Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12 - Three Mistakes of Easter

You know, the four Gospels are known for their uniqueness. The different perspectives that the four writers have written gives us a clearer insight into who Jesus was and is. For instance, we just spent a great deal of time in Matthew, and in Matthew we know that is where we can find the sermon on the mount. In Luke, we know that it is the book to get the Christmas story, and it is John where we get the Lord’s final days on earth, and is typically the book we would most likely go to for an Easter message.

But the Easter message is found throughout the Bible, the foretelling of the Lord’s death was prophesied in Isaiah, the Lord’s resurrection was preached in the Book of Acts. So, we should never limit ourselves to just one book, when we are preaching about something as important as Easter. So, our focus will be in the book of Luke today, and I invite you to follow along in your Bibles.

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Now the Easter Story is what its all about folks. Everything the Lord did during his earthly ministry led right up to the crucifixion, but I want you to know, that the Lord had the victory over death, and on that Sunday, he arose from the grave victorious. Now we say amen to that, but you know, sadly we don’t always live our lives believing that.

This passage really speaks on that to a degree, that we get up and forget what the Lord had taught us, that we go about our day thinking that the Lord is not with us, but folks we have to get it rooted in our soul, cemented in our life, knowing that Jesus Christ is alive!

Do you believe the Lord is alive today? Then praise his name! Do you believe that the Lord is able to a great work in your life? Then give him the glory! Do you believe that Jesus can save a person from hell, free them from an addiction, and give them joy? Then folks, get up and tell somebody!

Easter is not a time of sorrow, it is a time of rejoicing. But you know we are a lot like the followers of Christ in the Bible. We repeat some of the same mistakes that they did. What we must do, is realize who Jesus really is, and start living for him like we should.

How do we do this? Well, it starts from us not repeating the same old mistakes. Look with me at this passage, and lets see three mistakes we don’t need to make anymore starting this Easter.

Mistake #1 – We don’t need to be confused about where Jesus is! (vs 1-5)

· Now did you see what happen here in these first five verses? A group of ladies went to the tomb to find Jesus.

· They were coming to anoint the dead body with spices, because to them, Jesus was dead.

· It wasn’t that they didn’t care and love Jesus, but their reality was that Jesus wasn’t alive.

· How often we are just like that, that Jesus isn’t alive to us. That he is just another dead man.

· Listen, Jesus is more alive than you and me!

· So, when they get to the tomb, they can’t find Jesus’s body there. And they are all confused about it, the Bible says they were perplexed!

· Listen, they were looking in a graveyard! This is where the dead was laid, but Jesus wasn’t dead anymore! Jesus was alive!

· Listen now, there are a lot of churches that have become graveyards, there are a lot of worship places that are nothing more than mausoleums, you know why? Because Jesus isn’t there!!

· We don’t serve a dead savior, we serve a risen Savior!

I serve a risen Savior He’s in the world today. I know that He is living, Whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer; And just the time I need Him He’s always near.

In all the world around me I see His loving care, And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair; I know that He is leading, Through all the stormy blast; The day of His appearing Will come at last.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, Lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs To Jesus Christ the King! The Hope of all who seek Him, The Help of all who find, None other is so loving, So good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

· These women came to the tomb expecting to find Jesus there, but you know what they found instead? They found an empty tomb!!

· Now why is that so confusing to people? Why is it, that we come to church as to mourn? Listen, Jesus is alive! And that is what his servants told these women.

· Why seek ye the living among the dead? Listen, you’re not going to find Jesus among the dead.

· Now the world wants to say that God is dead. But what they don’t realize is that they are dead.

· Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” KJV “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” MEV

· Listen I want to tell you, this world that we live in, is a dead world. You won’t find Jesus in the world. But you will find Jesus among the living. That person that has given their heart to Jesus, guess what? Jesus lives in them.

· I know exactly where Jesus is, and we don’t have to be confused about where Jesus is at.

Mistake #2 – Quit forgetting his words! (vs 6-8)

· Now we have seen the first mistake that we often make when it comes to Jesus, but here is the second mistake we often make! We forget his words!

· One of the saddest things that happens in many lives, is that we hear what Jesus has said, and how he said it many times, and then we get up and immediately forget what was just said.

· When I was in middle school, I struggled in one of my math classes. It was my first class of the day, and I would come into the class not focused. I would watch the teacher speak, but I wasn’t hearing what she said. There would be some lessons that she would teach and spend a lot of time trying to make us understand. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t listening. You know what happened? When the test came around, I forgot everything she had taught me. I heard it, but I didn’t make it real. I didn’t really comprehend what was being said. And because of that, I struggled in math.

· You know, we come to church, we hear what the Bible says, but a lot of times, we are just like that, just watching instead of listening. And when we get out there in the world, you know what, we struggle.

· Jesus spent three years with his disciples, and he had a lot of close followers that he preached and shared his message too, and he told them what his mission was about. Why he was there in Israel, why he went to Jerusalem, and what happen? They got caught up in the moment when the Lord was being crucified, and they forgot everything else.

· Now we read that in the scripture and we say, how can they be so oblivious to what Jesus has said? But let’s not start to cast stones.

· How many times have we heard the Lord preach to us, how many times he has told us something to do, and we just forget to do it?

· How many times has the Lord told us how to love people and share with people his word, and we forget to do it?

· How many times has the Lord told us to pray and sacrifice our time for the Lord, and we forget to do it?

· Listen, we are just as forgetful as these who were walking with the Lord. Listen, we can’t say so much about them forgetting what Jesus said, they didn’t have it written down like us!

· You know it should break our hearts when we forget what the Lord has said. You know what else the Lord said?

· Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

· You know that is one of the verses we tend to forget so much!

· We forget about coming to church, we forget about encouraging and building one another up.

· We forget that and say I can’t come because how the world is today. What did that verse say? It said, so much the more, as ye see the day approaching!

· These people who were the disciples and followers of Christ had forgotten the whole reason why Jesus came. They became distracted with what was going on in life, that they forgot the word of God.

· Listen, when you go into the workplace this week, we don’t need to forget what Jesus said to us in his word. How we are to live a different life, how we are to be an example of him.

· That when the temptation comes, that we don’t forget what he has said in his word! Don’t make that mistake.

· Now, listen, sometimes we have to be reminded of what Jesus said. That is what the angels did for these here in the word. And when they told the people, they remembered.

· Let’s quit forgetting what Jesus said, and start remembering what Jesus said!!

Mistake #3 – Dismissing what Jesus has done! (Go and see it for yourself) (vs 9-12)

· Now we have seen two major mistakes, but friend there is one more mistake that people are guilty of making, and you might be here right now, guilty of this. That’s dismissing what Jesus has done!

· After the whole ordeal with the ladies at the tomb, they come back to the disciples. They have heard the word from the angel’s mouth, that Jesus is not in the tomb, but that Jesus is alive!

· Now these disciples, these men who had been the students of the Lord, who had walked with him and seen the miracles that the Lord had performed. Had seen the Lord walk on water, calm the raging sea, had healed a multitude of people, and even raised the dead.

· They hear from these women that Jesus is alive and what mistake do they make? They say these is nothing more than idle tales.

· A fairy tale hope. How is it possible for Jesus to be alive? This is what they are thinking.

· Friend we see this in the scripture and we say how foolish! But friend we sometimes are just as foolish.

· Thinking that Jesus can’t do something. That Jesus can’t heal my family, that Jesus can’t restore my marriage, that Jesus can’t help me with my health situation, that Jesus can’t free me from addictions, that Jesus can’t forgive me from the sins I have committed.

· Friend that is the biggest mistake we can ever make, in believing that Jesus can’t do something in our life.

· But that’s how many people live today, and you might be one of them. Thinking that Jesus can’t do anything for you. That is impossible. That when you hear the stories from other people, that they are just idle stories. That it isn’t real.

· But friend it is real. And what we need to do is follow the example of Peter here in the Bible.

· Here was a man, who had made some mistakes. Here was a man who had forgotten who Jesus was, had forgotten the words of the Lord, had made the mistake of denying the Lord.

· But now he has heard the hope. He has heard that Jesus is alive. You know what Peter does? Look at verse 12.

o Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes.

· Peter goes and sees it for himself. He gets up. He goes to the tomb. He makes it real in his life.

· Listen, I want you to know, you can hear the word, but until you go and make it real in your life, you won’t believe.

· Friend the only way you can make it real is by running to Jesus and stoop down. You got to humble yourself before the Lord.

· Listen when you do that, you will realize that Jesus is real. That this isn’t just some story. It is the Story!

· It is the way of Life.

· Friend, Easter is a beautiful time to remember what the Lord did for us and how he lives again. But don’t get up from that pew, and make the mistake that so many has made in the past.

· That is to walk away, not believing that the Lord is alive, not believing in his word, just dismissing it all. Listen that is the worst mistake you can ever make. Why not today, make the right choice and come and find Jesus here at this altar!