Sermon Tone Analysis

TOMORROW…

Is shrouded in the unknown masked by uncertainty

Anticipated Joy or Sorrow, difficulty or ease, freshness or mundane

For some it brings fear yet for others it offers HOPE… Why?

I would submit to you today that tomorrow is best faced by remembering… Remembering Christ and what His Word teaches...

As we remember let’s rewind to Friday...

Jesus Was Dead

The disciples, the women, followers all saw Him die!

His death brought about fear...

Peter denied Him

Others ran away

Some followed at a distance… WHY?

You don’t feel powerful as you watch the One you believed was the Messiah die on a cross!

However, we do see some who had courage… Luke 23:50-56

What a powerful description of this follower of Christ… Joseph of Arimathea

Good and righteous

Waiting for the Kingdom

What a BOLD request…

Pilate made sure He was dead

Nicodemus helps!… John 3:16 (born again)

Came in the cover of dark now declares his allegiance

These men place his body in a tomb wrapped in burial cloths

The Women...

Faithfully following since Jesus’ ministry in Galilee Luke 8

Listening to His teaching

Contributing to His ministry

And now seeing where He was buried in order to care for His body...

Preparing spices and perfumes… WHY?

Because Jesus was dead!

Luke has gone to great extent to assure his readers that Jesus truly was dead… they could be sure of the things they had been taught!

Luke 1:4

Have you ever heard but really didn't listen or pay attention...

Failure to Remember

Do you know what the disciples, women, and followers of Jesus Christ were doing Sunday morning??? Wondering about TOMORROW… failing to remember!

Had they remembered...

They would have been waiting at the tomb!

They would not be gathered together grieving

They would not have been making preparations for a body

Instead we read this concerning Sunday morning… Luke 24:1-12

They should have left the spices at home!!!

They were coming to care for a body not celebrate a resurrection...

Luke makes a point for his readers that there was no body… this is a bodily Resurrection!

A Stern Reminder

Verses 5 & 6 give both a question with a rebuke as well...

He is the “Living One” not dead!!! Death could not hold Him!

How often do we still come to God as if Christ is dead, defeated, not a living powerful, fully engaged Savior!

RISEN= not raised as Jesus had done for others… who would die again.

But a divine work of Christ to overcome death and rise on His own divine power!

REMEMBER… “what Jesus spoke” the Word of God!

“And they remembered His Words”

Do you remember what He taught…

The sign of Jonah...

Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days

More specific look at Luke 9:30-31 Luke 13:33 or Luke 18:31-33

Jesus did not hide the fact He was going to suffer and die or even rise again.

These women, disciples and the followers of Jesus were the first skeptics… BUT they remembered the Word of God...

The empty tomb amazed them and they marveled

The angels scared them and reminded them

But it was the power and fulfilment of the Word of God that convinced them of the RESURRECTION!

Power of Remembrance

What they failed to remember from Jesus previous teachings they would proceed through each tomorrow remembering His resurrection…

Because it is the power of the Resurrection that changes lives!

Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion,” says Dr. John Stott.

“The concept of resurrection lies at its heart.

If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.”

Paul expresses the gospel clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and continues his argument for the Resurrection in verses 1 Corinthians 15:12-17

The resurrection changed the lives of these men… Chuck Colson had this to say in an article from the Washington Post:

Watergate proves the Bible is true.

So says former White House special counsel Charles Colson, convicted felon and born-again Christian,...The lesson of Watergate is that a lie cannot live for long, according to Colson."Here were the 10 most powerful men in the United States," he said, referring to the Watergate cover-up attempt.

"With all that power, and we couldn't contain a lie for two weeks."

"Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand," he declared, "there is no way the 11 apostles, who were with Jesus at the time of the resurrection, could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus' resurrection unless it were true."

These men all faced torture, prison, and death for the sake of the Resurrection message…

Today...

We remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As John recorded for us in John 14:19

REMEMBER… Because He lives you and I can face tomorrow!

HE HAS RISEN!!!