Easter 2025

Luke 24:1-12

Let’s stand for the reading of the Word of God.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Pray

I have been really fortunate to travel around the country quite a bit with Krysta and have friends from all over. I like to talk to them about how they grew up and what there families are like, traditions and what not. One thing that people that are not from Texas do not quite understand is our differentiation between American History and Texas History. Most states do not have a full year class that is devoted to nothing but their states history like Texas does.

There is a pride when we get to talk about it. One of my favorite Texas history events happened in San Antonio in 1836, when about 200 brave men went up against an 1800 man Mexican force at the Alamo. These men fought for their freedom and they did not retreat, they did not surrender, following their leader William B. Travis that when he sent a message asking for reinforcements from “the People of Texas and All Americans in the World…I shall never surrender or retreat…VICTORY or DEATH.”

If you know your history, the Texans were slaughtered. Among the dead was a Tennessean named Davy Crockett. It is a fascinating story that I love to read about and talk about. When you talk to other people from other states or countries, they are confused by how I could be proud of a defeat. It is a funny observation. It sure looks like we lost and by all accounts we did lose that battle, but because of that battle, others were emboldened to fight for their brothers and just a few days later at San Jacinto, that same Mexican army was overrun by Texan soldiers running on the battle field yelling “Remember the Alamo.”

If it had just been the fight at the Alamo, with nothing to follow it up, it would have just been another massacre that is a small footnote in a history book, but San Jacinto changes the entire way we look at this event. It is the victory that seals the deal.

We have crosses in our churches, we wear crosses on our necks, the sign of the cross is the universal symbol of Christians, its our Alamo. If we stop at the cross and Jesus is still in that tomb, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins, and we are of all people most to be pitied.

The cross is important. The entirety of the Gospels and, I would argue, the Bible is leading up to the cross.

In his book “And the Angels were Silent,” Max Lucado writes, “Forget any suggestion that Jesus was trapped. Erase any theory that Jesus made a miscalculation. Ignore any speculation that the cross was a last-ditch attempt to salvage a dying mission. For if these words tell us anything, they tell us that Jesus died...on purpose. No surprise. No hesitation. No faltering. No, the journey to Jerusalem didn’t begin in Jericho. It didn’t begin in Galilee. It didn’t even begin in Bethlehem. The journey to the cross began long before. As the echo of the crunching of the fruit was still sounding in the garden, Jesus was leaving for Calvary.”

From the beginning, Jesus was always the plan. The cross was always the plan. We start to see it in the garden that a sacrifice had to be made to deal with sin. It was only blood that could wash it away. Why? Why blood? We learn in Romans that the wages of sin is death. In the Garden, God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of good and evil, he would surely die. Sin is a capital offense. The only way to be free of the death penalty is if someone took your place. Someone has to pay for your sin. In the Old Testament, it was the blood of sheep and goats and bulls, but they were a foreshadowing of what was to come. Those had to be offered over and over in the Temple. There was constant blood flowing because there was constant sin taking place. They were never meant to save but to show the cost of being disobedient to the law of God.

Jesus comes along and lays down His life as the sacrifice we needed, but could never achieve through our own works or resources. He gave Himself to the cross of Calvary willingly, but that wasn’t all. He didn’t stop there. The only way to defeat sin and death was to overcome the penalty. He had to overcome death.

Everything that we are about to go over should not be a surprise to the disciples. Jesus said over and over that He would be turned over to the gentiles and he would be killed …..and on the third day He would rise, but those closest to Him didn’t believe it.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

The “they” here are the women followers of Jesus as the text says later. They come to the tomb with spices. For what? They did not have time to prepare Jesus’ body for burial on Friday because Sabbath started at sundown which didn’t permit them to do any work, so they rush out at the first light to prepare Him for the decomposition process of death.

It wasn’t in any of their minds that He was coming back from the death they had witnessed. The men were not any better. Later on in Luke we see two men walking, Jesus appears to them disguised, and they are talking about what happened to the undercover Jesus. They said,

English Standard Version Chapter 24

our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But

In John’s Gospel, we see that Peter, Thomas and Nathaniel go back to fishing. They were not expecting the triumphant return of Jesus. They thought the war was over. They thought the Alamo was the end of the story.

Going back to Luke 24:2

English Standard Version Chapter 24

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

In John’s Gospel, it tells of Mary going out and telling the guys that someone took Jesus’ body. The empty tomb was still not enough evidence to convince these followers that Jesus was no longer dead.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

This is the biggest difference between Jesus and Buddha, Jesus and Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. All those other men are dust and bones somewhere. You can find them among the other dead. You can go to Rome right now and see the box that holds the remains of Paul and Peter, but if you go to Jerusalem, and you go into the tomb where Jesus was laid, you will find hewn stone, but you will not find the bones of Jesus because as we continue in Luke…..

English Standard Version Chapter 24

6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

He never lies, He never says idle words. He is always true and He keeps His promises. The cross was not the end, it wasn’t even a lost battle, it was a strategic plan to overcome the world. The High Priest, some of the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadduccees thought they had silenced this rebel rouser. The Enemy thought he had won, but they had played into the hand of the greatest rescue mission this world has ever seen or known.

After this, look at what Luke records..

English Standard Version Chapter 24

8

It was the “aha” moment that they needed. The battle had not been lost. The war had been won! The man, Jesus, they had been following and calling the Messiah WAS really who He claimed to be. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, was crucified for our sins and raised from the dead, that is a gift from God.

They had to go tell the rest. The Good News compelled them to go. Now they knew and they saw that ALL that Jesus said had come true. That is why we can never accept when the world calls Jesus a good man, but not God. We can never accept when the world says that He was a great teacher, but not the Messiah. We can never accept when the world says that He is a great example to model our life after, but He wasn’t resurrected, because if the resurrection didn’t take place, then He is a liar. Liars are not great teachers, or good men, or great examples. Liars are evil. Liars look out for self gain. That is not Jesus.

Everything finally clicked for these ladies, but not for everyone…

English Standard Version Chapter 24

10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

This is ok. There was so much at stake, they had to see for themselves. Have you ever tried to tell someone about Jesus and they didn’t believe you, then something happened and they had to see Jesus working in their life on their own. They had to need Jesus. They had to be at rock bottom in order to cry out to the Rock of Ages. God is big enough for that doubt. God honors those who seek Him. Sometimes they seek Him and find His grace in the calm and sometimes they find it in the roughest of seas, but as long as someone is looking, God will find them.

Maybe that is one of you. Maybe you are here because it makes mom or grandma happy when you go to church with them on Easter. Maybe this is the only time you come into church. Welcome. You are not here on accident and you will need Jesus to shake your heart and change it before you can believe. Peter didn’t believe, he had to see the tomb for himself.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

There are some of you that need to peak your head inside the tomb to see if He really did what He said He would. You know the bible says that there were over 500 people that saw the resurrected Christ? You may be thinking, “Yeah but that’s the bible. Why wouldn’t it follow the script it is trying to sell?” That makes sense, but there are early Pagan and Jewish historians that talk about the crucifixion, the darkness that covered the face of the earth and the earthquakes that Scripture references when Christ dies… and the belief of the resurrection.

Josephus (Jewish historian) mentions Jesus in his work "Antiquities of the Jews". He refers to Jesus as "a wise man" and notes that Pilate condemned him to be crucified. Josephus also mentions that Jesus' disciples did not abandon their faith and claimed he appeared to them alive three days after his crucifixion, suggesting a belief in a resurrection. 

Tacitus (a Roman historian) mentions the execution of Jesus under Pontius Pilate. He also mentions the Christians, a group who believed Jesus was raised from the dead. 

Suetonius (another Roman historian also mentions the Christians and their belief in Jesus, suggesting a widespread belief in the resurrection. 

Not to mention the rise of the church built around the belief in Jesus and his resurrection. Though many tried to extinguish it from the earth, the church flourished into the biggest blessing this world has ever known birthing orphanages, hospitals and even modern science.

It is also a proof that 11 of the apostles were all killed for their faith and John was boiled alive and exiled to the island of Patmos. The apostles were eye witnesses to Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. If Jesus did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies, then why would you take an excruciating death for a lie? There was no promise of fame and fortune in those days for believing in Jesus, the prize was purely and simply eternity at one with the Father, Son and Spirit.

So what was it all for? The folks at the Alamo died so that they could get out from under the tyrannical Mexican government. The colonist fought the American revolution to get out from under the British tyrannical government. The US fought WW1 and WW2 to defeat the threat of global tyranny. Jesus did the same, but he did not die to defeat Satan, though He did. He didn’t die so that we could live in harmony with our brothers and have great community, though that is one of the gifts of His sacrifice. He died to save us from the tyranny of sin, not just so we wouldn’t get tripped up but because the sin was separating us from the Father.

That sin broke the law of God and our punishment was eternal separation from the Father, that is what we call Hell. Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God. There are some in here today that need to know that you are far from God and Romans 2:5 says

Romans 2:5 ESV

because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

But there is hope. “For all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.” We have all sinned. We have all done things that are displeasing to God. There is no one who is innocent. Romans 3:10-18 gives a detailed picture of what sin looks like in our lives.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

“None is righteous, no, not one;

11  no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

13  “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16  in their paths are ruin and misery,

17  and the way of peace they have not known.”

18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

“But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus Christ died for us! Jesus’ death paid for the price of our sins. Jesus’ resurrection proves that God accepted Jesus’ death as the payment for our sins.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, all we have to do is believe in Him, trusting His death as the payment for our sins - and we will be saved! Romans 10:13 says it again, “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Romans 5:1 has this wonderful message: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Through Jesus Christ we can have a relationship of peace with God. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, we will never be condemned for our sins. Finally, we have this precious promise of God from Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is for freedom Christ has set us free. That means that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness and we should never again submit to the yoke of slavery to sin. That means Christ has freed you from your chains of sin and He will fight your battles for you. If you are struggling with addiction, you can lay that at the foot of the cross. If you are struggling in your marriage, Jesus is there to help you restore that.

There is nothing in your life that is too far, too embarrassing, too egregious that Jesus has not overcome with His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection gives us a new life. Take this day, this opportunity to make yourself right with God by submitting to Jesus. Let Him be your Lord. If you want to talk about it, I and the Elders of this church would love to take that time with you today. I know all of your probably have lunch plans but that food will be there when we get done. I’d rather you have a plate of cold food being obedient to the call of God than a plate of hot food being disobedient. I pray you have ears to hear this morning.

If you already believe and are walking with the Lord take this day to tell your family how good God has been to you and how grateful you are for the resurrection. You have a new life and that love should show to those around you and it should be so good that you want to share it.