May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
gospel of Luke in chapter 24, and we'll read verses six, seven,
and eight. The gospel of Luke chapter 24,
and reading verses six, seven, and eight. He is not here, but
is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you
when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. And they remembered his words. Well, as we come to this resurrection
day what a great blessing it is that we have wonderful accounts
in the word of God of that which occurred and in some detail and
as we think of this situation we can imagine how there had
been so much great sorrow amongst the disciples and amongst the
believers, deep sorrow really, that Jesus had been crucified
and that he died and it appeared that he was dead and placed in
the tomb. And where were their hopes? The hopes have been on the Saviour,
and now he was dead. And what were they to do? Well,
what a wonderful blessing it is then that the Lord rose from
the dead, rose from the dead, and gradually people were permitted
to see him, seeing those who, only those who were believers,
were permitted to see the Lord while he lived on the earth,
or at least before he ascended into glory for another 40 days. And so we should be very thankful
today that we have this occasion to remember. We should of course
remember really the blessing of the resurrection every day,
because the resurrection is very important. We might ask the question,
is the resurrection important? When the Apostle Paul outlines
this really, when he wrote to the Corinthians, and in the 15th
chapter, verses 13 to 17, we read, but if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain? and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God, because we are testified of God, that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
Your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. So surely we can see how vital
it was that the Lord Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. What a wonderful blessing it
is. And yet we have so many lessons
to learn really from the accounts in the Word of God with regards
to this period in the history of the world, because the Lord
Jesus had so plainly spoken when he was on the earth, that he
would die, he would be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and then he would rise again the third day. Yet it would seem
really that nobody really took it to heart, nobody really appreciated
what the Blessed Saviour was speaking, and yet you see they
were clear words. And it's important for us today
in our little lives, perhaps the Lord may speak to us and
it may seem an obscure word, it may not seem to have any relevance,
upon our situation, upon our life. But surely it is to very
carefully consider what has been spoken to us, perhaps a verse
from scripture which we don't really understand, and we must
be careful not to therefore cast it away, but we should ponder
it and pray over it, that there might be a revelation of it to
our souls that we may realize what the Lord is indeed speaking
to us. He spoke very gloriously really
to his disciples about those things which should come and
yet you see they didn't recognize the truth of them. But now we
come on this great day when the Lord Jesus did rise from the
dead. And as we read in this eighth
verse, and they remembered his words, the words that he'd spoken
came back to them. And those words which they hadn't
understood, now they understand. Well, what a mercy. for us to
realise that today we have a risen saviour, because without the
risen saviour we would have no hope, no hope at all of any blessing,
any eternal life. But the Lord has given us that
hope. It is a hope. It may be a good
hope and hope that we rejoice in to believe the Lord Jesus
Christ did die for us and he rose again on our behalf. It is significant really that
we read in Romans with regards to the position of baptism. And the
Apostle Paul tells us the significance of baptism. Very simple, very
straightforward lines. And in the fourth verse of that
sixth chapter, he says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death, but we're not left there. But like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. Now this has, of course,
a double significance. It has the glorious significance
of the Saviour rising indeed again, risen from the dead. But it points us to our position,
our position as we are born in this world, dead in trespasses
and in sins. What a wonderful mercy if God
has come to us and raised us from that spiritual state of
deadness. There we were, dead, no hope,
no life, and yet the Saviour has come and blessed us and raised
us up from that dead position, that spiritually dead position,
into a hope of his mercy and into a good hope that it's through
his glorious death and resurrection that we have this hope, spiritual
life raised from the dead. Well, may today be a time when
we have the evidence in our hearts that spiritually We've been risen. The Christ has raised us from
our dead condition, our dead situation, our lifeless state,
brought us into the glorious liberty of the gospel. And that liberty is only found
in Christ. And so today might be a wonderfully
special day in our soul's experience. We realise the Blessed Saviour
came into this world, as the Apostle said, to save sinners
of whom I am chief. It would be a great day of blessing
if we had the evidence that Christ came to this world to save us. He saves his people through atoning
for all their sins. All their sins. How many? And
they are. Every sin is atoned for and the
grace and glorious Saviour willingly, willingly gave his life, willingly
died upon that cross at Calvary to redeem us, to pay the price
that we should have paid but were unable to pay. The Lord
Jesus Christ paid the price. He paid it with his own life
through shedding his most precious and glorious blood so that we
might be blessed with this wonderful blessing of eternal life. And so then as we think of the
wonderful blessing of the Saviour willingly dying for such unworthy
sinners and yet was then raised again. and to think that we are
raised from death to life through the blessed work of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't back away, did he? He didn't shrink from it. And
yet you see what a wonderful time it was when he rose from
the dead and how the disciples rejoiced, didn't they? And I
believe you and I were truly rejoiced with the evidence and
the knowledge that Christ is raised from the dead, a conqueror. we read together in that last
verse really of the 24th chapter in Luke, or perhaps the last
two verses, and they worshipped him. They worshipped him. You see this is the outcome of
the work of grace in the heart. We bow down and we worship. We worship the great and glorious
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We acknowledge He is our God,
He is our Saviour, He is the only one that we have any hope
in for eternal life. Worship Him, bow down before
Him. And they worshipped Him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy. And without any doubt, there
is joy in the evidence of the life of God in our souls, that
we have been raised from the dead. to that inheritance which
is incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
for us in heaven." This is the great and blessed position of
the Church of God. Risen. He is not here. He is risen. Of course, the angels
went on to say, that I said, remember, remember, sometimes
we need to remember the words of God. Remember the words perhaps
that he may have spoken to us, which we may almost have forgotten
about. You won't have forgotten about
them, but you may almost, and perhaps you need to be reminded
of them, brought back to your attention. so that you can remember
what the Lord has spoken to you. Well, these things, you see,
were so vital, so important to realize the truth of them. We read together in that chapter
about those two going to Emmaus. And again, they couldn't understand,
could they? What had happened? There were some some kind of
situation which was in their mind and they couldn't really
work out. And they came and said, we trusted
that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside
all this today is the third day since these things were done.
So they couldn't really put everything together. And the Lord very graciously
He drew near and went with them. What a blessing that is. If the
Saviour very graciously draws near to us, we may be very ignorant,
we may not understand. the truth contained in the Word
of God. Don't be ashamed of confessing
and admitting you don't understand everything. You know, it's a
grace to be able to recognize that we don't understand many
things as much as we should understand. It was quite clear that The disciples,
it was quite clear that these two on this Amash road should
have understood, but they didn't. The Lord graciously came where
they were and he drew near to them. What a mercy that is. The
Lord drew near to them and went with them. And he didn't speak
very encouragingly to start with. He addressed them very correctly. And he said, oh fools and slow
heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Often perhaps
we may be in that situation, fools, fools we haven't received
the word of God, we've turned away from it, and yet you see
the Lord tells them, fools and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. There it was clearly set before
them, but you see they hadn't believed the great truths which
were contained in the Word of God. And what a test for us today. We have the great and glorious
Gospel, the great and glorious Word of God, but how relevant
it is for us today to be blessed with that grace to believe the
words contained in the Word of God. the devil will keep on tempting
us that it's not true, that it's irrelevant, that it has no reference
to you and me. He never wants us to believe
the truth of God, never wants us to recognize our sins, he
never wants us to come repenting of our sins, he never wants us
to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. When a blessing of the Lord then
comes and draws near and opens to us the scriptures, directs
us to see the glorious plan of the scripture. It is a wonderful
plan. We just rehearsed it very simply
this morning to the Sunday school. And yet what a blessing it is
as we move from Genesis right through to Revelation and see
the great and glorious work of God being performed. Yes, what
a wonderful blessing it is. And of course it was performed
through the wonderful work of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That one who lays down his life
people sinners great sinners like you and me the Lord Jesus
when he was on this earth he spoke about this laying down
his life to the people didn't really recognize what he was
saying and this is what he said in John 10 verse 17 to 18 therefore
does my father love me because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down in myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Well, the Lord did lay down his
life, willingly. He finished the work that his
father gave him to do. It is finished. But then, having
been laid in the grave, he rose from the dead. He rose from the
dead. You know, the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote to the Romans, he says this great truth, knowing all
these things, We are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. Because of what the Lord has
graciously done for us in conquering, giving his life, this is a wonderful
blessing for the Church of God in all these things. We unworthy
sinners are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And as we may remember the apostle
in those last verses in the eighth chapter, the Romans, he gives
a very comprehensive list of the wonderful blessings, which
are indeed the reserve for the Church of God, because he says,
for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. You see, as the blessed Saviour
was raised from the dead, never to die again. So you see the
blessing of the Church of God is if they are raised from the
dead spiritually never to die again and nothing shall separate
the Church of God from this great and glorious love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It should be a very humbling
consideration to think that this great and merciful God has so
graciously looked upon us And the apostle directs us to the
blessing of these, the gift of eternal life. And again, in the
earlier verses in the 15th chapter, the first verse of the Corinthians,
we've already referred to a part of it. But in verses 19 and 20
we read, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are
of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. The first
evidence, naturally, of this great and glorious resurrection. Become the firstfruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Then he elucidates
that for us, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ should
all be made alive. Well, today, may we bless God
for the Saviour who is risen to death, could not hold him. It was impossible because if
Christ had not risen from the dead, we would have no hope.
therefore may today remembrance of today what it means be a true
blessing to us that we may really truthfully rejoice in what Christ
has done and that he rose from the dead yes and now ascended
up into glory and now the father's right hand on the throne in heaven
let's see the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples and warned them
of the situation he spoke to them he said now therefore ye
have sorrow I will see you again your heart shall rejoice your
joy no man take it from you yes they did sorrow And we should
rightly sorrow. Rightly sorrow for our sins. Rightly sorrow for the separation
between us and our God. And yet to rejoice in the grace
and glorious work. As the Lord says, and your heart
shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you. The devil
doesn't want us to rejoice. The devil doesn't want us to
have any joy, but if God touches our hearts and reveals to us
the glory of this work of salvation, and if the Holy Spirit has applied
it to our hearts, so that we have the evidence that we are
amongst those for whom Christ died, yea rather he's risen again,
those for whom he has reserved a place in glory. What a mercy
then to be amongst those who are true believers, amongst those
who have been shown their unworthiness of any blessing, recognized their
sins deserving endless punishment, and yet having that good hope
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that he has loved
us with everlasting love and with loving kindness has drawn
us. Well, remember, he says, how
he spake unto you while he was yet in Galilee. It's good to
remember. Moses said, thou shalt remember
all the way. The Lord thy God has led thee these
40 years in the wilderness. where it's good for us today
to remember, and I hope we can, and if we can't, if we look into
our hearts and we can't find anything, then to pray unto God that he
would have mercy upon us. He will give us a good hope with
reference to our eternal state and that good hope is based,
not what we've done, but the hope is based on a risen saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy then that we today
can thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ. and to believe that he
is in glory there now, to intercede for our prayers. You think of
the Old Testament times, we weren't blessed with this wonderful privilege
like we are today. Yes, there was great ceremonies
to be carried out before there was that entering into the holy
place, we sing today for the great and glorious mercy of God. We can come to our God at any
time, in any place and to pray unto him and to seek for his
mercy and to seek for his grace and to seek for his love. Well, may we, if we can't today,
covet earnestly the best gifts. And the best gifts are the revelation
of Christ to our souls as our great and glorious Redeemer. We're not to covet the things
of time, but we are to covet the best gifts. And what a blessing
that the Lord gives us that great and true desire to earnestly
seek after him. and to seek that he will reveal
himself unto us as he is not to the world. And this is really
kept very simply in a crucified and risen Savior. And may the
blessed spirit make these truths over to us personally, so that
we do come confessing our sins. We do come a repenting of all
those things that we have done and seeking earnestly, the Lord
will forgive us our sins. Because we read in the epistle
of John, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then you see, we can look
forward humbly, and yet we bless in anticipation that because
Christ is risen from the dead, we shall in due time be with
him in glory, viewing him as the risen saviour and now to
bow down and worship him throughout eternity. Well, what a mercy
today if we have a hope therefore in a risen saviour. May this
day be a day of blessing for us. We got up this morning and Perhaps we'd be reminded of those
words that the early church used to address one to another on
this day. They said that Christ is risen
indeed. Oh yes, what good news that was
for the Church of God in those days. What good news it is for
us today. I hope it is good news for each
one of us. We can bless God today that Christ
is risen and bless God today if the glorious Saviour has looked
upon us and had mercy upon us and caused us to therefore rejoice
in his mercy toward us. See the Christian religion is
one that brings with it joy and rejoicing in the great and glorious
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we will never be tired
of hearing about it. The words of that hymn often
think it's so appropriate. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. That's quite a good test of the
reality of our religion, if you hear the name of Jesus, that
you prick your ears up, because it's good news. Because you love
to hear of the name of Jesus. And you love to hear about Jesus. You love to hear people speaking
about Jesus. And you love to be able to read
about Jesus. All these things, you see, direct
us to examine ourselves and to recognize that this is not something
that we produced, but it's by the blessed work of his spirit
who has brought into our hearts this good desire after the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. Oh, that's the
blessing for us, isn't it? Life eternal. You and I are passing
through time, which will soon be in eternity. What a mercy
it is for us each if we're found then with the risen Lord. Oh, what a wonderful day that
will be when by his grace we view him face to face without
a veil between. And it's not because of anything
that we're done, not of works, lest any man should boast. But we shall rejoice in that
great and glorious gift of his grace toward us. And so today, as we may perhaps
be searching for the saviour, these women, they came to find
the saviour. He wasn't there. He wasn't there. He was risen from the dead. What a mercy if we are searching
for the Saviour, searching for him, and that we may indeed be
wonderfully blessed to find him as our blessed Lord and Saviour. In that chapter that we read
together, when they remembered his words.
They returned from the sepulchre and told all these things until
11, until all the rest." Well, were all these words received
by the people? No, it seemed to them as idle
tales. Yes, very strange, isn't it?
To really touch a situation like that. So don't always be surprised
when people may not receive the words that you say, and they
may think, oh, I'm not sure if I receive that. Well, you stand
before God. Like these women, they stood
before God. They knew what they'd seen in
the course they were many times in, when the blessed savior did
come and appear to people before he ascended into glory. Well, the disciples, they had
not really listened. And what that means is they had
not really believed the great truths concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ until after he had been risen from the dead. Well, may
we today listen to his words, remember his words, and be given
grace to believe his words. It is a great blessing then to
remember his words. They remembered his words. Again,
as I spoke, we shall, Israel were told to remember all the
way the Lord their God had led them. And it's good for us today,
if we can remember what God has done for us. If God has given
us a hope in a risen saviour, Christ Jesus will then be precious
to us. Precious in his redeeming love. Precious to realize that he's
died to atone for our sins. Precious to believe that he hasn't
forsaken us. He's with us, going before us,
preparing the way. And as he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. This is a great and
glorious promise of the Saviour. Well may today be a blessing
to us, may we truly be taken up with the risen Christ, nothing
else will come anywhere near the blessing of this position. And so to read these words again,
He is not here, but is risen. Remember, it's good if you and
I remember, how He spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee,
saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful
men, and be crucified. And the third day rise again,
and they remembered his words. Amen.