in the way he responds. O foolish ones, slow of heart. Notice here, he declares something very strong. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter to his glory. He also mentioned that the same word was used in the previous passage from the angels. It was necessary. It was necessary that the Christ should suffer and that he should rise again. That was necessary because God, before the foundation of the world, said, I'm going to save sinners. God chose that he would save sinners. God could Being a righteous and just judge, he could punish all sinners and save no one and be a just and holy and right and good God. But God chose to not let all of humanity be under his judgment. God chose not to let all humanity suffer his wrath. In order for God to forgive anyone, in order for God to save anyone, the Son of God He had to suffer. He had to suffer in our place. He had to rise again, giving us hope and victory over the grave. As we've been looking at the history of Israel, we've studied Genesis, now we're in the middle of Exodus. We see that as Jesus would have opened up, Moses and the prophets, all of the Old Testament, it's pointing to Christ. Everything is pointing to a substitute because Adam sinned, because we are all sinners. Every story of the Bible is pointed to Christ, and most of the stories are pointing to the fact that we need a substitute. Sin is serious. The consequence of sin is death, and we need a substitute. All the scripture is pointing to what we truly need, and it's not a revolutionary. It's not just a good teacher. We need a savior from sin and death. As we think about these things, the redemption of God's people was through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There's one thing that we need to remember this morning. Jesus came to seek and save sinners. He came to us and we are sinners in need of saving and in need of seeking. What kept the disciples from believing what they had been told? Jesus says it was their foolishness. It was the fact that they didn't have their heart in the right place. Notice they had enough information. The disciples had enough information at their disposal so that they should have recognized the resurrection. They should have been expecting the resurrection. I believe that's why Jesus confronts them, O foolish ones. They are not in need of more data. They're in need of a right heart and a right belief. Some people say Christianity is a blind leap of faith. There's nothing more true than about believing in Christ. There's nothing more false, rather. There's nothing more false. Christianity is not a blind leap of faith. It's actually stepping upon the most sure foundation you could ever wish for or want. Because God, in 39 books over a span of 4,000 years, gave us words that were pointing to the resurrection and the death of Jesus Christ. You see, it's a sure and steadfast foundation because God had been preparing his people with words, with stories, with with demonstration of his great power and his love for his people. Story after story, getting them ready so that when the sun actually appeared, they would see this is the prophet. This is the priest. This is the king. See, friends, this whole book is either all true or it's all false. All of the Old Testament is pointing to the Resurrection. All the New Testament is pointing back to it. It's either all true or it's all false. All of it pointing to the most important event in all of history, the Resurrection. If you're doubting, if you're doubting the Resurrection, this is the one thing I can tell you. This is the one thing Christ says. Take and read. Take and read God's Word. The disciples should have believed because of what Christ had taught and what Moses had taught and what the prophets had taught and what the Psalms had taught. Now, yeah, they get the benefit of seeing his hands. They get the benefit of seeing the feet. But I think Christ is clearly implying you should have known, you should have believed because of what I have already said. If you're doubting the resurrection, look to God's word. It's important that we read God's Word the right way. As we said earlier, God's message is self-authenticating. There's no authority upon which we're going to judge this Word. As you read it, be praying for God to teach you from it. This is our natural inclination. This is my natural inclination. I try to look at it Especially when I was a Gnodic Christian, and I would try to figure out what's wrong with this book. I would try to figure out how I could be more clever. I still try to think how I can be more clever. And I would try to judge it and evaluate based upon what I think is right, what I think is good. No, the proper way to read this book being God's book, being what God has said, is to let it judge us. To let it stand above us. I believe if you read God's word and you seek what he has to say, the death and the resurrection of Christ will be clear before you ever get to the New Testament. The problem in us is not a lack of data. The problem, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, is not enough data at your disposal. It's a foolish, sinful heart. It's a love for sin rather than a love for God. The resurrection is amazing, and I want to appreciate how difficult it is to go from not believing to believing, because once you believe in the resurrection, it changes everything. It changes the way you view yourself. In order to believe in the resurrection, you first have to see that you're a sinner in need of grace. You see yourself differently in light of who God is and who he says you are. You view God differently. He's not just a distant being who's possibly out there. No, He's a God who seeks you and loves you and sent His Son to die for you. He becomes that personal God we heard testified about earlier. You view your life differently. You stop living for yourself and you live for others and the risen Savior. If He is risen, He is Lord of all. It is not easy to believe. And that is why we pray to God to help our unbelief. Let's look to our last section. Jesus' resurrection brings peace. Jesus' resurrection brings peace. He vanishes out of the sight of the disciples on the Emmaus Road. He just ups and disappears and as quickly and as absolutely he vanishes, he appears all of a sudden with those gathered. And he declares peace to you. These are powerful words that at one level, this is a greeting. This is a typical greeting that you would give when you entered a room. But it's not just a greeting here because this is the one, the son of God who brings peace with God. He reconciles us to God. They marvel. They're frightened. They're afraid. And Jesus shows them that there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm not a ghost. I'm the risen Savior. See my hands. See my feet. They marvel. I love the phrase. They disbelieve for joy. They disbelieve for joy. This is too good to be true. How could such good news come to us? How could we be so blessed to see the risen Savior? Again, verse 44, Jesus interprets, He opens up their eyes and He opens up the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. Again, everything that we need has already been said. I believe we have in the latter part of the passage here, beginning in verse 46, is a summary of the message. This is a summary of the last sermon Jesus preached. That Christ, it was already said that Christ should suffer, as we observed on Good Friday. It has already been said that he would rise in the third day in which he has already demonstrated that forgiveness and repentance should be proclaimed in his name. Now, I want to pause here because we've seen the death and the resurrection, but what's he proclaimed in the name of Christ? That name of authority is repentance. and forgiveness. Forgiveness because he has died in the place of sinners. Repentance because once we see we're sinners, we turn from that sin. This is essential. This is the most basic truth that we have to see as Christians. Christ saves sinners. And when we recognize him and what he's done for us as sinners, we not only accept his forgiveness, we see that sin for what it is and we try to stop. We stop sinning. We are to seek forgiveness from Christ and then we stop sinning. Now, sin is thick, sin is wicked, sin is deep in our hearts. Will you ever be free of all sin? No. But do you intentionally entertain and get entangled in sin? Absolutely not. All these things would be clear in his name to every nation. Now, this is good news for us because God isn't just the God of Israel. God is the God. of all nations. A few applications to meditate upon as we end. First, be amazed at the resurrection. Be amazed at the resurrection. Is this a boring truth to you? Is this old hat? I would pity anyone who hears about the resurrection and they don't want to sing. They don't want to say, Because it gives new life. It's the center of the story upon which we live and we worship God. So when you're recognizing the resurrection, it's not a second chance. The resurrection doesn't give you a second chance. It gives you new life. It's not you trying to rebuild your life. It's not you trying to correct a few things you think are wrong and then be confident again yourself. No, it shows you that everything about you was wrong. And Christ has given you a new life. It's not a redo. You're a new creation. The resurrection is amazing. That's why it should lead us to worship. Finally, as Jesus' last words tell us, we are called to be witnesses. We are called to go and declare this message. I want to remind you that Jesus, he used women first. I think intentionally because they would not have been heard in court to again say, it's not a matter of how powerful and articulate you can be with the gospel. It's a matter of how simple and faithful you can present the gospel. It's not a matter of what you say and how well you say it. It's a matter of how faithful you are in proclaiming God's truth, proclaiming God's faithfulness, and to pray for those you share it with and to share it boldly and faithfully. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you that you Allow us to come and worship you, the risen one. We thank you for your word that is faithful and true. We thank you that we can look into it and be reminded of your faithfulness. We thank you that you have given yourself over to us, Jesus, to die for us, to rise again. We pray for anyone here who does not know you. I pray that they would take your word, that they would read it and they'll be changed by you. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.