If you will, turn with me to
Luke chapter 24. Last chapter in the book of Luke. I don't know, I can't say what
people hear and don't hear, but to me this study in Luke has
been a very profitable study. I've enjoyed every bit of it
from start to finish and now we're down on the last chapter. My subject this morning is things
left behind. Things left behind. Let's read
these verses together. Luke chapter 24 beginning with
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. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulcher. 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. 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's not here. He's risen. Remember how he spoke
unto you when he was yet with you 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
the words. And returned from the sepulchre
and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
and Mary the mother of James and other women that were with
them which told these things unto the apostles. And their
words seemed to them as idle tales. And they believed them
not. Then arose Peter, ran unto 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. Now in the first twelve verses
of this chapter, the apostle Luke writes about what the saints
who went to seek the Lord at the tomb of Christ. He was dead. They saw him die. Some followed him to the sepulcher
to see where he was laid. He was dead, and they knew it. But they went there, not on the
Sabbath, but on the first day of the week, and when they got
there, the stone was rolled down. And he writes here about what
the saints who went to the tomb of Jesus Christ found. They didn't find him, but they
found some things. They had not as yet seen the
resurrected Christ, though that's what prompted them to go there. And those who are true disciples
will all at some point be laid to the grave where he was buried. You're going to be led to it
in your study. You're going to be led to it in the Word of God.
You're going to be led to it through the preaching of the
Gospel. And if you're one of His, you're going to be led to
it through the experience of grace. You're going to go there.
You're going to go there. And all those who do will find
exactly what these beloved saints found, things left behind. What did those who sought our
Lord find? when they went to his grave.
Well, let me give you at least six things. The first thing they
found was a tomb with no body. He was empty. He was empty of
a body. Mary Magdalene was the first
to go, and he found his tomb vacant. And she went to Peter
and the other disciples and said, they've taken away the Lord out
of the sepulcher, and we know not where He is. She blamed it
on the Jews. They hated him so much that they
figured that they came and got his body, and who knows what
they did with it. Those who will seek the Lord will be drawn to
the sepulcher, but they won't find the Lord in it. He's not
here. That's the message. He's not
here. He's risen. And I have no doubt
that the tomb where he was laid still exists. It was carved out
of stone. Unless it's been excavated and
crushed into powder, it's still there, that tomb. But the body of Jesus Christ
is not there. I wonder sometimes, it was a
tomb, a personal tomb for Joseph of Arimathea. I wonder, as I
studied this, you reckon after the Lord was raised, that Joseph
had himself buried in that tomb. Boy, wouldn't it be something?
Wouldn't it be something? Because we do spiritually lay
in that same tomb where he was buried, don't we? We're buried
with him. But whether it's still there
or not, it'll spiritually be the same, a grave with nobody
in it. Thus, I think, prompted the old
Negro spiritual Ain't no grave gonna hold this body down. And
there's not that's gonna hold his, and there's not that's gonna
hold his saints. One day they're gonna rise. Our
Lord said this to his apostle Paul, Old grave, where is thy
victory? Huh? Old death, where is thy
sting? Old grave, where is thy victory?
Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's an established fact
that Jesus died on the cross, was taken down, wrapped in linen
cloth, and laid in a tomb. He's laying there in heavenly
rest, having finished the work the Father gave him to do, fulfilled
the Sabbath. We rest in Him. He rested. He did what he came to do, and
he laid down and he rested. And we rest in him. And we can
go to the tomb and rest. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth
and said, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus
judge, or we thus understand, that if one died for all, then
all were dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know
we no man after the flesh, yet though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." We worship
a living Christ, not a dead Christ. That's what Paul's saying. I
knew him one time. He was probably just a young
man. May have even heard him speak, I don't know. But he knew
him after the flesh. But now he said, I don't know
him that way anymore. He's risen. He's even at the
right hand of God. And he tells us, it's sown a
natural body. It's raised a spiritual body. They found the tomb, but they
found no body in it. Secondly, they found the savor
of a sweet perfume. Why don't you just think about
this for a minute. Here they are. There's a company of them,
several of them. And they got spices with them.
Why? Why? Because dead men stink.
That's why. Anything dead is going to smell.
Something dies in your yard, you don't just leave it outside
your window. You get rid of it. Why? Because you don't want to
smell it. And they brought spices with them. In John's account
of the burial of Christ, he tells us that Nicodemus brought a hundred
pound weight of myrrh and aloes. A hundred pounds. How many sacks
of potatoes is that? That's a lot, isn't it? A hundred pounds. Heavier than
a bag of cement. And unlike what Martha said,
by now he stinketh, and no doubt that's the reason they brought
these spices with them. But when they kneeled down to
peek into that tomb, the savor of that spice must have just
been overwhelming. You think about it, a little
old tomb, a hundred pounds of myrrh and alchemy. When he wrapped
his body in the linen cloth, John said they layered it with
spices as they wrapped him. They layered it with these spices.
And he was and he is a sweet saver to God in them that are
saved and in them that perish. Either way, he's a sweet saver
unto God. His work is official whether
you believe it or whether you don't. Whether you're saved and
enter into glory or whether you die and go to hell, either way
doesn't affect the work of Christ. He's a sweet smelling saver unto
God. One hymn writer wrote these words,
Why should we tremble to convey these bodies to the tomb? There
the dear flesh of Jesus lay and left a long perfume. Oh, how sweet. God has filled
the graves of all his saints with a sweet perfume left behind
by the resurrected Christ. We're buried with him, raised
again to walk in newness of life. May the Holy Ghost this morning
just overwhelm us with the sweet savor of the death and resurrection
of Christ. Oh, my soul. Death has a smell
about it, unmistakable aroma that surrounds the area where
they lay, but not so for God's saints. When we look into the
tomb of our hope, we smell the sweet perfume of an empty grave. What else did they find that
our Lord left in the tomb? They found grave clothes. Grave
clothes. He left us these clothes as a
token of His being made one with us. God can't die and man can't
satisfy, but the God-man both died and satisfied. He left these
clothes. What need does God have of clothes? He don't need clothes. God is
spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and truth. He didn't have any need of clothes.
He wore clothes because He clothed Himself in human flesh. And once he raised from the dead,
he had no need of clothes. He folded them up and left them
lay. It was a token of his being made
one with us and his fellowship with us even unto death. And
we need not fear our dying dress, for we shall soon lay it aside
just like he did. Another reason why they're left
behind and folded neatly They're like an honored flag,
like an ensign to show his victory over death. He left these clothes. You see those clothes and you
know that he had victory over the tomb. Or maybe as a token
of the righteous dress he leaves behind for his saints. Maybe
that's why. These were linen cloths, white
linen, sweetly perfumed. And then the fourth thing they
found left by our Lord was a linen napkin that was wrapped about
his head. The scripture calls it a napkin.
If you look it up, it's a piece of cloth that they wound around
his head. John chapter 20, verse 7. And
they found it not with the other clothes, but wrapped together
or folded in a place by itself. Wasn't with the other club. Well,
what's this folded napkin all about? I believe it's talking
about the sovereign power and exaltation of the resurrected
Christ. When he died, he died as the
head of the body, the church. He said, I have power to lay
down my life and I have power to take it up again. He's the
head. He's the head. It shows that he was not stolen
away in the middle of the night, as these unbelieving Jews paid
people to say, they came in the middle of the night, snooky man. And if that were true, they no
doubt wouldn't have bothered to unwrap his body or his headpiece. And when our Lord was awakened
from the sleep of death, he unhurriedly took off his grave clothes. He
was in no hurry. At the exact time that God purposed
before the world began, he arose from the dead, just like he told
them he would, sat there on that stone where they laid him, and
took off those clothes, and he didn't throw them on the floor,
he folded them neatly and laid them right where he wants to
lay. And then he took off his headpiece
and laid it down. He's the head of the body. He's
the head of all principality and power, and his headpiece,
as it is upon his head, deserves a place all to itself. Paul said, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But
now, now, he said, is Christ risen from the dead and become
the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Jesus Christ
is the resurrection. Isn't that what he told Martha?
She said, I know he'll be raised from the dead and elect. He said,
Martha, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection. And I
am the life. To believe on him is to pass
from death unto life. The Spirit spake through John
in the last days, and he said, Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power. And what a token promise is this
folded napkin. One man said, It is the handkerchief
with which God shall wipe away all tears. Isaiah said, Thy dead men shall
live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust. Who's that? That's the dead.
To dust thou shalt return. Awake, he said. You sing about
this. And then 50, when the saints
were seeking Christ in a tomb, they found angels. instead of
Christ. Angels are they who minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation. And at the place of
his burial they appeared as men. As men, I read it to you. Luke
24 forward, and it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout,
behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. There were
two of them. Why? Everything going to be established
in the mouth of two or three witnesses. There was actually
three. The angel of God was sitting
on the stone outside that he'd rolled back. And oh, what a message. A 25-second message. He said,
why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. And the first thing you run into
when seeking the Lord and perplexed about his death is a minister.
Is that right? You can read it for yourself,
but that's what the Bible teaches. That's the first thing you're
going to do. You're going to come to a minister. He's going
to confront you. He's going to bring you to him
and bring him to you. And he's going to arrange the
meeting, and you're going to deal with him, and he's going
to tell you what you need to hear. He not he. Now if you're
seeking things, things are here. But if you're seeking Him, and
that's where salvation is in a person, He's not here. And
you're not going to find the living among the dead. His ministers, be they angels
or men, will point you to the Word of God. First thing they
said to these women, you remember the words that He told you? Huh? You recall reading that? You
recall hearing that? Oh. The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. Now listen, and they remembered
His words. He's not here. You won't find
Him lying in a tomb, lying on a bed of some old tradition or
resting in cold, dry theology. He's not here. He's risen. He's the message of ministers
sent of God and all the pilgrimages that people do to the holy lands
and turn to old places where the apostles once prayed. He's
not here. He's risen. He's risen. And those who go
seeking the Lord from the heart will always be shut up to God's
ministers. Always. This world would have
been swallowed up with the lies that antichrist religion paid
foolish men to tell. But God won't leave the death
of his son to be reasoned out by fallen men or religious hucksters. He's going to send a messenger
to tell them the truth. In the graveyard of this world,
God has provided witnesses, ministers sent of God with the good news
of the resurrected Christ. And then sixthly, our Lord left
behind in his tomb. You go to that tomb, you're looking
for him, you don't find him, but you find grave clothes. You
find a sweet savior. You find all these things. And
the last thing you find is an open door. What if he had no need of a door? He's God. He could walk right
through that stone like it wasn't there. He's God. He's up in glory right now, but
he's appeared to men. He appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration,
didn't he? Quiet and blistering. He made
several appearances in the Old Testament before he was ever
born of man. He ain't no need of a door. That
door has to do with you and I. It don't have to do with him.
And he left behind an open door. What if he left it sealed? Then
we'd be shut up to the lies of men. But he didn't leave a sealed
door. He left it open. A door that can only be opened
by God himself. God sent down. There was a time
when the Apostle Paul was accused of things that he didn't do.
He was accused of preaching a false doctrine and this and that and
the next thing, and anything popped into their head, they
accused him of. If you accuse somebody of it, now there's a
question mark on them. And so then, down the road, they
brought him into judgment, and he let them know in no uncertain
terms he was a Roman citizen. You didn't take a Roman citizen
and put him in prison, especially if you were a Jew. He had rights as a Roman citizen. But they wrongly had him incarcerated,
and so they come to him secretly, and they said, we're going to
let you out. He said, no, you ain't. You ain't letting me out. I want
to appear before the judge. Huh? You accuse me falsely, you're
not going to let me out under that pretense. You're going to
let me out justified. Justified. That's what this rolled
back stone is all about. The justification of God's saints.
He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He laid in that
tomb being killed for us in our room instead. And God raised
Him from the dead declaring our justification in Christ. This open door has actually three
applications. First of all, it's a way into
the tomb. I can look into the tomb where
one day I'll lay. I can see what will befall a
dead saint. And let me tell you what happens.
He just rests. Isn't that what our Lord did?
He didn't decay. If he didn't corrupt, he lay right there in
that tomb until God raised him from the dead. He lay there and
slept. When they asked him about Lazarus, he said, don't worry
about Lazarus, he sleepeth. When you open that door to the
tomb and look in, that's where you're going to be one day, in
that tomb. Well, what's my hope? My hope
is I'm going to rest in that tomb until God tells me to come
out of it. And He will according to His
promise. Secondly, this open door was a source of light. Without an open door, there would
have been no light in that. Nobody. We'd all been sitting
around debating back and forth and arguing this and that, and
the next thing about the death of Christ. But when He fills
that tomb full of light, you can see what's in there. Can't
you? And you can see that He ain't
in there. Oh, my soul. He fills that burial
chamber with light. They saw where he laid. They
saw the folded clothes. They saw the angelic ministers. That blessed light that God shines
in the empty grave of his son. And then the third application,
that door is a way out. He could have walked through
the wall, but he didn't. He walked through the door that God opened.
And that's how you'll come out of there. And that's the only
way you'll come out of there, is you're going to come out through
the door that God opens. Christ said, I'm the door. I'm
the door. He will not then be secretly
removed from the tomb, but God himself will send down an angel
to roll back the stone and leave ministers there to testify of
it, and he will himself appear to his people and stay on this
earth an additional 30 days to establish his resurrection and
to declare what it means. Why we need to study these things? Why would God leave us such a
witness? Beloved, it's for this reason, no saint has any reason
to fear the grave. You've got no reason. You might
fear the process of death. Who knows what that's gonna be?
But we don't fear death. And if you really believe and
trust God, you won't even fear the process. It'll be for his
glory and your good and the good of his people. May the Lord give
us all an understanding of these things. Thank you.