Things Left in the Tomb

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Know that the Christian life is the most fulfilling life you can live. It is infused with the greatest purpose.

But, we have not been faithful to the Word, if we do not equally proclaim the future that awaits those who obey the Gospel. A future that God has prepared for us. One in which a new earth will be inherited and God’s own will enjoy resurrected bodies.

It is so much more than an eternal choir. No our bodies will be prepared (equipped) for a gloriously created world to be worked and enjoyed.

INTRODUCTION

There have been a lot of amazing archeological discoveries in our world.

King Tut’s tomb. I’ve seen

Fossilized skeletons of dinosaurs

Many other great archeological discoveries at the Smithsonian

But the greatest archaeological discovery of all time is what was NOT found in a site. The Bible tells us about it in Luke 24.

The women had taken the body of Jesus down from the cross, wrapped Him hastily and put Him in the tomb. He had not been properly prepared, so they were coming with spices and ointments to prepare the body for the long trip into disintegration.

The women had not expected to find the tomb empty.

As they traveled to the cemetery, they talked among themselves, wondering who would roll the stone away from the tomb.

When they got there, their sorrow, fear and grief were compounded by their astonishment that the stone was rolled away.

In their astonishment, they looked in and saw He wasn’t there.

Then, the greatest announcement of all time: “He is not here” (v. 6).

What a grand understatement! No trumpets and fanfares and Stephen Spielberg special effects.

Just two men in shining garments. “Where is He? He’s not here.” As if to say, “Did you expect Him to be here? Don’t you remember what He said when He was with you?”

Their religion had prepared them.

Their prophets had told them that He was going to do this.

He Himself told them,

But they weren’t ready. It was too much for them.

I have news for you this morning.

It may be too much for you, but I hope the Holy Ghost comes in and blows your circuits, and you realize for the first time in your life, He’s not there!

I know there are all kinds of explanations. We humans grope for explanations; we’ve got to have them. So we come up with “human wisdom.”

For example:

He’s not here because He didn’t really die on the cross.

He was so battered, bruised, beaten and speared that He passed out.

They thought He died. They took Him down, put Him in a cool tomb, and in the coolness of the tomb, He revived.

He revived enough to push away a two-ton stone and then overpower the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb. How ridiculous!

Here’s another one:

The women went to the wrong tomb.

Now that’s a good one! They went to the another empty tomb, guarded by soldiers who had passed out from fright.

Try this one:

His enemies stole the body and hid it. Now those are some pretty dumb enemies, aren't they?

In only a matter of weeks these people were going to turn the world upside down preaching and doing miracles, in the name of a resurrected Savior.

If they had His body, they would have produced it, and said, “He’s here. This whole thing is a hoax.” But they haven’t produced it.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the the heart and foundation of our faith.

Is it an empty tomb? Yes and no.

There are no bodies in there, but it’s not exactly empty.

As I look in that tomb this morning, the tomb is cluttered.

Let’s take a peek.

1. GRAVE CLOTHES CLUTTERED THE EMPTY TOMB

Why are those clothes there? Because they are in the clutter of the tomb lying on the rocky floor, death is dead.

Death is broken and destroyed and left empty and powerless on the floor of the tomb!

Death died the day Jesus rose again! What a powerful reality.

In the Acts 2:24, Peter preached about Jesus “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”

D. L. Moody, as a young preacher, was called upon to preach a funeral, and he didn’t have a funeral message. He decided to go to the Word of God and find one of the funeral messages Jesus preached when He was on the earth. Moody spent the night searching through the four Gospels and never found a single one. You know why?

He discovered that Jesus broke up every funeral that He ever attended.

Death had no power in the presence of Jesus Christ!

Just a few weeks before, Lazarus, His good fiend in Bethany had died, and Martha and Mary were grieving their loss. Jesus walked up to the tomb and called him. He had such authority over death that if He had just said, “Come forth,” everybody in the cemetery would have come forth. And Lazarus came forth! Martha asked, “What’s this all about?” He replied, “I am the resurrection and the life” (see John 11).

Death has been defeated, and lay broken on the floor of the tomb!

2. HUMAN GOVERNMENT LIES BROKEN IN THE TOMB

Rome, with all its splendor and terror, lay ultimately defeated at the hands of the simple Man they had mocked, tortured and put to death a few hours before.

When Pilate was questioning the Lord, Jesus stood silent before this ruler of Rome who represented the power of the government.

Pilate said to Him, “Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:10-11).

Government is powerless and broken in the face of Jesus Christ.

3. DEAD RELIGION LAY HELPLESS AND DEFEATED IN THE TOMB

I’m not talking about the church.

The church is the living body of Christ.

We’re faithful to the church because we are faithful to our Lord.

We work for the church because we serve our Lord.

I’m saying that any hope that ritual, formality and going through motions will save you was crushed and broken.

Why? Religion told them about life and hope, and they missed it? Religion did not work. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the curious crowd:

Acts 2:36 NKJV

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Many in this generation’s are unwilling to commit because

They have been dissapointed by,

They have been bruised by,

They have been broken by

Men, men will do that to you

If you look for Jesus in forms and rituals, you wont find Him.

4. HUMANISM WAS DESTROYED IN THE TOMB

His disciples wanted Him to deliver as a warrior-statesman,

a Caesar of sorts...

This represents the best of humanistic ideals.

Some accept Him as a good teacher, a good leader, or a good moral man, but humanism is broken because this was not the route Jesus came.

Education does not make us wise.

Wisdom is the application of knowledge — what we do with what we know.

With all of our advances in education, man is just as ignorant as he has ever been.

Oscar Wilde, 19th Century author and wit, once defined horse sense as “the sense horses have that keeps them from betting on people.”

5. PLEASURE AND MATERIALISM WERE CRUSHED AND BROKEN

It’s broken promises, “caviar dreams and champagne wishes” are gone. Nobody is there, but the tomb is cluttered.

Now comes the question of the day: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5)

Why do you insist on seeking for life in things that are dead?

With all of the things that are crushed and broken and left on the floor of the tomb, why do you go back time after time and try to find life? He isn’t there.

If we look to government for answers, we see written across human government, “He’s not here!”

A hundred years before Christ Cicero wrote....and it sounded like he was writing about our current political mess....

If you think things are bad, wait until Congress tries to fix it!

If you hope is in government, you have no hope!

Governments have in some cases tried to tell us that faith is no longer relevant.

Several years ago, A noted educational leader, lectured eloquently and boldly on this to a rally in Moscow.

Becoming arrogant and cocky, he asked, “Would anyone like to challenge my position?”

After a few minutes of silence, an old minister from one of the villages nearby walked to the platform.

He was told you have only 5 minutes...

He said, “Oh, I’ll be brief”

With a clear, strong voice he spoke the traditional greeting of Easter, “Christ is risen!”

From a thousand throats came the response, “He is risen indeed!”.

And the lecturer left, defeated and broken. Government has no power against the resurrected Lord!

CONCLUSION

The 2,000 pound stone rolled up against the tomb had no chance against the Rock of Ages on the inside!

He exited that place!

He’s alive and He is here, in our midst this morning — the Living Lord and Savior!

Romans 8:11 NKJV

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Hope was another thing that came out of that tomb with Him.

Today the future seems dark, bleak, confusing and uncertain.

There are all kinds of prognosticators and forecasters.

Are you ready to get out of the tomb and step out of the clutter?