INTRODUCTION: How is your memory? Do you remember what you should or do you have selective memory and just remember what YOU want to remember? Men, should I ask your wives about your memory? Did you remember Valentine’s Day? What about her birthday? You didn’t forget your anniversary, did you?
Ladies, do you remember the last time he hurt your feelings? As clear as if it happened today, right? You’ll never forget the remark he made about your mother, will you?
What did you wear last Tuesday? Do you remember what you ate for dinner Thursday evening? What about the gifts you received this past Christmas? You remember all of them, don’t you?
Why is it we remember selected events and forget others? Could it be that we remember an occasion or event because it left an impact upon our lives? If our lives are not impacted, we tend to forget, don’t we?
Take a walk with me down memory’s lane and recall an event that should dramatically impact our lives.
READ: LUKE 24:1-8
Setting: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and the eleven remaining disciples, had just been through the most tragic and disappointing periods of their lives. Just two days ago, their lives and hopes were crushed. Their leader and teacher, their friend, their hero, had been brutally treated and then cruelly nailed to a cross.
They are confused. Why, just one week earlier, the crowds of Jerusalem had gladly welcomed Jesus into town with shouts of “Hosanna” and the waving of palm branches. Now... now, Jesus was dead. They had watched as the Roman soldiers drove the nails in his hands and his feet, then set the cross upright. They had watched him die. They were aware that Joseph of Arimathea had volunteered his new tomb for Jesus’ burial place. It was over.
It seems they went into hiding. Who do we find venturing out the morning after the Jewish Sabbath? The women. They were going back to the tomb with spices for Jesus’ body. As they walked along, they wondered how they were going to move the massive stone in front of the tomb.
Imagine with me their shock when they arrived at the tomb and found the stone rolled back from the face of the tomb. They slowly walked in and looked around. The tomb was empty!
Suddenly, angels appeared to them and said, “He is not here. He is risen. Remember what he taught you in Galilee. He told you he would go to Jerusalem, be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day, he would rise again.”
After their hearts slowed down just a bit after the initial shock of seeing angels, they began to quickly reminisce. What had Jesus told us?
Oh, yeah. It was making sense now. All those times Jesus had made comments about needing to go to Jerusalem; suffering greatly at the hands of the chief priests; being crucified, had never added up. Especially the part about rising again on the third day...
RISE AGAIN!!! Did you say, “He is risen?”
As the women looked at their surroundings, it dawned upon them exactly where they were. They were in a tomb, an empty tomb. The truth registered now. He is risen, just as he said!!!
For just a few minutes today, will you follow the advice of the angel and remember? Specifically, let’s remember Easter.
What can I remember this Easter?
I. JESUS DIED FOR ME
When was the last time you remembered that Jesus died for you? Scripture tells us that he died for ALL. You and I are part of ALL. We’re not just a number. You are a name, a person, a unique individual, to God. He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you and me.
Look with me at a few Scriptures that remind us that Jesus died for us.
Romans 6:10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
1 Cor. 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures...
2 Cor. 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
Remember, no matter who you are, what you are like, what you look like, where you’ve been or what your race or nationality is, Jesus died for you!
II. JESUS IS NOT IN THE TOMB
The angels said, “He is not here.” That first Easter morning, the tomb was empty. It has been empty for almost 2,000 years and it is empty today!! HE IS NOT THERE!!!!
Can the words “He is not here” be disturbing words? Maybe your son went to play with his friends. It is now past time for him to be home. You’re not too worried at first, but as time ticks slowly by, you begin to worry a little. You call one of his friend’s mothers, “Is my son over there?” “No. He is not here,” is the response.
A couple more phone calls. The same answer, “He isn’t here.”
Something begins to rise up inside, doesn’t it? Fear? Apprehension? Whatever it is, it is disturbing.
Shortly after moving to Cincinnati, our boys did not come home at the time they were supposed to. It wasn’t a problem at first, but it became a problem. You see, we were not comfortable with the neighborhood. We had moved from Oklahoma and we lived out in the country. It was safe out there. However, the college campus is not in the most affluent part of the city.
I recall the fear that began to grow as I looked everyplace I knew to look. No boys anywhere. Each place I looked seemed to say the same thing, “They’re not here. They’re not here.” That was not what I wanted to hear. I had them abducted or worse. The point is, those words disturbed me.
How do you think Jesus’ followers felt that morning when the angels said, “He is not here”? Disturbed? Excited? Afraid?
As I was reading in preparation for this message, I came across a reassuring thought. The only place we will ever hear the words, “He is not here” is in the tomb. No other place. Frankly, the tomb is the only place I want to hear those words.
With this being true, “He is not here” will never be spoken in heaven. Jesus will be there.
There is no location on earth, but the empty tomb, where “He is not here” will ever be heard. No matter where I am or where I go, Jesus will be there. He has promised in his word that he would never leave us nor forsake us.
All across the world today, Christians will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter the name above the door or their style of worship, these words will not be heard in their worship service “He is not here.” He is with us here this morning in Carthage, Kentucky and He is with those across the oceans. He is there.
If you don’t know this Jesus this morning and will seek Him, I have good news for you. You will find Him! As you seek him, you will not hear “He is not here.” It doesn’t matter how far you’ve gone away from God; how wicked your deeds may be; how many times you’ve turned Him away, those disturbing words will not be heard by you. Turn to him. He tells us whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
Thank God, in our daily devotional life, Jesus will meet with us. In our place of prayer it will not be heard, “He is not here.”
Are you praying for an unsaved family member or friend? Be encouraged today. As you are battling in prayer and asking God to save them, rest assured you will never hear, “He is not here.”
Regardless of the circumstances in our lives, sickness, problems at the office or home, death of family and friend, our confidence is that we will not hear “He is not here.”
III. HE IS RISEN
Remember, Jesus is alive... today!! The fact that He is risen from the dead makes all the difference in our lives. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain and we would still be in our sins.
This fact, more than any other, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions of the world. Christians are the only people who can claim that their Savior is alive today.
Christ rising from the dead and being alive today validates that Jesus is who He claimed to be. He makes life worth living. It is only through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, that we can be assured of eternal life. Do you serve a risen Savior this morning?
I think the words of the familiar Gaither song says it best, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, He holds the future. Life is worth the living just because He lives.”
He is alive. He holds the future. Life truly is worth living simply because He lives. Never forget He is risen.
CONCLUSION: I conclude with this. The story is told of a young mother who found herself on the last train out of Poland during Hitler’s regime. She had her first born toddler and her newborn nursing infant with her. The bombing was fierce and the train had to stop many times for the passengers to take cover. A trip that should have taken a few hours, took a few days. The food ran out and there were no liquids to be had. Consequently, when they arrived at their destination, the infant was starving and ill. A group of nuns met her there and took the baby to their hospital where they would attempt to nurse it back to health. The mother felt great relief at the apparent reprieve. But the joy was short lived. The next morning she was given the news that the hospital had been bombed during the night and that her baby had not survived. The mother was given a flashlight to search for her baby’s body.
What a tragic scene. Imagine the confusion; the pain; the grief; the hopelessness of a mother who herself was a doctor whose hands and skill had no doubt saved many a life, but could do nothing in this situation.
Life without Easter would provide the same sense of hopelessness.
Imagine with me a different ending. The mother is desperately seeking through the rubble, her little one in tow. She is crying loudly together with many others in the same situation. Suddenly, there is another cry. The sound of an infant. Could it be? She runs to where the sound comes from and there in the rubble she finds her baby ... alive. What incredible relief, mingled with joy. All the questions now do not need to be answered. All the “what ifs” no longer mattered. Her baby is alive.
That’s what Easter does. Easter changes the mood of the crucifixion into joyful rejoicing.
Remember today, He is risen. That makes all the difference.
