The scripts are reading from the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, chapter 24, verses 1 through 12. The Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, chapter 24, verses 1 through 12. You may find a passage printed in the order of worship or in your Bible. At the conclusion of this reading, we will say the word of the Lord and the responses. Thanks be to God. 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 when 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 faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in the alley that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words and returned from the tomb. They told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. Now it was Mary, Macdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloth by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. The Word of the Lord. Before we look at God's Word together, let's have a brief word of prayer. Father, there are powerful things that you want us to see in the empty tomb, and I pray that you would give to us the eyes to see them, the ears to hear them, and the heart to embrace them. So we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake, Amen. We tend to learn great lessons from things that happen to us that we don't expect. But I was nine years old, I was outside playing in our backyard with my best friend, Westerly. My birthday had just passed and I had gotten a new set of golf clubs, and I was such a great golfer that I was going to show Westerly how to swing and drive. Well, he had dripped it and was getting ready to swing and started his back swing, and I said no way to minute because his grip wasn't just right because I leaned forward, well the problem was Westerly didn't see me, and he swung and the driver would be right there. 13 stitches. Have you ever seen stars? I saw stars that day. I learned some powerful lessons. I learned that for a non-contact sport golf is pretty brutal. I also learned that I was probably better off playing tennis than golf, so I banned in golf at that point. There are in our day some important events that have happened, completely unexpected events, from which we were learning some pretty powerful lessons. September 11th, we didn't expect it, and as a result, great catastrophes, but our nation, as a whole, was learning all sorts of lessons as national security, parodies, things like that. Also some personal lessons. You see testimonies about great heroism, like the firefighters that climbed those towers, especially after they already had news that one of them had collapsed. Imagine that. Such great heroism, giving a life so that others might live. I look at that and I think, you know, what I have that kind of courage, or you might think of Todd Bamer, who was on that plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. You know, they had been talking on the phones and some operators and found out that there was already some planes that had been hijacked and used as torpedoes into some buildings and national monuments. And the likelihood would be that this would be their fate as well. And so he banded together some quick followers and used those now infamous words, let's roll. And I think, you know, what I have the guts to do that. Just in a moment to know this, early in the morning on an airplane, weary eyes still, great lessons, powerful things, communicated from events that we did not expect. And I'm sure in your own life there would be story after story of things that you have learned from negative and positive experiences that you didn't expect in your past. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the claims of the Christian faith, it's difficult to deny that as you look at all of history, there are few more critical, powerful, important events in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And when you look at that, the empty tomb, which of course none of the followers of Jesus actually witnessed the resurrection itself, but the aftermath of it. The empty tomb, lessons, powerful lessons to be learned and so powerful that when you look at the New Testament, one of the things that strikes you right off is that before the disciples recognized what had happened on that first Easter, they would be moralized, they'd lost all hope, they were negative, they were disbelieving, but once God made it clear to them, it's a 180 degree difference, they were radically transformed individuals. And I don't know about you, but as I talk with people, I find that when people are asked in life is something in their life that will give them energy, will give them power and purpose that will radically transform them. And that is the great potential behind Easter. So what I would like to do with you is sort of together with those first women and the apostles to whom they told that story to, let's hear into the empty tomb and look at the very power transforming lessons. Now, there's over 300 verses in the New Testament that talk about the significance of the resurrection. We're not going to have that kind of time this morning and you're going, wow, what a relief. So let's just look at three things. First of all, a lesson about ourselves. Secondly, a lesson about Jesus Christ. And finally, a lesson about our relationships with others. All right, first of all, the lesson that we see about ourselves in the empty tomb. Now, you know, the setting, as it was just red, there were some women who had followed Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry and affected by him. And he had great devotion for him. So they decided to gather together some spices and ointments. Already had this in mind the day that he was crucified, knew where the tomb was. They saw it. So there's no mistaking it. They didn't go to the wrong tomb. And newer it was. But they had to wait because the Sabbath was just arriving. And so we had to cease from all work of the Sabbath. The Sabbath ended sundown on Saturday. So at the first break of dawn, those women were out with their spices and ointments to care for the body of Christ. Sort of a combination in our day of embalming what they would do at a funeral home. And what those of us who love people who have departed would do by taking flowers to the grave. Sort of a combination of those two concepts. They went to the tomb. They knew where it was. Massive stone was rolled away and appeared inside and were perplexed. They were perplexed. They didn't expect it at all. There beside them were two of men which we find from the other accounts of the resurrection were angels that told them in a sense, reviewed them. Why should this surprise you? Jesus himself told you that this would happen. Why are you not believing? Then it occurred to them. And so they with great fire run to tell the apostles. And you can imagine being those women. They thought, man, this is incredible. These guys are going to be so fired up when they hear that Jesus is raised from the dead. But they weren't expecting it either. The women give their report. And what does Luke tell us? They did not believe what the women told them. In fact, they considered it, quote, idle pace. Literally non-children's stuff, stories. But they wanted stuff about real life. And this was discouraging because the one whom they followed had now died. Now, doesn't that just utterly surprise you? It should. I mean, we're looking at it almost 2000 years later. But imagine if you had walked with Jesus. And he had told them. I mean, as best we can tell, at least three times he'd given them the specifics. I mean, he had a game plan. He said, now let me tell you. Here's the game plan. Luke chapter 18, verse 31, taking the 12, he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and changefully treated and spit upon. And after slogging him, they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise. And Jesus is saying, look, I'm going to lay it out, make it real playing for you. And by the way, this is nothing new. This has been a consistent story that the prophets of the Old Testament for hundreds, even thousands of years have been laying down. So get ready guys. But what happened? Luke reports. They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them. And they did not grasp what was said. Here's the first lesson about ourselves. We do not have to work at disbelief. It comes very naturally. It's very much a part of who we are humanly that we do not believe. Now, some of you said, well, I understand that. And I'm so thankful for those of mine this morning that don't believe in Jesus Christ. How true that is for them. But don't you see the people that we're talking about were not atheists. They weren't those who put Jesus to death. They were those who were most devoted to him that were right next to him for three years hearing exactly what would happen from his mouth. Jesus wasn't startled by it. He had told a story about a man who had lived his life apart from God. A rich man contrasted him with a poor man named Lazarus and at the end of life, judgment day came. And the man who lived his life apart from God was sent to a place of eternal torment where the fire never went out. A place that you and I would never ever want to be. In contrast, the poor man was in God's presence in paradise. There was Father Abraham. He symbolized the people of God, the people of faith. And so the rich man prized out to Lazarus. Please, just come down here and at least get some water to temper this fire that I'm in anguish over. Father Abraham says, no, there's such a great chasm between the two of you that nobody can bridge that at this point. He said, well, then please send Lazarus to my family. Tell my brothers what they're about to fall into because if you send someone back from the dead to tell them, surely, they will believe. What did Jesus say? If they have not believed Moses in the promise. If they haven't believed what God has written down for hundreds even thousands of years, no, even if someone rises from the dead, even then, they will not believe. There is a certain fence about us that we are bent toward unbelief. It started with our first parents in the Garden of Eden not believing a single beautiful promise of God. And so they threw paradise away. And we followed and they've had hundreds of thousands of years later. Many of you know about my love for C.S. Lewis and his children's series of Chronicles of Narnian. It's a beautiful story that helps picture this inclination that we have to unbelief in his book, The Magician's nephew, which chronologically is the first book that tells about how Narnian's wonderful new world has come to be. The story about Aslan, the great lion who symbolizes Jesus Christ, how Aslan sings this glorious song and asks him sings this magnificent song. All of Narnia is transformed. The animals and beasts begin to talk just like human beings. The trees come alive. Then there is this one individual. Uncle Andrew, who thinks he's a magician, he's an unbeliever. He's a Narnia. He's witnessing all this stuff. And still he doesn't believe in the power of the great lion's song. Lewis writes that the longer and more beautifully the lion sang a harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. And Uncle Andrew did that day. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. Friends, there is a chilling reality about our nature that has been toward undue ease. I mean the reality of Jesus Christ can be right before us and we still don't want to see things as they really are. The lesson about ourselves in the empty tomb is lead against that. Pursue any ounce of curiosity you have whether you are this morning, an unbeliever in Jesus Christ, or even a believer who continues to find in each turn the ounce of unbelief. Notice what Peter did. Peter seems to be set off by the writer of Luke as different from the other apostles because the message of the women gave to them provoked enough curiosity and Peter to where he went that first Easter morning to the empty tomb and peered in. And Luke writes that he was more immortal. Are you pursuing your curiosity? Are you identifying those hidden pockets of unbelief in your life that though you may never say that you are an unbeliever in Jesus Christ functionally, you are disarmed and there is very little power because the promises of Jesus Christ just like the truth of his resurrection are very distant from you. Pursue that hunt it down and seek the Lord while he may be found because friends the truth of the Bible is that one day there will be a day of judgment. And just like as was the case in Jesus' story, God will separate the believers from the unbelievers. And this is the hour of the empty tomb. The hour for us to peer inside and pursue the wonder and glory and gospel healing of Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. That's the first lesson, the lesson about ourselves. Now right there together with it is appearing inside the empty tomb. There's a lesson about Jesus Christ because what we see, what we don't see by peering into the tomb is that Jesus Christ is not what we expect. Those who were with him, those three years expected certain things about Jesus Christ and they just didn't get it. And so you and I today, we still don't get it. We have our boxed in view of who Jesus is but Jesus busts through those categories and said, don't box me in. I am far more glorious and powerful and good and gracious than you could ever imagine me to be. Jesus is put in one of the clothes in your, beginning your order of worship. And that's really the thing that we need to deal with. The resurrection, the empty tomb says deal with who Jesus really is. Have you come to grasp who He is in the Bible and who the prophets claimed Him to be all along? That He is the perfect God man. That He's the one that has come to reverse all that has enslaved us because of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Think of it this way. There were four individuals who were climbing up the most difficult face of the matter. And as they got to a certain place, they're all tied together. And they got to a certain place, the last of the mountain climbers slipped and completely fell off the face of the mountain. He pulled with them the next person who was tied to him, who was one of the guys. And because both of them were now hanging off the side of the cliff, the third climber fell as well. The first climber who was the lead guy had enough sense when he first sensed that one of the climbers was falling. He took his axe and sank it deep into the ice of the mountain. And took the spikes in his boots as well and sunk them deep into the ice. And he clung with all of his life and miraculously was able to sustain the fall of all three other climbers and able to pull them up so they could climb to safety. Adam is to us like that first mountain climber. When our first parent disobeyed God and threw away the privileges of paradise, we together have been pulled off of the mountain of life with him. The thanks be to God that our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, allowed for nails to be pierced through his hands and feet for a crown of thorns to be stuck into his face. He bled and died. He clung with all of his life and even gave his life that he might pull us to safety and life, that we might soar on the heights with him. Jesus Christ is that second last Adam so to speak that brings to us this new life. He is far more wonderful and good than you and I could ever imagine. And so the question is, has Jesus Christ broken into your world? And there's a big difference between someone breaking into your house if everything is just fine. If you're just sitting there and comforted ease and there's no problem, someone breaking in is intruding and that's a violation. And that's how some of you feel about the demand that Jesus Christ placed upon us followers. It's a very different scenario. If you're sitting in your house and you just think that everything is fine, that you just appear to be in comfort and ease when in reality your house is burning in flames and your foundation is crumbling. Then, blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who busts through our door, uninvited, enters into our life, delivers us from all that is killing us and then frees us to live in the glory of his paradise. That's the message of the gospel, that's the kind of person Jesus is and the power of the tomb is that because he rose from the dead he verified. He proved all that he claimed to be for us and now he can be that in you if you place your faith in Christ. Finally, there is a lesson or two about our relationships with others. One of the things that first struck me as I read through this passage and meditated upon it is the reaction of the women. Yes, disbelief at first, but when it was almost an instinctive reaction that they went forward and told those whom they loved about the reality of the empty team. Even in the face of being rejected, this is what they did. And this is the way of the gospel. We see this over and over and over again in the New Testament. People that were at first demoralized seem to lack power once the truth of the gospel and the power of the empty tomb begins to flower in their life. They go forth as an energized band of ambassadors to share the message of Jesus Christ and that's what all of us are commanded to do. Some of you may be here this morning because a friend has reached out to you and it's because they love you because they want you so desperately perhaps as they have come to know the power of the entity of Jesus Christ. It's not only though our responsibility to other people, our relationship to other people. It's ultimately the empty tomb showing us a lesson about our relationship with God himself. The gospel is so wonderful that it calls all kinds of people to leave their empty and idle lives. The irony is that it wasn't the words of the women that were idle words that were nonsense. It tends to be our lives that though they may appear to be so full and so on target are inside so empty, so idle, so nonsensical. And the gospel brings to us that healing, power that fills our lives and transforms us. And it does this all kinds of people that you notice who the Lord first revealed his resurrection. It was to women. Some of you say, oh, what a show for this. I can't believe you're talking about that. But friends in the ancient world, this would have been a scandal. I mean, if you really wanted to talk about how true this resurrection is, you wouldn't have sent women because they couldn't even testify in a court of law. And yet isn't that just like God? The gospel is the good news for those who are oppressed, for those who are left out, for those who've been rejected and abandoned by this life. It knows no barriers, gender. It matters not whether you're a male or female. It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Greek, slave or free, rich or poor, sick or healthy, intelligence or the food. God reveals the treasures of his gospel to all kinds of people. That he might welcome them out of the item of this life that is hostile to God and enter into the paradigms of God Almighty. I went recently to a movie on a little date with my youngest daughter, Mary Caroline. It's a sequel to Peter Pan. Parents have to make sacrifices. That was not looking for it today. It was actually pretty good. And you know the story about Peter Pan, Neverland? Neverland, that's right. And he takes these children there and they have all these wonderful times together. Well this is second generation Wendy who had gone before. It's now her daughter, Jane. And Jane is not a believer. She doesn't have time for that foolery. Peter Pan, that couldn't ever be true. Helen Captain Hook takes her hostage and steals her out of her room in the middle of the night and takes her to never, never, never. Still if you can believe it, Wendy is not, Jane is not the only thing. She doesn't want to believe in those she can see Tinkerbell and everybody flying and Captain Hook and everybody. Not until her unbelief affects others. In this case Tinkerbell. And Tinkerbell starts to die. And as a result of all this, Jane comes to place her faith. She believes in the power of Neverland. And she is given at that point the power of fly. It's as though her wings had been clipped before that once she believes she can fly. Friends, that is fairy tale. And we know it's fairy tale. But the greatest event in human history verified by 2000 years of a radical army of believers who have followed Jesus Christ to their death in the first century. Now one evidence of an individual who said they saw the resurrected Christ and later denied it. Many, many of these people going to their death because of what they knew to be true. Friends, it is reality that the tomb is empty. And the wonder of it is there are powerful lessons to be known that naturally you and I are disinclined to believe it's very easy to not believe. But God has been so good to us in Jesus Christ by coming to as it were men are broken wings through his life, death and resurrection. That as we trust in Him alone, turning away from our own dependence upon self, he men are wings and fits us fly. Fly my child and enjoy the pleasures of the Lord Jesus Christ who sits now at the right hand of God Almighty. May you know that today, may you know that resurrection, entity, power, wisdom and forevermore.