Turning now in our Bible to the
book of Luke, the gospel given by Luke. And I want to bring
the message from the first five or six verses from Luke 24. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 6. And I love the message of these
angels unto these women. Verse 5, the last part, The living among the dead, or
the marginal reference has, him that liveth. Him that liveth. Why would you seek him that liveth
among the graves, the dead men? He is not here. He is not here. But he's risen. Remember how
he spake to you while he was yet with you. And then in another
reading in Matthew and Mark, the angel said, you come and
see the place. The tomb is empty where his body
did lay at one time. So the title of the message,
he's not here, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, not in the grave,
not in the tomb, he is risen. Risen from the dead, he that
liveth. And was dead, he said, behold,
I'm alive forevermore. Now these two messengers from
heaven declared unto these faithful women, but fearful women, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's no longer dead. His body,
though dead, now indeed is raised from the dead. by the almighty
power of God. You see, He is declared to be
the Son of God by the Holy Spirit. He is declared to be the Son
of God by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1, verse 3. Romans 4, 25 declares He was
delivered from our offenses and raised again because He justified
us. Justified us. Now, we can be
assured Because we believe the Word of the Lord. The tomb is
empty. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen
from the dead. Now, let me ask you a very important
question. What does that mean to you and
to me? What does His resurrection, the
implications of that, that He's risen from the dead and ascended
to glory and seated in the heavenlies, what does that mean for us? Well,
several things. I could spend the rest of the
morning talking about it, but I've written down a few things
here. First of all, it means that sin
has been put away. Sin has been put away. He made
atonement for all our sin. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. It
means that He put away our sin. It means that He redeemed us
from our sin by His own blood. It means that He obtained eternal
redemption for us with His own blood. Secondly, It means that
righteousness has been established. Righteousness has been established
for us. Now he died not to make himself
righteous, he died to make us righteous. Now here's this verse,
2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So sin has been put away, Righteousness
has been established. Thirdly, the law of God has been
satisfied. The law of God has to be satisfied. God just can't bypass His law. His law is holy and just and
good. The law of God says the guilty
must die. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
that penalty of that law. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem us from under that curse
of the law. The law had been satisfied. The
redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He purposed to do,
it means His resurrection And ascension to glory means the
work the Father gave Him to do is finished, complete, to God's
complete satisfaction. Some people in religious circles
have the question, are you satisfied with Jesus? You ever heard them
say that? Are you satisfied with Jesus? Well, you know, that's
not the real important question. The real important question is,
is God satisfied with the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ? If God is satisfied and He's
given you faith, you will be satisfied in Christ. The Lord prayed, I finished the
work the Father gave me to do. Now glorify me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
His resurrection declares God is satisfied, the work of redemption
is finished, and all to the glory of God. The fifth thing, what
does his resurrection mean to me? It means that we have a hope
of resurrection. This dead body, the Lord says
this, thy dead men shall live together again with my dead body
shall they arise. Boy, that's good news, is it
not? When we take our dear loved ones who are believers out to
the cemetery and place their body in the grave, we do so with
a hope of what? Resurrection. One day we'll have
a new body just like his, a real body. We won't be spirits floating
around on the cloud plucking a harp. We'll have a real body
like unto the Lord's real body. He said, Behold my hand and my
side, it is I. He said, A spirit hath not flesh
and bones as you see me have. He came forth a real man and
we'll have a real body just like the Lord Jesus Christ to enjoy
Him forever. Now the messenger from heaven
says, The living among the dead, the
Lord is enthroned, exalted to the right hand of God in total
absolute victory. Seek the Lord where He is right
now. Where is the Lord right now?
Don't seek the living among the dead. Seek the Lord where He
is right now on the throne of glory. Now let me show you a
couple of verses and you'll find a book of Hebrews. Turn over
there if you will. Find the book of Hebrews chapter
4. Seeing then, verse 14, Hebrews 4, 14, seeing then that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was all points tempted like as we are yet without
sin. Seeing that we have a great high
priest, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need in Him." Turn over a couple of pages, look over at chapter
9 verse 24, "...for Christ did not enter into the holy places
made with hand, which are figuratively true, But into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Seek mercy where
mercy is found in the enthroned Lord of glory. Turn to one more
reference in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. Turn over there,
verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising his shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God." Would you seek forgiveness? Would you seek mercy? Would you
seek righteousness? Would you seek salvation and
pardon from all sin? Well, go to the law. Oh, no. There's no mercy there. No mercy
there. We'll go to the ceremonies of
religion. There's no salvation there. You need mercy, yes. You need salvation, yes. You
need forgiveness of sin, yes. Ask Him who has it. He's enthroned
in glory. Don't seek the living among the
dead. He's not here. He's risen. He is enthroned. The resurrection
message, you know, all through the book of Acts, the great theme
of all the gospel messages that was preached in the book of Acts,
is Christ is risen, ascended to glory, and ever lived to intercede
for us. We have a great high priest,
an advocate, a mediator, one who is our intercessor. If you
would look all through the book of Acts, You'll find that to
be so. I'll give you two examples of
that. If you want to look at Acts chapter 2, you can. If not,
I'll just read it to you. This is Peter preaching at Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2, verse 22,
Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God, among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you shall also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God raised up." You see that? God raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Having put away our sin, the
law had no claim on him, death had no claim on him, it was not
possible that death would hold him. Now, one other reference,
I've got written down here, Acts chapter 3, look at verse 13. And I could read many other references,
but Acts 13, verse 3, and this again is Peter preaching, "...the
God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified His Son, Jesus, whom you delivered up,
and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined
to let Him go, but you have denied the Holy One, the just, Desire
to murder to be granted unto you. Remember we studied that.
Give us Barabbas. You killed the prince of life,
whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are all witnesses. Paul said he appeared, the risen
Lord appeared, not only to the women, not only to the apostles,
but about 500 brethren at one time. His resurrection is real,
is it not? And he ever lives to intercede
for us. not to Luke 24. How important
is his resurrection and his ascension then? How important is that?
Well, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15, without His resurrection,
we have no gospel message. Without His resurrection, our
preaching is absolute, in vain, and useless. Without His resurrection,
faith is also in vain. Without His resurrection, we
are yet in our sin. Without His resurrection, the
Lord... Without His resurrection, Jesus
of Nazareth was a fraud and an imposter. Without his resurrection,
some of the old commentators would go further to say this,
without his resurrection, it would prove him to be a fraud,
an imposter, and the old timers would say, and his soul is in
hell. That's pretty strong, is it not?
If he's not raised up from the dead, we are yet dead in our
sin. Eternally condemned. As the Lord
would be pleased to lead us and teach us, I want us to glean
some very important lessons from what we read here in the first
seven verses in Luke chapter 24. Now, here's the first thing,
it's this. The Sabbath day has passed. Upon
the first day of the week, very early in the morning, verse 1,
they came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared,
and certain others with them. Now they rested on the Sabbath
day, but upon the first day of the week they came to the tomb.
So the Sabbath day being passed. Now here is the message. The
Lord Jesus Christ was raised up from the dead, on the first
day of the week, which is Sunday. That's why we meet together on
Sunday. Now, it's not a mere coincidence,
and it's certainly not accidental, that the Lord was raised up,
not on the Sabbath day, but on Sunday, the first day of the
week. Now, what does that mean for us today? Well, here's the
message. The Old Testament law of Sabbath
keeping is now passed, and there is this new day of grace has
come. We're no longer under the covenant
of law, but under the covenant of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Believers don't find rest or comfort in the law. We find rest
and comfort in Christ. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. In Christ we are dead
to the law through the body of Christ that we might live unto
God. You see, we're no longer observing a day to find rest.
We look to the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in Him, for He is our
Sabbath. He is our rest. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our Sabbath rest. We rest in Him and enjoy His
full gift of salvation. No longer do we seek God's favor
by observing a legal Sabbath. You know, some people are still
observing that Saturday Sabbath and think they're resting in
that day and think they can remove God's wrath or at least gain
his favor. And some people even have brought
that over into the new covenant and they say that Sunday now
is the new Sabbath day. No, my friend, Christ is our
Sabbath. We rest in Him. We don't observe
any particular day to try to find favor with God. We meet
upon the first day of the week in observance of His glorious
resurrection, but the Lord Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest. The Lord said, come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you, what?
Rest. Matthew 11, 28. He is our rest. We're no longer going about to
establish righteousness by the deeds of the law. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. Now here's the second thing.
The women, it says there, they found the stone rolled away.
These women, look at verse 10, it was Mary, Magdalene, Joanna,
and Mary, the mother of James, and other women that were with
them, which told these things to the apostles." Now, how many
women prepared these spices and came to the grave? We don't have
the exact number. But these faithful women came
to the grave motivated by What were they motivated by? Love
for the Savior and they were motivated by faith in Him. They came to that grave, prepared
those spices to anoint and to really prepare that body, to
embalm the body. Even though Joseph and Nicodemus
had done the same, these women thought maybe they could do better.
But they came to the Savior and came to His grave that day out
of love for Him. Now I'll give you a homely illustration. A mother out of love cares and
protects her children. A father would risk his own life
for his family out of love, right? How many times have you seen
on the news, and I'm amazed how many times, every day there's
a house fire. Ever notice that? Every day a
house burns down. How many times have you heard
that a father or a mother goes into that burning home to rescue
a child or even a dog, a cat, or a pet? Why do they do that? I mean, they're risking their
life. Putting their life in harm's way. They do that out of love,
don't they? What a great motivator love is.
Here these women are determined to come and anoint the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ because they love them. What gave them such faith and
boldness? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and love that filled their heart for the Lord Jesus Christ who
put away their sins and filled their hearts with gratitude and
thanksgiving. What greater motive do we have
in our heart to serve the Lord Jesus Christ than our love for
Him, faith in Him, and gratitude and thanksgiving for all that
He has done for us. For the Lord Jesus Christ, these
women were willing to risk their lives, put their life on the
line, not because they were motivated by the law, but motivated by
love. This is the true motive for every
believer today, to serve the Lord and to worship Him, not
out of fear of punishment, not out of promise of reward, but
out of love. Love for Christ. Love for Christ.
We love Him because He first loved us. He's done so much for
us. How can we not? In return, love,
honor, and serve Him. He loved us unto death, even
the death of the cross. And when He saves us by His grace,
the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our heart what? Love for Christ. Love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5. The love
of Christ constrains us, constrains us, motivates us. Why are you
here this morning? Why am I here this morning? Why
did I prepare this message? Why have I been here these 25
years? Motivated by a paycheck? I hope
not. I hope not. Out of love and gratitude
for what He has done for me. That's what motivates me. The
Lord has done so much for me. By the way of forgiving my sin,
by making me a new creature in Christ, by doing everything in
salvation for me, how can I not willingly serve Him and love
Him out of thanksgiving and gratitude? That's what motivates a believer.
In everything we do, in our giving, we give as unto the Lord. In
our forgiving one another, we do it for Christ's sake. In our
worship, it's motivated by love, is it not? We seek to worship
Him in spirit and in truth, and in our faithful service unto
the Lord, we do so being motivated by love, love for Him. Now here's
the third lesson. These women, When they came to
the grave, verse 2 and verse 3, they found the stone was rolled
away from the sepulcher, and they entered in and found not
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as they went from their home
that morning, early in the morning, and started toward that grave,
it says over in Mark's account that they wondered and feared
in themselves, how are we going to remove that stone from the
grave? What about those Roman soldiers?
They're going to prevent us from coming to that tomb. Well, both
of those fears were wiped away by the purpose of God in this
thing by His sovereign providence. These faithful women walked along
and began to be filled with fears about that stone. It says in
Mark 16, they said one to another, who shall roll away the stone
from the door of the grave? But all their fears were needless.
But when they came to the grave, the Lord had already been there.
The Lord sent a messenger from heaven, sent an earthquake, and
rolled away the stone, and the angel of God was sitting on the
stone, and invited them, come in here, take a look. He's not
here. He is risen. Now, how often,
here's the point for us, how often are we, like these women,
If we don't have any legitimate reason to be fearful and filled
with anxiety, we'll invent something to worry about. That's the way
I am. And most of the time, our fears
are needless worry. Oftentimes we needlessly worry
about things that never come to pass, and worry about things
that we have no control over anyway, and fear things that
do not even exist. And if they don't, we'll invent
something to worry about, imagine something to worry about. Our
Lord teaches us throughout His Word to fear not. We had that in our message Wednesday
night. Get a copy of the message out
there on the table. He says in Psalm 37, fret not
thyself because of evildoers. Don't fret, fear not for these
evildoers. Don't be envious against the
workers of iniquity. They shall be soon cut off and
cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb. Worry, listen
to me, worry is just another form of unbelief. Lord, I do
believe. Help my unbelief. When the disciples
were on that ship, and you remember there was a boisterous storm,
and the ship started taking on water, and the ship started to
sink, and they went to the Lord, who was sleeping and resting,
and aroused Him up, and said, Lord, don't you care? We are
perishing! He said, why are you so fearful,
O ye of little faith? That's me. I must confess, that's
me. Fear not. Our Lord said, let
not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. For in my house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go away to prepare
a place for you. If I go away, I'll come again
and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may
be also. That's John chapter 14. Let me read this verse to
you. I had this in our study Wednesday
night from Isaiah 41 verse 10. The Lord says, fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Fear not, fear not, fear not. Casting all your care upon him,
for he careth for you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? These women they feared, but
when they got to the tomb and found the stone removed, their
fears disappeared." Now, here's the fourth lesson in verse 4. And it came to pass, Luke 24
verse 4, it came to pass, as they were much perplexed about,
thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments,
Now these two men here are angels in human form appearing that
way. And as they were afraid and bowed
down their faces to the earth, they said unto the women, why
seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here, he's risen.
Remember how He spake unto you while He was yet with you in
Galilee." So what the angels are doing, they're reminding
the women what the Lord had already said. Look at verse 7, "...saying,
The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified the third day, and be raised again." Now, these
elect angels of God are the servants unto the Lord and His elect people,
therefore we have no need to fear the elect angels of God. When the women came to the tomb,
they saw the angel of God in the form of a young man, and
they were frightened, it says in Mark 16. And entering into
the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,
clothed in a long white garment, and they were afraid. One of
these two angels was inside that tomb, and the other angel, remember
where he was? Sitting on the stone. It says in Matthew 28 that their
countenance was like lightning, and His raiment was white as
snow. The angels quickly calmed their
fears with the message of God they delivered unto the women. He's not here. He's risen. Now, as far as we know in this
day, angels no longer appear to men in a visible form. as
far as I know anything about. It does say in the book of Hebrews,
to be careful to entertain strangers, for some thereby have entertained
angels unaware. Now, if I've ever met an angel
of God in human form, I don't know anything about it. And I
don't know, as far as I know, I don't know of any account of
angels visiting men in human form today. But there is a day
coming when we shall see the multitude of angels. When He
comes back from glory, He'll bring all the holy, mighty angels
with Him. We do know that angels are messengers
sent of God, and they're used of God. Let me give you some
examples. The holy angels appeared as Joseph
and Mary, declaring unto them that the Savior has come. Remember
the message? Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sin. The angels appeared to the shepherds
in the field. Remember in Luke chapter 2, let
me just turn there and read it for you. In Luke chapter 2, The
angel said to the shepherds, Fear not, for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the
angels a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, saying, Glory
to God in the highest, honor of peace, Goodwill toward men,
not man, men. Goodwill toward God's people. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to judge this world, He will bring all the holy angels with
Him. Holy angels will gather the wheat into the barn. His
elect and bind the tares and cast them into the furnace of
fire. The holy angels rejoice in heaven when Christ gathers
His sheep and grants them repentance. Remember we studied that in Luke
chapter 15. They rejoice over one sinner
that repented. There is the ministry of God's
angels, servants of God. The holy angels visit our worship
services when the gospel is preached to learn more about God's saving
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've often said when we meet
together, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
the Lord said out there, I'm in your midst. But do you know
what else? There are angels flying around
this room this morning. I don't see them. You don't either,
but here's what the Word of God says. When the Gospel is preached,
they attend to the things which are preached, and they desire
to look into those things. That's what it says. I believe
His Word, don't you? The angels of God, in Hebrews
1, verse 14, the angels of God are ministering spirits sent
forth to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. believe that
a believer has a guardian angel, he has a host, a multitude of
angels watching over his elect. Now, I've experienced that personally. When I've been in harm's way
many times on the job I had working that industrial work, which is
very dangerous, sometimes I've been in a place of death and
should have been rightly killed And I came out smelling like
a rose. And I should have been dead,
should have been electrocuted or gassed to death. The angels
of God hover over his elect and they protect you. Thank God for
the ministry. The angels of God are ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to those who are the heirs of
salvation. So they do have a ministry. In
glory we shall join with the holy angels, worshiping the Lord. There's ten thousand times ten
thousands and thousands of angels, and we'll join with them, singing,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive all honor, glory,
and blessing. Therefore we can say, believers
have no need to fear the elect angels, what great friends they
are to us, Furthermore, we have no need to fear fallen angels. There are fallen angels too.
who are reserved in change of darkness, reserved in the day
of judgment. You see, the Lord is over them
as well and rules their ministry too. Now listen to me, the devil
is God's devil, God's servant to work his will in this earth. The devil is not a rogue devil
out here out of control. He's God's servant doing God's
business. I believe that. Read the book
of Job. The devil could not touch Job
without God saying, okay, you can have what's his, just don't
touch him. And then later he said, well,
you can touch his body, just don't kill him. And he was afflicted
with sores. So the angels do have a ministry
and we are aware of them. Here's the fifth thing. Verse
6 down through verse 9. The message of the angels was
just repeating what the Lord Jesus Christ has already said.
Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here, He's
risen. Remember how He spake unto you while He was yet with
you in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered. Underscore
the word, must be delivered. Delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God in the hands of wicked men,
sinful men. And He must be crucified, there's
no other way of salvation but by substitution, a sacrifice
for sin, and that He must be raised the third day. Now, these
disciples that heard this message before, turn back over here to
the chapter 9, Luke chapter 9 verse 22. Luke 9, 22. Luke 9, 22. Saying,
the Son of Man Here's what they said. Here's
what the Lord said to them. The Son of Man must suffer many
things, be rejected of the elders, the chief priests and scribes,
and be raised the third day. This was no new message to them. They heard this message from
the Lord repeatedly, and it's the good news of the Gospel.
Now that's what preaching was all about. These angels didn't
invent something new. They just repeated what the Lord
had already said, and that's what gospel preaching is. It's
just repeating what the Lord said. As Paul said, we preach
not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord. Notice it says, the
Son of Man must be delivered. The Son of Man, who is none other
than the Son of God, must be crucified for our sins according
to the Scripture, for there is no other way of salvation. Man
alone cannot satisfy, God alone cannot suffer, but the God-man
mediator did both for us, suffered for our sins, died for our sins
according to the Scripture, and in doing so, satisfied the holy
justice of God to enable God to be a just God and Savior,
to enable Him to be just and the justifier. of those who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel of God as a Lamb of God to put away our sin. Now, raised
again to the right hand of God, as it says there, the Son of
Man must be delivered in the hand of sinful men, and He must
die. And not only that he was crucified,
he must die for our sin. That's what sin demands. And
then be raised again the third day. because He was deliberate
for our offenses, raised again because He did justify us. That's
how we know that He put away our sin. His resurrection declares
full atonement for sin. Even now at the right hand of
God, He's seated enthroned, making effectual intercession for us. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies, who
is he that condemns. It is Christ who has died, yet
rather is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercession for us. Because the Lord died for
our sins and lived to intercede for us, we are assured of our
resurrection and our eternal inheritance. You remember we
read in 1 Corinthians 15, He's the first fruit of the resurrection
from the dead. with a guarantee of many more
to come in Him. We are heirs of God and joint
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. The inheritance we have is incorruptible,
undefiled. It fades not away. It's reserved
for you in heaven. It is because of His death, His
resurrection, and His ascension that we have faith We've been
given faith to believe the gospel. We've obtained like precious
faith through the righteousness of God our Savior. Now, I want to close with this
scripture. I want you to turn and read this
with me. Ephesians chapter 1. It is only by the resurrection
power of Christ that we are enabled to believe the gospel. Now, I
want you to see this carefully. Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 19,
Paul writes about the exceeding greatness of His power to us
who believe according to the working of His mighty power.
You see that? What kind of power is it? Which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and put all things under his feet,
gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is
his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. You see, we're only enabled to
believe the gospel by the working of His mighty power. What kind
of power? Resurrection power. Because salvation
for a sinner, you know what it is? It's being raised from the
dead. You have the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. May God grant us faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, verily I say unto you,
verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. What is that, hath everlasting
life? Got it. Got it. He that believeth
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he has eternal life. Right now,
in Christ.