Luke's last look at Christ: Luke 23:47 - 24-12

Now, as I think was mentioned in prayer, a very, very sincere thank you for all who have ventured out tonight. We appreciate the effort made by so many of you to be here. Now, unfortunately, tonight, a little disproportionate.

It's hard to break into chapter 23 and 24 and yet keep a cohesive message together. We'll have a lot tomorrow night in the will of God on the Emmaus road, but be looking tonight at a smaller section. And yet I hope still profitable for us to consider the end of chapter 23 and the beginning of chapter 24.

So we're going to begin reading again in chapter 23 and verse number 47, Luke 23 and 47. Now, when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God saying, certainly this was a righteous man and all the people that came together to that site or that spectacle, as we mentioned, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned. And all his acquaintance and the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off beholding these things.

Behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor. He was a good man and a just, the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them. He was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

This man went on to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus and he took it down, wrapped it in linen, laid it in a sepulchre that was shewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after and beheld the sepulchre and how his body was laid.

And they returned, prepared spices, anointments and rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment. Chapter 24. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came under the sepulchre, bringing the spices, which they had prepared and certain others with them.

And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. They entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass as they were much perplexed there about behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces of the earth, they said unto them, why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how we speak unto you when he was yet in Galilee saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And the third day rise again.

And they remembered his words and returned from the sepulchre and told all the things unto the 11 and to all the rest. And it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seem to them as idle tales.

And they believe them not. Then arose Peter, ran into the sepulchre and stooping down. He beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

And again, we trust the spirit of God will be pleased to bless even the reading of his word to each of us this evening. Everything we have and believe rests upon the resurrection of Christ. This is the foundation of everything.

No resurrection. We are of all men, most miserable, most to be pitied. So we need to just stress for a few moments the reality and the truth and all that is dependent upon the truth of resurrection as we have it here in Luke 24.

The resurrection of Christ is a proof, first of all, it's a proclamation of his deity. He was declared to be the son of God by the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. Romans chapter one.

Not only that, but it also proved the veracity of his words. He said he would rise again. So if he did not rise, then he is the greatest imposter the world has seen.

If he did rise, I want you to think of the implications. A man who was dead, in death, had power over death and raised himself out of death back to life. Now, did you grasp that? A man while dead, in death, had power over death and raised himself from the dead and came back to life again.

That is absolute proof of deity. No one else could do that. I know we read elsewhere that he was raised by the glory of the father, but he himself said, destroy this body, this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up again.

John chapter 10. I have power to lay it down. I have the authority to take it up again.

So whether we're looking at the spirit of God in resurrection or the father in resurrection or Christ in resurrection, all the Godhead was involved in the resurrection of Christ. So it is a proof of his deity. It is the proof of his purity.

His holy one could not see corruption. It was impossible that he would be held by death. His holiness demanded resurrection.

I quoted that verse already that you'll read in Romans chapter 6, that he was raised by the glory of the father. Now, what that means is that every attribute of God demanded his resurrection, just as every attribute of God demanded his suffering and death upon the cross when he was bearing sin. Likewise, every attribute of God called out for his resurrection, proof of his purity and of his holiness.

It's a pledge to us, a reminder of his sufficiency. We have a risen savior who has conquered every foe, who has not only conquered death, but Satan and all of the powers of darkness that were arrayed against him. We have one who was absolutely sufficient for every need we have.

And of course, it is a promise of his ultimate supremacy that he will one day reign. This one who has gone into death and come out of death as the thief on the cross could own earlier in this chapter. He will come back in his kingdom and he will reign.

So the resurrection of Christ proves all that relative to his person. But then the resurrection of Christ also is our foundation. You recall that we are told in Romans chapter 4 that he was delivered for our offenses, but raised again for our justification.

So our justification depends upon resurrection. Not only does our justification, but the confirmation of our change at the rapture. When Paul is introducing the great subject of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, he says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with so that it is the confirmation of rapture and of transformation at his return.

It is also the reminder, it is the confirmation that God is going to judge the world. Paul, when he was preaching in Athens to the philosophers of his day, he could tell them that God has appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And he has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead.

So the resurrection of Christ is a assurance of a coming day of judgment. And I know that Acts 17 is especially referring to his judgment of the living nations when he comes back to set up his kingdom. But it's a reminder that he will be judged.

The father has committed all judgment to the son and resurrection is a reminder of that. Paul will tell us it is the standard of a new power. In Ephesians chapter 1, in Paul's prison prayer at the end of that, one of his requests, one of the three requests he makes is that you might know the exceeding greatness of his power to usward, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

So what he is saying is that the power that was available to raise Christ from the dead is the same power available to us in our everyday life. Now, I know that's incredible to think of, but all the power of God is available to us. That was operative when he raised his son from the dead, that's Ephesians 1, verses 19 to 21.

So power for daily living, power for facing every obstacle, it's all there, the standard for a divine power. 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us that it is all part of the gospel. He was buried, he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

And it tells us that death has been conquered. And of course, Peter tells us that we have been begotten again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So resurrection is foundational.

Take away resurrection, take away the bodily resurrection of Christ, and we are left with absolutely nothing but lots of wishful thinking. So we cannot overemphasize that a man went into death and three days later, that same body, untainted, came out in resurrection power, and he is now seated at God's right hand. So the importance then of the resurrection.

Just some features that are unique to what we have read together, and I think it's helpful to point these out, and then we'll look at them in a bit more detail. Always look for unique features that a particular gospel writer will draw attention to. For example, the confession of the centurion is unique, different from what you have in Matthew and Mark.

What he says in Luke is unique, and we'll notice the uniqueness of it, and perhaps why I think we maybe suggested that last evening, but we'll again touch on it this evening. Also Luke mentioned something about Joseph, a condition of Joseph that is unique. You'll notice that all four gospel writers will introduce Joseph of Arimathea, but all four will introduce him in a different way, and we'll notice why the spirit of God introduces Joseph in the way he does here in this gospel.

We'll notice as well the condition of the tomb. Matthew and Mark do not tell us, but Luke tells us that it was a tomb that no one had ever laid in before. Now John will also say it, but Luke is the first of the writers to tell us that, and we'll notice the significance of that.

It might seem like a very, very small detail, but we'll show, I think, why it was so vital to say that no one else was in that tomb, and we'll see that. We'll notice as well, as you look at this, the care of the women, that they had prepared spices and ointments, and they were keeping the law. They rested the Sabbath day according to the law, and then it's only Luke that tells us the angel said, don't you remember what he said? They cited the reference, they cited the scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ had mentioned in verse number seven, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified in the third day, rise again.

And we mentioned, I think, when we were looking at the Lord Jesus turning and looking upon Peter, that Peter remembered the word of the Lord, and there are seven occasions in the gospels where they remember the words of Christ, and it leads to various things. Here, it leads to joy and a confirmation of his resurrection. With Peter, it led to restoration and increase in faith in John chapter two and so on.

So those are some of the things that are highlighted in the chapter before us. Now, if you pick up most commentaries on the gospel of Luke, they'll remind you or tell you Luke chapter 24, and we're just dealing with the beginning, is a chapter of open things. There's an open sepulcher at the beginning.

There are eyes that are opened. There's understanding that is opened. There are the scriptures that are opened.

There is a home that is opened, and the chapter ends with heaven being opened. So it's a chapter filled with open things as you go through it, and as you appreciate some of the things that are being dealt with in chapter 24. But we're just starting with an open tomb in chapter 24, and likely we'll not get any further than that tonight.

So I want you to begin then by thinking with me of the centurion and the witness. Now, you have it in your outline. We have a witness.

We have those who are fearless, a man who is fearless. We have the women who went about doing that which was needless. We have disciples who were heedless, and we have Peter at the end who was speechless.

And so we're looking at responses, if you will, to the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So just a word or two about the centurion and the witnesses at the cross. There was the centurion.

There was the crowd, and there were the companions of the Lord Jesus all gathered around the cross. We're just going to look for a moment at the centurion, and notice again his confession. Certainly this is or this was a righteous man.

Number one, Luke is emphasizing for us the righteous character of Christ. Matthew and Mark tell us truly this was the Son of God, but Luke is going to stress he was a good man. He was a righteous man.

Again, Luke's theme has been throughout to show the perfection of the humanity of the Lord Jesus, and in contrast to that, one of the accusations of the rulers that begins in chapter 23 was he was a perverter of the people, and he was numbered amongst transgressors. He was given the chief place among the three, and God is going to set the record straight that he was a righteous man. So the centurion confesses that he was a righteous man.

That's the first thing. The second thing is not just the confession, but the confirmation. Now, it may seem like a very subtle thing, but he says certainly this was a righteous man.

Centurion had seen many, many executions. He had seen many, many crucifixions. He knew when a man was dead.

Now, if you talk to some cultists, some will suggest he just swooned and he passed out. It's interesting, the three major world religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Islam says it wasn't Christ who died.

Judaism says it wasn't Christ who rose. He didn't rise. Christianity says he died buried in ruins.

But there are those who have all kinds of different ideas that try to get around the idea of a literal death and resurrection. But here is a man who knew when he saw death. And we're reading in another portion of the word of God in Mark, he goes into Pilate and confirms to Pilate he was dead, or Pilate was amazed that he was dead, and the centurion confirms it.

So he is confirming for us the reality of the death of the Lord Jesus. Not only the confession as to his person, but now the confirmation as to his death. He died.

No question. No other explanation. He died.

And then, of course, we have the great consequence. He glorified God. He glorified God by saying, truly, this was a righteous man.

Seven times over in Luke's gospel, men give glory to God as a result of Christ. At many times, it's his miracles. It's his healing.

It's his kindness to people. And time and again, they turn around and give glory to God. Here's the final one.

A man who gives glory to God as a result of his confession of the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteous character. So the confession of the witness. But I want to come then to Joseph, the fearless.

I want you to think, first of all, of the man himself. Then we'll look for a moment at the ministry he performs, and then a final word about the mourners who follow the Lord Jesus Christ in the cortege to the tomb. If I were to ask you, how does Matthew introduce Joseph of Arimathea? Matthew introduces Joseph as a rich man, as a rich man.

How does Mark introduce Joseph of Arimathea? He doesn't mention his being rich. He says he was an honorable counselor. He did his job well.

Luke will introduce him as a good man. John will introduce him as just a disciple. Doesn't mention him being rich.

Doesn't mention him being good. Doesn't mention him being honorable. It just says he was a disciple.

Now, you may say those are minor differences. They may be minor, but they're major in light of the theme of each gospel. In Matthew, the king has come.

He's been rejected. He's going to be given a royal burial by someone who is rich and can afford it. So Matthew is going to stress for us the richness of the man who buried Christ, able to afford a burial befitting a king.

Mark is the gospel of the perfect servant, a man who did his job well. So how is Mark going to introduce Joseph of Arimathea? A man who did his job well, an honorable counselor. Luke has been dealing with a man who was a good man.

So what kind of man can bury a good man? A good man. He was a good man and had not consented to the counsel and deed of those. And when you're dealing with the son of God in John's gospel, the very best you could ever hope to be as a disciple, just a privilege to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, God's son.

So each gospel is going to introduce this man, Joseph, in a unique way, in absolute consistency with the theme of each gospel writer. Now, those little touches are so valuable in confirming to us the inspiration of the book we hold in our hand and its total consistency and unity as it presents truth. And it should be mentioned as well.

Well, if you take the four gospel accounts, there are differences being noted between the writers. Different things are being stressed by different writers. And on the surface, at times, it seems like how do these things fit together? But the very fact that it is so different is confirmation of their veracity.

Because if they all agreed 100 percent, there'd be a suspicion that there's a collusion, that they've gotten together and decided to write a script that they'll all follow. But the fact that all four stress different aspects of the resurrection morning and different aspects of his appearing confirm for us each is coming at the event with their own unique perspective afforded by the spirit of God about that particular event. So we are reminded here, then, of the character of this man.

He is a good man who comes to bury a good man. You notice as well his courage. He takes a stand against what others are doing.

He stands out. He had not consented to the counsel and deed of them, we're told in verse number 51. He would not go along with the crowd.

He stood out against the peer pressure of his day. And he is going to come forward to bury the Lord Jesus. What Joseph did, hopefully have time to look at this in a tad more detail.

What Joseph did was not just give an honorable burial to the Lord Jesus. What Joseph did made confirmation of the resurrection possible. It's interesting that if the Jews wanted to put someone to death, they stoned them.

But the word of God said he would be put to death by the way the Romans crucified. But then he was not to be buried the Romans buried. He was to be buried after the manner of the Jews.

So the Jews deliver him to Gentiles to crucify. Gentiles deliver him back to the Jews for a burial. Now we'll see why that's important.

Luke doesn't stress it as much as John does. But we'll notice in a moment or two why that is so crucial and why the action of this man is so vital. But not only that, had the Jews had their way, had the Jews had their way, he would have been buried with the wicked in his death.

Isaiah 53. They appointed his grave with the wicked, but God appointed it with the rich man in his death. Had the Jews had their way about the burial of Christ, his body would have been thrown in a common grave.

And to prove resurrection would have been impossible. There'd be no empty sepulcher. In fact, at times they would just simply dig a large pit at the bottom of those crosses and all three bodies consigned to the same space.

And again, if one was missing out of the three, how would you prove it was Christ? Bodies marred, forms marred, visage marred, and so on. So what Joseph is doing is of incredible value. It will be able to confirm resurrection truth, as we'll come to at the beginning of chapter 24.

So his courage is seen, and he frustrates the desires of the Jewish leaders to appoint him his grave with the wicked in a common grave with others. He's going to be buried in a separate tomb, and that separate tomb will make resurrection provable, if I can use that expression. It will make it clear that he has risen from the tomb.

Let me just mention, I know we're not in John's gospel, but I think it's helpful because a lot of you've heard probably 325 sermons on Joseph of Arimathea being a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, and the cross gave him courage to come out. I don't think that's what it means. Remember that punctuation was not present in the original writings of the Word of God.

They did not punctuate. There were no verses. There was no punctuation.

It was just one continual writing, paragraphs possibly, but nothing else. Joseph secreted himself because he did not want the Jews to know he went into Pilate. The secret was not a secret disciple.

The secret was that he had gone into Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus because he knew the Jews would not be happy with him for giving him an honorable burial. They wanted him to be buried among the wicked. Joseph wanted him to be buried in a separate tomb.

Now, I don't think that Joseph knew the truth of resurrection. Again, I think we mentioned this the other night, so let me mention it again if I didn't, and that is just this. Any deed that is done in devotion to Christ will have far greater consequences than you ever could imagine.

Joseph likely only thought so far as this. I want to give him a kingly burial. I want to give him a burial befitting his person.

Now, why he had a tomb in Jerusalem, how much he foresaw, I don't know, but whatever the case, he was trying to give the Lord Jesus Christ an honorable burial, and so he was going to go in secretly to Pilate and to beg, ask, plead for the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. I want you to think of the, not just the man himself, but the ministry, what he did.

I want you, first of all, to think of the crisis. Now, what I mean by that is this. We know from Mark's gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ said it is finished at the, we'll say, three o'clock in the afternoon, the ninth hour in their reckoning.

So three o'clock in the afternoon. Six o'clock was sundown. The body had to be down from the cross.

So Joseph had from three o'clock to six o'clock to do the very work for which he was born. He had a three-hour window to accomplish the very reason he was on planet Earth. Now, he may have done other things in his life.

He may have done tremendous things in the early church. We don't know. But all we have is this small cameo appearance of a man on the stage of history to carry out one tremendous event, and then he's not heard of again.

So he had a three-hour window to do everything he was supposed to do to give meaning to his life. Now, I'm thankful that likely none of us here have just a three-hour window, but whatever it is, it is still a very short window of time. Life goes by very, very fast.

Those of you who are younger, God bless you, you can't appreciate what I'm saying. But life goes by very quickly. And lots of things you intend to do, lots of things you expected to accomplish in your life, lots of things you wanted to do for the Lord, and you get into your 70s and you realize it's too late.

You can't turn the clock back. We all have a very small window of time. So when Peter picks up his pen and he's writing to believers, he says, the time past of your life sufficed to do the will of the Gentiles.

You live that way long enough. You did what other people did long enough and you satisfied your own pleasures long enough. He said, now live the rest of your time, that window that God has given you, live the rest of your time, the rest of your days to the will of God.

Each of us has a short span of time in which to serve and honor the Lord Jesus. For Joseph, it was three hours. For some, it may be 30 years, but whatever it is, in light of eternity, it's a very brief time that we have.

And here was a man who was going to to use the time he had to accomplish what God had sent him to do. It was Jim Elliott, the martyred missionary to Ecuador who said, wherever you are, be all there. Wherever you are, be all there.

Just don't be always living on the fringe and on the border. Be totally committed to whatever you're engaged in and doing for the Lord. And so we're reminded here of his ministry, the crisis of his ministry.

But it also took courage to identify himself with someone whom Rome deemed a criminal, took courage to identify himself with Christ when he went to ask for the body. Now, I know we're not talking about identification with the body of the Lord Jesus from the cross, but it takes courage to identify yourself with a crucified Christ today. At school, at work, in the neighborhood, it takes courage to be linked and to be identified with the Lord Jesus.

Of course, that's what a that's what a person does when they get baptized. They identify with his death, burial and resurrection. They take their place, identifying with him.

Here was Joseph identifying himself with a man who was despised and esteemed as having been stricken, smitten of God. And he's willingly identifying. There's also a and this is just a personal, almost a speculation.

There's a consciousness he has of the uniqueness, because you recall that the Jews who were about to eat the Passover did not go into Pilate's judgment hall, lest they should be defiled so they could eat the Passover. Now, for Joseph to take the Lord Jesus Christ down from the cross for a normal Jew handling a normal dead body, it meant defilement. So one of two things, either Joseph realized there is no possible defilement handling this body or possibly what he was thinking is we don't need a Passover anymore.

Christ, our Passover, here is the one who has fulfilled all that the Passover spoke of. And I don't have to eat the Passover tomorrow. I've got my Passover.

And it could be that both things were in his mind. No defilement handling this body and no need of a Passover because the antitype, the fulfillment of the Passover had come, his consciousness of it. Notice as well the care.

Isn't it interesting that Luke tells us at the beginning of his gospel that he was wrapped in linen clothes. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Tells us that she wrapped him in linen at his birth.

He's wrapped in linen again at his death. The absolute, dependent, pure, perfect man wrapped in linen at his death. One Joseph at his birth, another Joseph at his death.

God bringing Joseph's along to care for his own son. So what then is the significance that he was placed in a tomb where never man was laid? You have to go back to 2nd Kings 13. There it says that Elisha had died and was buried and was put in a sepulcher.

And then you read that the Moabites were invading the land and they were burying a man. And when they saw the Moabites coming, they threw the body into the sepulcher where Elisha was. And when the man touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life.

So if anybody else had been in the tomb, the Jews who knew their history so well could have said it wasn't Christ, it was the man whose bones he touched that gave him life. But the tomb was empty, totally empty. No one had ever been in it before.

A pristine virgin tomb. And they could never say it was because his bones, his body touched the bones of someone else who was in there that somehow gave him life. The miracle of Elisha repeated again here.

An empty tomb, a unique burial. Now I mentioned the importance of Joseph having that body to bury it. Both the Greeks and the Romans mutilated bodies in burial.

The Jews had such respect for the body that it was kept absolutely intact. No mutilation of a body in burial. So John in his writings will tell us he was buried after the manner of the Jews.

Stressing for us, nothing was touched in that body. Absolutely kept as it went into the tomb. Perfect in every way.

And so we are reminded then of the connotation, the specialness of this burial. So that a body totally intact, not mutilated. A tomb that no one had ever laid in before.

A sepulcher with only one way in. No other way. It was shewn out of a rock.

No back door. Everything, everything here calculated to make it very clear that there was only one answer for an empty tomb. And that is resurrection.

The resurrection. And I hardly need to tell you, you've all read books. You've all been exposed to it.

There have been those who have been, who have come to the account of the resurrection of Christ. Legal minds have come to it and have taken all of the accounts together. All of the both biblical evidence as well as historic evidence.

And by historic evidence, what I mean is evidence such as men who were willing to die for what they believed. And any idea of a conspiracy among 500 men or 12 disciples that would go as far as all of them willing to die for this. I mean, most men, someone would eventually crack under that kind of pressure and stress.

But every one of them, no mass delusion, no conspiracy theories here. The only explanation that legal minds have come to is that resurrection is the only reasonable answer for all of the evidence that is given to us here. You'll notice the mourners just very hurriedly.

Joseph and Nicodemus and the women. Now Nicodemus, of course, we have to come to John's gospel to get. But Joseph and Nicodemus, the women, marry Magdalene, marry the mother and so on.

Notice how carefully we're told that at the end of chapter number 23, that they beheld the sepulcher, how his body was laid. So they were eyewitnesses. They knew exactly the right sepulcher, the right location.

So everything is the stage is being set here to confirm in absolute certainty that the truth of resurrection, as they follow the body of the Lord Jesus Christ to its final resting place here, they would be faithful to the end. Faithful to the very last. He was dead.

And at this point in time, as far as I can understand, none of them had any concept of resurrection. And yet they were still going to be faithful to him. I think it's touching.

It's John's gospel that tells us of Mary weeping in the garden. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes as the gardener or comes to her and she assumes he's the gardener and he asks her, why is she weeping? Her words are touching. They have taken away my Lord.

She still confessed, even though she assumed he was dead, she still confessed him as her Lord. Even though he was dead, that didn't change her affection, didn't change her loyalty, didn't change her love, didn't change her faithfulness. She would own him as her Lord when the rest of the world called him an imposter and a fraud.

She calls him my Lord. Faithful to the very, very end. But come now to chapter 24 quickly.

And I want you to think of the women here. Notice it tells us in verse number one, very early in the morning. You'll notice the stress on that.

Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came until the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared. For these women, service and sacrifice was a priority. Very early in the morning.

The first opportunity. They had rested the Sabbath. Their service would have to be according to the word of God.

The Sabbath day was a day set aside for rest, no labor. So they rested the Sabbath day. So their service is going to be marked by zeal, marked by devotion, but it's also going to be marked by obeying the scripture.

And they come very early in the morning. First thing, first opportunity, they come with their spices. But I've put next to their name, the word needless.

It's interesting that each gospel stresses something that was needless. In the gospel of Matthew, there was a needless watch. They could set a watch, but it was absolutely needless that they could not.

They could not deter the resurrection of Christ. Interesting in Matthew that when the angel appears, it tells us in Matthew that the keepers became as dead men. So the living became like dead and the dead became alive in Matthew.

So there was a needless watch. In Mark, Mark stresses for us that they were concerned as they came to the tomb. Who's going to roll us away the stone? We weren't even thinking.

Here we are. We've been preparing. We weren't even thinking about who's going to roll away the stone.

I mean, it was a massive thing and women coming to move the stone. So there was, when they got there, they found the stone rolled away. Needless worry.

Resurrection tells me that we get upset with a lot of needless worry. Everything's in control. Everything is under his control.

The one who rose from the dead is in absolute control of all and all of my worrying about things. Very meaningless. He's in control of all.

Here in Luke, we're going to be reading soon about needless wavering. Two on the road to Emmaus and they're wavering. Their faith is about to die out.

We thought, how can it all be? Needless worrying, needless wavering. And when you come to the gospel of John, needless weeping. Woman, why are you weeping? You don't have to weep.

He's alive. So here are things that are needless. It was lovely, their devotion, the wanting to come with spices and wanting to come with ointments.

But it was also unnecessary. It was needless. He was alive and did not need all that they had come to do.

The message they heard that day, the angelic messengers came declaring his resurrection. And here, as we mentioned already, here alone in Luke's gospel, the angel reminds them, don't you remember what he said? That he would rise the third day and they remembered, we're told here, they remembered his words and returned from the sepulcher. The word of Christ made all the difference.

The words of Christ turned sorrow to joy, despondency to hope and changed them entirely. Just the word of Christ. I think most of you are familiar, usually just sung either at Easter or Christmas time with Handel's Great Messiah, considered to be one of the great oratorios of in the English language ever composed.

What maybe you don't know is that prior to Handel penning that tremendous work, he was a depressed and broken man. He had tried writing other oratorios and other works and his fortune had gradually gone downhill. He was almost bankrupt.

He was very depressed and was basically a broken man at that point in time in his life. Charles Jennings was the man who actually wrote the words of what we call the Messiah. Charles Jennings was a friend of Handel's and he brought the manuscript to Handel and asked Handel to write the music to it.

When Handel began reading all the scripture that was quoted in Jennings' work and began writing the music to it, I think it was only 21 days that he wrote all of the music and it totally transformed him. He said, I thought I was lifted to the very gate of heaven. The word of God had that tremendous impact on him.

As all of the truth concerning the coming of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, as he read it day after day and composed his music, it totally transformed him. I did think I did see all heaven before me and the great God himself, he said. And a man who had been broken and depressed was totally transformed by the word of God.

These women had come to the tomb sorrowful, grieving, lamenting a loss. The word of Christ, when they remembered it, that's what he said he would do. It made all the difference.

We mentioned the other night and hardly needs to be repeated the importance of having the word of God in our hearts, in our consciences. They remembered the word, they remembered his words. Memory is a double-edged sword.

Memory can haunt us, torment us if we allow it. But memory also brings with it joy, delight, all of the memories that flood back to us, family and family times and loved ones and all those things that are so precious. They remembered the word of the Lord.

The women, the disciples, the disciples were heedless. We read here that their words seem to them as idle tales. And they believe the word really there is the idea of delusions.

You women are just having delusions. You're delusional. You're just all emotional.

And that's not the last time that men thought women were a bit emotional, but they were obviously wrong. They thought they were just wild tales that you're telling us. Where'd you get all this? Here it is.

The women, in fact, it's interesting that the women are far more tuned in, in the last week of the Lord's life than the men were. It is Mary that comes with her alabaster box of ointment. It is the women who line the streets weeping for him.

It is women who stand at the cross. It is women who come to the tomb. I mean, the women were the ones who were in touch and were aware of what was going on.

The men are totally outside of it. And the women come and they tell the disciples and they seem like idle tales and they they believe not. The Lord Jesus Christ later on in Mark's gospel, it says he will abrade them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.

But the very next thing he says, go ye into all the world and preach despite their unbelief, despite their failure, despite their hardness of heart. He still wants to use them. Could I just bring that down to 2019 to myself, to all here, despite our failures, despite our lack of faith, despite our slowness, he still delights to use us.

Finally, there's Peter. And for once, Peter is speechless. Now we'd have to go to John's gospel.

John's gospel uses here in our account in Luke, we just read that Peter beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed. When you're reading in John, you read about Peter and John together running to the... and it uses three different words for seeing. One word means to glance.

The other word that is used in John's gospel means to gaze at something and to look at it fixedly. But the third word means to grasp. It says that John grasped what had happened.

John realized the linen clothes by themselves, the headband and everything just in... It wasn't as though things were unwrapped. The very wrappings were still there intact, but no body inside. And the only answer was a resurrection.

Now, Peter here seems to be a bit slow to grasp it. John grasped it. But Peter leaves wondering, amazed.

What's all this about? And he is going to soon learn as we come into chapter... the rest of chapter 24 and with the others, the wonderful truth of resurrection. Limited appreciation, and yet the Lord is so gracious, so patient, so understanding in all of his dealings with his own, as we see here. Later on, Peter will stand forth with boldness and declare the truth of resurrection.

Here he is just beginning to get a glimmer of truth. Thankfully, the Lord is patient with all of us as we are so slow in grasping truth. And yet Peter is going to be the great spokesman for the first half of the book of Acts on the great truth of resurrection.

The one who did not believe it at first, the one who was so slow to grasp it. Yet he is going to be the mighty proclaimer to a guilty nation of this grand truth of resurrection. Again, it reminds us of how good and gracious the Lord is in using any of us.

We are so slow. We are so halting in our faith and in our grasp of divine truth. And yet he so patiently and tenderly works with us and uses us.

So we trust that God will encourage as well as challenge. And tomorrow night in the will of the Lord, we'll complete chapter 24. It is a long section, so we will just be highlighting some truths from it.

But they are wonderful truths. I think a dear friend of mine said recently to me, if he could go back to any time in Bible history, the one time he would love to have been present was to walk the Emmaus Road with the Lord Jesus and the two who trod that road that day. And we'll consider together some of the implications of that journey and how they can also be encouraging to us as we walk as well and seek to honor him in our lives.