The name of the message is, He
is Risen. Our text will be found in Luke 24 verses 1 to 12, but
I'd like us to look at chapter 23 first of all. So, for most
of us it will be on the same page. Or it might not be. For us to get the setting of
the message. Our Lord in chapter 23 has been bought before Pilate.
and then bought before Herod, and then Pilate had delivered
Him to be crucified. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
died at Calvary, He willingly laid down His life. He willingly
laid down His life for His sheep. And He has paid the price to
redeem His people from their sins. He willingly has given
up his life dying as our substitute and satisfying God's law and
justice for his people, the sinless one dying for sinners. The just one dying for the unjust. Just as Matthew 1.21 predicted
when the scripture declares, and she shall bring forth a son
and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. And this was accomplished at
Calvary's cross. When he cried, it is finished,
the work of redemption for his people was done. And we who believe
the gospel of God's grace, we trust wholly in the merits of
the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming work on Calvary's cross
for our salvation. We trust in nothing in ourselves,
We trust in none of our works. For our salvation we wholly rest
on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, trusting wholly in
the work and in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
at verse 50 of chapter 23. Here we see the boldness of Joseph
of Arimathea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, going before
Pilate and begging for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
burying it in his own tomb, wherein never a man before was laid.
The Scriptures declare, starting in verse 50, And behold, there
was a man named Joseph, a counselor, and he was a good man and a just
The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them.
He was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who also himself waited
for the kingdom of God. This man went on to Pilate and
begged the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped
it in linen and laid it in the sepulcher that was hewn in stone,
wherein never man before was laid." This is, we know over
in the book of John, that Nicodemus was also with
him. Nicodemus, who met the Lord at night in John chapter three,
who was also a member of the Sanhedrin, helped Joseph, because
over in John 19, 38 and 39, the scriptures declare this, and
after this Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, now
note that, but secretly for fear of the Jews, he sought Pilate
that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him
leave. He therefore, he came therefore and took the body of
Jesus, and there came also Nicodemus. Nicodemus came with him. It's
not mentioned here in Luke, but he's mentioned over in John 19.39.
Which at the first came to Jesus by night and bought a mixture
of myrrh and alloys and a hundred pound weight. Let's now read the last three
verses of chapter 23 because they tie into our text. And that
day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on, Luke 23.54.
And the woman also which came with him from Galilee, followed
after and beheld the sepulcher and how his body was laid. And
they returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested the
Sabbath day according to the commandment. And note here, beloved,
they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now, who
is the believer's rest? Who is the believer's rest? The
Lord Jesus Christ is the believer's rest. And these women rested
on the Sabbath day as they were commanded in the law of Moses.
They did not know that Christ, Jesus, our Lord, had perfectly
honored the law of God for them. They didn't know that. So they
still observed the Sabbath. And beloved, he's honored all
of God's law for all his people. In his life and in his death.
And this perfect rest that they had in Christ would be revealed
to them later. when the love of God was shed abroad in their
hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and their love for the
Savior is clearly manifested here in their determination to
anoint the body of Jesus with these costly spices. And beloved of God, their love
for the Savior would grow as they grew in the understanding
of the perfect finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for
His people, just as our love for the Lord grows as we grow
in grace. Let us consider this, that God
created everything in six days, and on the seventh day He rested
from all His works. And our Lord Jesus Christ, just
before our Lord Jesus Christ was laid down, His life for a
sheep, he cried out these precious words, it is finished. Finished. He laid down his life. Just before the beginning of
the Sabbath day, and this was purposed by God himself, showing
us that Jesus Christ, our Savior, entered into eternal rest. Eternal
rest. He had finished the work. He
had finished the work the Father had sent him to do. It is finished. And just as God ceased from his
own works of creation and rested on the seventh day, the Lord
Jesus Christ ceased from his own works and entered into eternal
rest. And every believer ceases from
our own works, don't we? When we enter into Christ, when
we believe on our Savior. We rest and trust in the finished
work of our blessed Redeemer. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, chapter 24 continues with
the account of these same women. After they had rested on the
Sabbath day, these women went to where he was buried and went
to the tomb of Jesus. And in verse 10, these women
were honored. Our Lord named them Mary Magdalene, Jonah, and
Mary, the mother of James. And again, these women were true
followers of Christ. And their love for Him was manifested
in the fact that they wanted to anoint His body. And they
had prepared these spices to anoint the body of Christ. Let's
look at chapter 24, verse 1. Now, upon the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher,
bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others
with them. Note the woman bought the costly spices. These spices
were not cheap. They were very, very costly,
which they had prepared. And they bought them to the place
where Joseph and Nicodemus had buried the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And remember, they're mourning
the death of Christ. They're mourning the death of
Christ. But again, here again, their love for him is manifested
in the early morning dedication to anoint his body with costly
spices which they had prepared," our text says, very early in
the morning. And as they approached the throne,
we know that they were a little apprehensive, and they probably
talked amongst themselves, and we see that over in Mark, it
says, and they said among themselves, who shall roll away the stone
from the door of the sepulcher, in Mark 16.3, so they were concerned
about who would roll away the stone for them. And look at Luke 24, verse 2.
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. They arrived at the tomb where
Jesus was buried, and the stone is rolled away. The stone is
rolled away. In Matthew 28 too, we read, there
was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat
upon it. The stone was rolled away by
the angel and Christ was risen, which shows us that the debt
for the sins of God's people has been paid in full. Death
could not hold Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
risen Redeemer, the surety of His people. It is Christ who
has taken upon Himself the sins of His people. They were imputed
to Him. And He bore them in His body on the tree. He suffered
and died for them, paying all that God demanded for the sins
of His people. And every believer can say, He
paid the price for every one of my sins. with the shedding
of his own precious blood. He did that for me. For me. He was laid as a prisoner in
the grave and now full satisfaction having been made, an angel is
sent from heaven to roll away the stone, thereby signifying
that the debt was fully paid. Fully paid. And he was now legally discharged.
God is satisfied. This is the one thing in preaching. Substitution and satisfaction. That's what the preacher desires
for you to understand. Substitution and satisfaction. Christ was the substitute for
his people on Calvary's cross. And not just on the cross, but
in his life. And satisfaction. God is absolutely
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. Not one of us in this
room could satisfy God's law and justice on our own. Not one.
Not one. Not even one iota of the law. Nothing. We couldn't pay for
one of our sins, beloved. Let alone the billions that we
commit in a lifetime. And Christ has paid the great
sin debt of His people. And it's paid in full. And God
is absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. Absolutely satisfied. God's justice is satisfied. God's
law is satisfied in the substitute. God's wrath has been appeased
in the sacrifice of Christ for His people. And Christ is raised
from the grave for our justification. And God's elect say, Hallelujah.
What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
my Lord. Look at verses 3 and 4. And they
entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus, And it
came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold,
two men stood by them in shining garments. These women before
us were timid and frightened, and they were godly women, yet
they were honored to be the first to receive the glorious news
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt they were
afraid, and whether we want to admit it or not, most of us would
be afraid too. We'd be just like them in that
situation as well. And our text proclaims that these
women were much perplexed. They were afraid. They were confused,
puzzled, filled with doubts and fears to what they were experiencing. But let us remember, beloved
of God, they were right where the providence of God, right
where our sovereign God had bought them. Weren't they? They were. It's not by chance
or luck that they're there. It's by the absolute sovereignty
of God. They were God's chosen instruments
to receive the message from the angels, the angel of God, the
message of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they
would carry the good news to the 11 apostles who would in
turn preach the good news to others, to others. Now, let us
for a moment consider the honor that God has bestowed upon us
right here in Almonte, Michigan. Let us consider for a moment
the honor that God has bestowed upon us right here in Almonte,
Michigan. He has given to us and entrusted to us the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has chosen us out of our
generation by His choosing and by His calling. We looked at
that last week in Sunday school in 1 Peter, our study in 1 Peter. We've been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God to not only receive the truth concerning
the perfect redeeming work of Christ our Redeemer for a particular
people, but to be instruments that He has chosen to tell the
gospel truth to others. To others. What is the gospel
truth we believe? We believe that Jesus Christ
is the eternal Son of God. We believe that Jesus Christ
became a man so that He could lay down His life for our sins. We believe that Jesus Christ
obtained eternal redemption for His chosen people. We believe
that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead according to the Holy
Scriptures, and that He was raised for our justification, for our
justification. We believe that Jesus Christ
has entered into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence
of God for us. He's our mediator right now.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest who
is seated on His throne in heaven, making intercession for His chosen
people, those He redeemed, purchased with His own precious blood.
We believe that Jesus Christ is our risen sovereign Lord who
rules and reigns over the whole universe and everything in it. We believe that Jesus Christ
is our blessed surety who gives eternal life to all those who
were given to him by God the Father in the eternal covenant
of grace. And we believe that he is our
blessed surety and that he will not allow any for whom he bled
and died for to perish. He keeps us, He saves us, and
He keeps us, beloved. And we believe that we were raised
together with Jesus Christ and have been made to sit in heavenly
places in Him. And we believe that we are complete
in Christ. Complete in Him. It's all about
what He's done. It's all His merit. Oh my. And we believe the words of the
risen Savior who said, because I live, ye shall live also. And we believe when Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him
in glory. Why do we believe the truths
of the gospel? Because one of God's messengers,
one of his chosen instruments, declared the good news to us.
But it was God Himself, God the Holy Spirit, who made those truths
effectual in our hearts. It's His work. It's His work. By God's divine providence, we
were right where He ordained us to be when we heard the Gospel. We were right where He ordained
us to be when we heard the Gospel. When we heard the Gospel of His
amazing grace, And by the quickening power of God, the Holy Spirit,
who enlightened our minds to the truth of the gospel, we believe
God. And by His Spirit working on
us, we have the honor of telling others who Jesus Christ is, and
what He has done for His chosen people, and what a great honor
this is, beloved God. Let us never forget that. What
a great honor this is. May God help us to understand
just how much of an honor it is. Oh my. And those two men in shining
garments were God's elect angels, His messengers sent from heaven
to speak to those frightened women. Let us continue in our
text in verses 5 to 8 and listen to the message proclaimed in
these verses. And as they were afraid and bowed
down their faces to the earth, They said unto them, Why seek
ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. How He spake 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 look, and they remembered
His word. The angel proclaimed to them,
why seek you the living among the dead? Our Lord is a living,
risen Savior. And God's preachers proclaim
this every week, don't we? Not just once a month, once a
year. We proclaim this every week. Every week. Our living Lord was not in the
tomb. He was not dead and buried in the grave, beloved of God.
He arose. He was no longer in the place
where they buried the dead. He was no longer in the graveyard. He wasn't among the dead. You could even take that and
say he wasn't among the dead spiritually anymore either, was
he? No. No. He's living. And he's risen. He was buried in the tomb of
a rich man. In Isaiah 53.9 it says, Christ made His grave with
the wicked and with the rich in His death. He had now risen. Our Lord was
not in the tomb. The tomb is empty. And we are
not to seek our risen Lord, the true and living God among the
dead. He dwells in the hearts of His people. And where two
or three are gathered together, In His name, He's pleased to
meet with them. Don't seek Him where the gospel
is not being preached. He doesn't dwell on the hearts
of false religionists. He's not meeting with those who
preach a false gospel. He's not meeting with the self-righteous
religionists who seeks to be justified by their own works. Don't seek Him in those spiritually
dead religious organizations where the Lord Jesus Christ is
blatantly denied and dishonored. He isn't there. Those who worship God must worship
Him in spirit and in truth and listen to the angelic messenger
and what they said to these dear women who love the Lord. Why
seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here, but He's risen. Remember how He spake 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. These angels were true messengers
of God, and they did not say, take our word for it, did they? They didn't say that, did they? No, they reminded the woman what
the Lord Jesus Christ himself had said to them. Let's say it to the Lord. This is our authority. What does
the Word of God say? I don't want man's opinion, neither
do you, do you? You who love the Lord. We don't
want man's opinion. We don't want men yoking us in
bondage. What does the Word of God say? Oh, praise God, it says
I'm complete in Him. What? That's that's a wonderful.
That's wonderful. Says he's risen. He's he's not
among the dead. He's he's among the living. My goodness. He is not here, but it's risen.
Remember how he spake 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. So the true messenger from God
knows that it's not man's word that sets the prisoner free.
It's not man's words. God's preachers just proclaim
the truth of the scripture. We give the report. Isaiah said,
who hath believed our report? We proclaim what God has said. It's not man's words that set
the prisoner free. The truth of the scriptures,
it's the Lord Jesus who makes the word of God effectual. And
we know this as the Lord himself said, he shall know the truth
and the truth shall what? Make you free. It'll make you
free. So we must preach the truth.
Gospel preachers must preach the truth. We must take our hearers
right into the inspired word of God. And we must say to you,
thus saith the Lord. This is what the Lord says. It's
not my opinion. This is what the Lord says. I
believe it. By God's grace, I believe it.
But it's what the Lord says. Thus saith the Lord. God is the only one who can make
the truth effectual. But gospel preachers, we must
preach the truth over and over and over again. And it's wondrous. It's wondrous. From the lips of Jesus Christ
himself, these women had heard the truth concerning his death
and burial and resurrection. He had told them himself what
the angel declared. The Lord said, the Son of Man
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,
and on the third day rise again. And this is what is brought forth
before us in our text. Now note verse 8, and they remembered
his words. They had forgotten those precious
words from our Lord. The reason for coming to the
place where they laid the Lord Jesus Christ was not in joyful
anticipation of His glorious resurrection, which He had told
them about, but to anoint His body. Instead of being filled
with joyful praises to God and believe in the truths that had
been told to them by Christ Himself, they went into the tomb worried
about who would roll the stone away. And their hearts and their minds
were filled with fears and doubts. Now before we could say, how could this happen? How could
they forget? Let us remember that we are prone
to forget too, beloved. This is why we come to the Lord's
table every month to remember what the Lord has done for us.
This is why we are to keep ourselves under the preaching of the gospel.
This is why we need to hear the gospel truth proclaimed to us
over and over and over again. We are prone to forget. We are
prone to forget these wondrous gospel truths. and what the Lord has done for
us. So the Lord's table is a reminder every month for us. The gospel
being preached is a reminder all the time for us of the wondrous
things that Christ has done for us. For us. We constantly are reminded of
the unspeakable gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
eternal life which only comes through him. Our God is just and the justifier
of those who believe on Christ. And we are to keep looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We continue in
the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which we've heard. And beloved, we're kept
by the power of God. We're kept by Him. And he has
the gospel preached to us time and time and time again. It's wonderful. I listened to
a few messages this week, and it's just wonderful to hear the
gospel proclaimed to my soul. It's wonderful. I get to study
the word of God all the time, but it's nice to hear, too, to
hear men preach it to me. It's wonderful. We preachers
love the conferences because we get to sit and listen too,
just as sheep, just like everyone else, and soak in these gospel
truths. It's precious. It's absolutely
precious. It's wonderful. And we're reminded
constantly that we're sinners and that we need a Savior desperately.
And we're reminded that we who believe are complete in Christ. The heavenly messengers reminded
these honored women of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
they remembered His words, verse 8 says. Right here before us,
their soul has been turned to joy. Turned to joy. They were no longer perplexed.
They were no longer filled with fears and doubts. And this is
true of all, all of God's people. Every time we hear the gospel,
the true gospel of God's amazing grace, our doubts and fears,
what happens? They melt away, don't they? And
we're comforted. That's why we love to get together
and hear the Word of God preached. Because for this time, our doubts
and fears just fade away, don't they? And we focus upon our King. And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Every time we hear the true gospel
of God's amazing grace, our doubts and fears melt away like the
morning frost from the bright morning rays of the sun. Ever
seen a frost first thing in the morning? And what happens is,
as the sun gets stronger, it just melts away. And that's how
our doubts and fears go when we hear the gospel, when we're
sitting together. They just melt away, don't they?
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And note, they returned right
away from the sepulcher. Look at verses 9 and 10. And
returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the
eleven and to the rest. And it was Mary Magdalene, Jonah,
and Mary, the mother of James, and other women that were with
them, which told these things unto the apostles. Beloved, these
women were filled with joy and wonder. Filled with joy at the
wonderful truth. And it overwhelmed them. They
were filled with heartfelt praise and joy for the Savior. He'd risen from the grave and that precious truth had turned
their soul into joy. And they ran! They ran to tell
the eleven. Oh my! They were so overwhelmed
with joy that they couldn't keep that joy to themselves. They went right away to the eleven
apostles. They were filled with joy over
the unsearchable riches of Christ. And that was more precious to
them than anything of worldly value. And we do not know if
they left the costly prepared spices and ointments, but it
appears from our text that they could not wait to tell the others
the good news. They couldn't wait. They couldn't
wait to tell the apostles of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, verses 8 and 9. Look at this. It shows us how
quickly they left. Matthew 28, verses 8 and 9. And
they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great
joy. They were overwhelmed, beloved.
They were filled with great joy. They just wanted to tell. They
wanted to run and tell the apostles. And did, and look at this, and
did run to bring his disciples' words. They didn't just stand
around, they took right off. They ran. They ran. And as they went to tell His
disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And they
came and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him. Then said
Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell My brethren that they
go into Galilee, and there they shall see Him. And notice what
He says to them there. Be not afraid. Isn't that wonderful? We have a fear of God, don't
we? But it's not a slavish fear. It's a reverent fear. It's a
reverent fear of who God is and His holiness. But let these words
sink into your heart that we can approach the throne of grace
and of glory. Just like Mephibosheth, remember?
He said, they went and they fetched him and they brought him before
David and he thought, I'm dead. I'm dead. And David's words to
him were, fear not. The Lord says to these women,
be not afraid. My, my. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. They had heard the truth concerning
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the angels,
and they remembered His words. They remembered the words of
Christ, He whom they had seen with their own eyes, He who they
had heard with their own ears. They've had to reveal to Him
that Christ has risen. And they are quickly heading
back to tell the apostles and to tell others this wonderful
news. They want to share the good news with their brothers
and sisters in Christ. And let us remember the apostles
had heard these words. Turn if you would to Matthew
17, verses 22 and 23. Don't forget the apostles had
heard these words. which the angels declared to
the women from Christ himself. Look at this. In verse 22, And
while they were bowed and gallied, Jesus said unto them, The Son
of Man shall be betrayed unto the hands of men, and they shall
kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they
were exceedingly sorry. So the Lord Jesus Christ had
told the apostles this himself. No doubt there were others around
too that had heard these words as well. So they want to share the good
news with the apostles. They want to share the words
that the angels had told them that Christ Himself had declared
to them, too. The woman declared to the apostles what the angel had told them,
reminding them of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning
His death, burial, and resurrection. And they proclaimed to them,
the women proclaimed to the apostles, that the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ was not in the sepulcher. And that Jesus Christ, our Lord,
had risen from the grave. Now this is what the true believer
in Christ does. We proclaim the wondrous things
that Christ has done for us. Not just because the preacher
says it, but because God has opened our spiritually blind
eyes and our deaf ears, and we're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. And we proclaim the wondrous
things that Christ has done for us. And through the eye of God-given
faith, we have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
With the ears of the heart, we have heard His voice speaking
the words of truth to us. We've experienced the miracle
of the new birth. And you know that the same power,
the same power that was used to raise the Lord Jesus Christ
from the grave. is the same power that raises
us when we're dead in trespasses and sins. And then we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. The same power is exercised. You who believe are miracles
of the grace of God in Christ. And it's all by God's power.
All by God's power. Now note, the women were not
the only ones who had forgotten Christ's words. Look at verse
11. So they go and they proclaim to the apostles, those who had
heard Christ's own words that we looked at in Matthew, and look at what verse 11 proclaims. They had forgotten too. And their words seemed to them
as idle tales, and they believed them not. The words, the true testimony
from these women seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed
not. These are the eleven apostles
who had been with our Lord throughout His public ministry. They had
not only heard Him say, the Son of Man must be delivered into
the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and after the third
day rise again, but they had also witnessed His power. They
had witnessed power and performing miracle after miracle after miracle. And it says here, and their words
seem to them as idle tales. And they believe them not. They were men who had witnessed
the wind and the sea obeying his command when he said, peace,
be still. They had seen the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself raise the dead. Yet the truth concerning the
resurrection of Jesus Christ seemed as idle tales to them.
Nothing but madness and nonsense. Make-believe words, and they
believe them not. Now think of this. In light of
this right here, it would have been awful hard for them to be
hard on Thomas, wouldn't it? Remember Doughton Thomas? Something just from reading this
makes me think that they weren't very hard on Thomas at all when
Thomas doubted. Because look what we have right
here before us. Oh my. Thomas said, except I should
see in his hands the prints of the nails and put my finger in
the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will
not believe. But when the Lord revealed himself to Thomas, he
answered and said unto them, my Lord and my God. And that's
what we do. That's what we do. All those
who have been enlightened by God the Holy Spirit will fall
down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ with true and genuine
worship in praise to Him. We'll echo the words of the Apostle
Thomas, my Lord and my God. Now let us consider verse 12
and look what happens now. Then arose Peter and ran into
the sepulcher and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid
by themselves and departed wondering in himself at that which was
come to pass. Turn if you would to John chapter
20 verses 4 to 8. John tells us in his account
of this event that he outran Peter and got to the sepulcher
first. I could imagine these two just
running. just running as fast as they possibly could. Look at John 20 verses 4 to 8.
And he, John, snooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes
lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following
him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie
in the napkin. that was about his head, not
lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place
by itself. Then went in also that other
disciple John, which came first to the sepulcher. And he saw,
and he believed. Even though these truths seemed
as idle tales when told to the apostles by the woman, Peter
and John took off on a dead run. to see for themselves what these
women had told them. And look at verse 12 again. Then
arose Peter and ran into the sepulcher and stooped down and
beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed wondering
in himself at that which was come to pass. Now Peter and John also saw our
Lord's linen clothes, his grave clothes, and when they stepped
into that tomb, they were neatly and carefully folded in place
by themselves. These grave clothes were tokens,
left as tokens of his lowest state, beloved. As he had walked
on this earth, God himself had humbled himself and became a
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a man, he wore the clothing
of a man. And these linen clothes remind
us of our Lord's lowest state, how He left the glories and splendors
of heaven when He humbled Himself and took upon Him the form of
a servant and was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. And these linen clothes were
also tokens of His fellowship with us in our lowest state,
in our lowest state. These grave clothes were left
behind to remind us that our Lord has cast off the garments
of death. He's cast off the garments that
he's risen from the grave. He's risen from the grave. And
when we are delivered from this body of death, we will cast off
our earthly garments, beloved. And we'll forever be dressed
in the wedding garment, the righteousness of Christ. the righteousness
of Christ Jesus our Lord, our risen Savior and our Redeemer. Brethren, Jesus Christ is every
believer's joy. He's every believer's joy. We
rejoice in the life that He lived, don't we? Because we know that
He lived for us. He lived as our substitute. His perfect life of obedience
is ours. It's accounted to us. And we
rejoice when He died upon the cross for us. And we know that
He paid the awful penalty for our sins. And we know that His death perfectly
satisfied the holy justice of God. Perfectly. That's why our
Savior cried, it is finished. There's nothing for you to do
and there's nothing for me to do. Because he did it all. It's finished. And we who are the people of
God rejoice, we're amazed. We're amazed at this precious
truth. His death perfectly satisfied,
the holy justice of God, I mean it perfectly satisfied. And remember,
not one of us in this room, saved or lost, not one of us in this
room could satisfy God's justice for one of our sins. Not even one. And Christ dies upon Calvary's
cross as a substitute of his people. And he fully satisfies
that justice and that law of God, which we never could. And he satisfied the justice
of God. Now, let this sink in, beloved,
for every one of your sins who believe and for every one of
my sins. There's not one that's left unpaid. Not one. All my sins, past, present, and
future are forgiven. This is amazing grace. This is
a wonder of salvation. And this is why Christ is the
believer's joy. Does that not fill your heart
as a believer with joy to know that right now, while I'm upon
this earth, all my sins are forgiven? Again, that doesn't give us a
license to go crazy, does it? No, the love of Christ constrains
us from sin, doesn't it? We're sinners, but we're safe
sinners. But I often sit and ponder the wonder of it, the
wonder of the fact that every single one of my sins are forgiven
in Christ. It's amazing. And again, people
often say, well, how can you say all your future sins? Because
every one of my sins at Calvary's Cross was future. He died for me 2,000 years ago. He rose from the grave for me
2,000 years ago to show that God was satisfied with that price
that was paid that Christ satisfied God. And He, by His death, perfectly
satisfied the holy justice of God, enabling God to be just
and justifier of all who believe, of all who trust in Christ. Isn't
it wondrous? It's amazing. And beloved, we
rejoice in the resurrected life of Christ. We rejoice that our
Lord is a risen Savior. that He is now seated at the
right hand of the Father, because we know where He is, we're soon
being, right? Because He's the head and we're
the body, and where the head is, the body soon falls, right?
Oh my. I hath not seen nor ear heard
the things that God hath prepared for those that love Him. Oh my. We rejoice in our resurrected
Savior. And we know that because He lives,
we shall live also. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee for the wondrous truth, the wondrous truth of our Savior.
You, Lord Jesus, is a resurrected Savior. The tomb is empty. The
tomb is empty. Our sins are forgiven. God's
justice and law is satisfied, but only by Thy work, Lord, only
by what You've done for Your people. Oh, we pray, Lord, that
you would draw your lost sheep to thee, that you would grant
them faith to believe, that you would regenerate them by thy
Holy Spirit as you see pleased. We love you, we who are the redeemed,
we who are purchased by thy precious blood, love you and praise you.
May our lips be filled with joy and may our hearts be filled
with joy as we leave this place, rejoicing in the wonder of salvation
that has been wrought out for us by you, Lord Jesus, and by
you alone. Glory to thy name, in Jesus'
name we pray, amen.