A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 68
“Good News For A Bad Day”
Luke 24:1-8
How many of us have been approached by someone who said, “I have some good news and some bad news, which do you want to hear first?” I am always tempted to say, “Give me the good news and keep the bad news to yourself!” But in life we will receive some bad news from time to time. In fact I am sure that some of you feel like you have already received your share of bad news. Many of you have experienced troubles in your relationships. Some of you have experienced financial and business struggles. Others of you have experienced major health problems, spiritual dilemmas and so forth. For a few this has been a year of extraordinary loss, hurt or grief.
Patsy Clairmont in her book “Under His Wings” tells a moving story of the reality of dealing with grief. “We buried my friend’s 26 year old son last week. An accidental gunshot took Jeff’s life. We have more questions than answers. We are offended at people who have all the answers and no experience with devastating loss.
I watched the heart-wrenching scenes as the family tried to come to grips with the tragedy, I can still hear the travailing of the mother’s anguished heart. I can still see the wrenching of the father’s grief torn hands. I can still smell the hospital and funeral home. Memories march before my mind like soldiers, causing me to relive the agony. If it is this difficult for me, Jeff’s god-mother, how much more magnified it must be for his birth mother! I can’t imagine.
As I watched Jeff’s mom, Carol, the week after his death, I observed a miracle. I saw her move from despair to hope. From franticness to peace. From uncertainty to assurance. From needing comfort to extending it.
I witnessed a mom face her worst nightmare and refuse to run away. Instead, she ran to Him. When grief knocked the breath out of Carol, she went to the Breath Giver. I watched as the Lord placed His mantle of grace around her and then supported her with His mercy. The grief process has just begun for Jeff’s loved ones. The Lord will not remove His presence from the Porter family. But there may be moments when He will remove their awareness of His presence. That will allow them to feel the impact of their loss. For He knows it would be our tendency to hide even behind His grace to protect our fragile hearts from the harshness winds of reality. He offers us refuge, but He also promises us wholeness. Wholeness means we are fully present with ourselves and with Him. Therefore, we have to own our pain. If we do not, part of who we are we must either shut down, avoid or deny. That would leave us estranged from ourselves and divided in our identity. Also, we would never heal in a way that would allow us to minister to others.” [Patsy Clairmont. Under His Wings. (Colorado Springs: Focus On the Family, 1994) p. 137]
The death of Jesus has surely left his disciples devastated in grief similar to that of the family in our story. They had not only lost their teacher and their leader, but their best friend. All of their hopes and dreams for the future rested in Him and now he was dead. All the meaning had disappeared from their lives.
Jesus had died on Friday; Joseph of Arimathea had courageously stepped forward to claim the body and prepare it for burial. Joseph completed his preparations just before the Sabbath began at Sundown on Friday. The Sabbath had ended at sundown on Saturday and with the first light of Sunday morning the women had ventured forth to the tomb. We read what happened in Luke chapter twenty-four and beginning in verse one.
“Now on the first day of the week, very early in
the morning, they, and certain other women with
them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which
they had prepared. (2) But they found the stone
rolled away from the tomb. (3) Then they went in
and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (4)
And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed
about this, that behold, two men stood by them in
shining garments. (5) Then, as they were afraid
and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to
them, "Why do you seek the living among the
dead? (6) "He is not here, but is risen! Remember
how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
(7) "saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’" (8) And they remember-ed His words.” (NKJV)
In the words “He is risen” lies the difference between Christianity and every other religion in the world. The followers of Confucius can go to his tomb and he is still there. The tomb of Budda is likewise occupied. One can make a pilgrimage to Mecca to the tomb of Mohammed, and he is there.
But the tomb of Jesus is empty!
“A follower of Mohammed and a Christian were discussing their religions and had agreed that both Mohammed and Christ were prophets. Where then, lay the difference? The Christian illustrated it this way: ‘I came to a crossroads and I saw a dead man and a living man. Which one did I ask for directions?’ The response came quickly, ‘The living one, of course.’ ‘Why, then,’ asked the Christian, ‘do you send me to Mohammed who is dead, instead of Christ who is alive?’ This is the basic difference between Christ and all every other religious leader. All the others came into the world, lived, died – but none of the them lived again.” [Spiros Zodhiates. Illustrations of Bible Truths “The Living One” #617 (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 1995) p. 200]
The resurrection changes everything, Luke wants us to ponder the “so what” of the Jesus’ resurrection. What is it that the resurrection teaches us even today.
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are Following The Right Person!
There are so many voices clamoring that they hold the truth about the existence of life. There are so many that we could follow. How can we be sure that Jesus is the right way to go? We live in an age that says that it is just not, politically correct to say that your religion is better than someone else’s. After all, if you’re sincere it doesn’t matter what you believe, right? Well, of course not. You can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong. Some things are just too important not to be sure of.
For example, I do my very best to see it that when my family travels in an automobile that it is in a safe condition to do so. When we invest our money we want to know that there is a reasonable expectation of a return on our money. I would think that spiritual issues would be of extreme importance. This is not something we can afford to be wrong about. How can we be sure that following Jesus is the right road to travel. Turn to the book of Romans chapter one and verse four. Here the Apostle Paul says, (Romans 1:4) that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Did you catch that? I want you to underline two phrases in that verse. Underline where Paul says the Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God”…and then in the later part of the verse underline how he says that he is declared to be the Son of God…”by the resurrection.” The resurrection proves that Jesus was who he said he is. He claimed to be God; he proved his claim by coming out of the grave. The Resurrection was not only proof of who Jesus is but of what he had done.
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are Following The Right Person! And…
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are Truly Forgiven!
Now I want you to turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15. The Apostle Paul put the importance of the resurrection in perspective when he said, in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” Our greatest need as humans is what to do with our sins. When we are honest we have to admit that we have them, the question is what can we do with them. All the other “religions” in the world either ignore the sin problem or try to solve it through self-effort. There is no other religion that tells you that that leader has taken your sin upon himself and has died in your place except for Christianity. Jesus is the only hope of the world for forgiveness of sins, for he is the only one who has risen from the dead.
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are Truly Forgiven! And…
The Resurrection Assures Us That There is Life Beyond the Grave.
The apostle Paul raises the question in
1 Corinthians 15:18-20, “Then also those who
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of
all men the most pitiable. (20) But now Christ is
risen from the dead, and has become the first
fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Paul’s point is that because Jesus did indeed
rise from the grave he has shown that he has
power over worst and most feared of enemies
death and the grave. By say that Jesus was the “first fruit of those who have died” he is saying that his resurrection is the proof that we to will live beyond the grave. In John chapter eleven Jesus went to minister to the family of Mary and Martha, Lazarus their brother had died. In verse twenty-five of that chapter Jesus made a profound statement about belief, “Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again” (NLT).
Conclusion
Eternity is far to important an issue not to be
sure of what your trusting in, so Jesus proved
himself.
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are
Following The Right Person!
The Resurrection Assures Us That We Are Truly Forgiven!
The Resurrection Assures Us That There is Life Beyond the Grave.
How Do I Know He Lives?
How do I know that Christ has risen?
What proof have I to give?
He touched my life one blessed day,
And I began to live.
How do I know he left the tomb
That morning long ago?
I met Him just this morning,
And my heart is still aglow.
How do I know the endless life
He gained for me that day?
His life within is proof enough
Of Immorality.
How do I know that Christ still lives,
Rich blessings to impart?
He walks with me along the way
And He lives within my heart.
[A Treasury of Bible Illustrations #722 “How Do I Know He Lives?” (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 1995) p. 292]
