Luke 24:1-12

Welcome to the day that… this is really death’s worst day on the calendar right here, because He is risen! He is risen indeed, and we celebrate that happy resurrection day to all of you today here coming visiting whoever you are.

If you brought a copy of Scripture with you, and if you didn’t, know wonder… no worries. We’ll put the words up here. But you can turn to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. All four Gospels record the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we’re going to be in Luke’s Gospel and maybe John’s here a little bit later. But let me just pick it up in chapter 24 and verse 1. Here’s the account from Luke’s perspective.

Luke 24:1-12

1 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they (the women) went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, (By the way, the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to let us in. Amen?)

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.

(They had their Easter outfits on!)

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 (at at least five women. Remember that) 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.”

One of my heroes of the faith, he’s a theologian who now has advanced Parkinson’s, and so he can no longer speak publicly. Just before that occurred to him, he said:

“I’m not suffering from anything that a good resurrection can’t fix.” [D.A. Carson]

(congregation laughing)

And that’s true of everyone who has a relationship with Jesus. But I was just thinking about this, coming into this Easter season. This is like my 40th Easter message I’ve ever preached. I never get tired of it, because it’s what makes the Gospel Good News, Amen? I was thinking about it. Every single Easter, I am compelled to prove that Jesus rose from the dead. Every Easter! I feel compelled to prove to you that Jesus rose from the dead. I was thinking about that, because I don’t feel that way at Christmas time. I don’t feel compelled to prove to you that Jesus came. Now I could do that and there is proof, and I don’t feel that way on Good Friday. I don’t feel at Good Friday I need to prove to you that Jesus, God in the flesh, died on the cross. Now I could. There’s plenty of evidence to that end, but most of you believe that He died. Most of the people back in that day believe that He died, and today most people believe that. Now unless you’re a Muslim… you don’t believe, you don’t believe He died, because if you did, you’d become a Christian. But at Easter, I feel compelled to prove that He died. And I think the reason why is because of the finality written all over death, right? When somebody dies that’s it, right? We don’t think beyond that. We’re just in mourning. And the finality of death and the miracle of the resurrection is what gives way to doubters. And some of you might be one of those doubters. So this message is titled For Those Who Doubt. It’s for you. It’s for all of us, but for those who doubt, because I want to give you some evidences, and they’re not complete. This isn’t complete. But these are significant, and there are reasons enough for you to believe that God in the flesh didn’t just die, but rose again for you. Okay?

The first is supernatural. All right? And by the way, before I even go there, the supernatural, the same Luke who wrote Luke’s Gospel wrote the book of Acts. And here’s how he started the book of Acts.

Acts 1:3 (NIV) “After Jesus’s suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs…” (That word convincing… only time it ever appears in the Bible. It literally means “irrefutable.” Just… “infallible” as the old translation puts it. But here, convincing proofs that He was alive.) ‘He appeared to them over a period of 40 days…’ (Remember that) ‘and spoke about the kingdom of God.’

And so as I said, here’s the first evidence I wanna give you. It’s supernatural. Just as we sang a little bit ago… NO body. Amen? There’s NO body in the tomb. Verse six says:

Luke 24:6 ‘He’s not here… He’s risen!’

You think about that. Think about going to graves today. If you… most of us here have been to a graveyard. Some of you have visited relatives and friends who’ve passed away, grandparents, perhaps. Why do you go there? Why do you go to the graveyard? Well, you say to pay your respects, it’s a holiday, whatever, it’s their birthday. But we won’t say this, but most of the time we go to that graveyard, ’cause we know their remains are in there, right? The remains are still in there. There are NO remains of Jesus. Amen? — NO remains! — because the body was resurrected. Jesus Himself said in John chapter 5 verse 28, He said:

John 5:28, ‘There’s coming a day when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth…’

Think about that for a moment. The One who conquered the grave will call everyone from their graves. And that means everyone. It’s not just Christians that are gonna raise from the dead. You who are not believers in Jesus will raise too. The rest of the verse says:

John 5:28b, ‘… some to everlasting life, the rest to… well, the alternative is everlasting death.’

Which one’s gonna… which one it will be for you? How are you gonna rise when you rise? — because you will rise. It was a supernatural resurrection.

The physical evidence is powerful, as well. You saw the term in Acts 1, verse 3. We showed it earlier.

[Acts 1:3 (NIV) “After Jesus’s suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that were convincing.”]

Jesus didn’t just pop up from the grave and then ascended to heaven. He could have, but He stuck around for 40 days, a month and a half! He hung out with His disciples proving irrefutably that He was alive! In fact, if you skip down in chapter 24 of Luke, down to verse 38, He basically, when He appeared on that Easter morning to all of hHis disciples, He showed that He wasn’t a hologram, He wasn’t an apparition, He wasn’t a vision. Here’s what He said:

Luke 24:38-39

38 ‘Why are you troubled and why do you doubt, why do doubts arise in your hearts?

39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself?’ (What’s the next two words? What does He invite them to do?) Touch Me…’ (and they did) ‘and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’

Jesus didn’t just rise from the dead. He rose bodily from the dead! He is the resurrected, glorified, embodied Lord Jesus Christ.

Now here’s another reason you ought to believe in the resurrection, another evidence. And that’s the multiples. There were multiple appearances. There were multiple days. Remember, He didn’t just arise and go up and have. He stayed for multiple days… a month and a half… here on Earth. But there were multiple appearances.

Now, if a witness in a court of law, if you can bring two or more witnesses… I mean, that’s just irrefutable. But there are 10 recorded witnesses in both the Gospel accounts and later on in 1 Corinthians 15 of individuals who saw Jesus, interacted with Him. And the reason I say this is because we’re told in 1 Corinthians 15, over 500 people at one time saw Jesus… over 500! And why do I say that? — because if only a couple saw Jesus and told everybody about it, we might chalk them up as a bunch of wild-eyed crazies, right? But you’ve got hundreds and hundreds of people who saw Jesus during that month and a half time. These are reasons to believe!

And then the unexplainable. This is another powerful evidence. I’m talking about the changed lives. And the women… by the way, did you notice there were at least five women mentioned in the passage I just read? The reason I bring this up, if you were going to fabricate that a resurrection took place, you’re going to make up the story, as some say Christians did, you wouldn’t start with women. No, no… no offense gals, but in the first century you wouldn’t listen to a woman give a testimony. They would not even be allowed to testify in a court of law. And yet God, out of His deep respect for you gals, He puts women as the very first witnesses of the resurrected Jesus!

And then the disciples. Now, we’re told by this same Luke that as the Gospel went forth, as people were getting saved, as the church was growing, we’re told in Acts 17, they were turning the world upside down!

[Acts 17:6, “And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down…”]

Have you ever read that? Now think about that. Think about Who was doing this. These were the scaredy-cats who couldn’t keep their own worlds right side up much less turn the world, the whole world, upside down! How do you account for that? I’ll tell you how you account for it. A resurrected Jesus! That‘s how you account for it! They would put their lives on the line, because they knew that they would live again, because their Savior lived again. And to this day, we have missionaries all over the world doing the same thing, putting their lives on the line for the Gospel, because they know, though they die, yet shall they live… evidence of changed lives.

And then finally just the personal stories that are evidence that He lived again, and there are many! I could talk about the Apostle Paul. I could talk about Lydia. I could talk about Cornelius. I could talk about others whose lives were radically changed by the Gospel.

But I want you to make your way over to John chapter 20. If you’ve got a Bible there, otherwise, again, we’ll put it up there for you. In John chapter 20 it’s another account of Jesus’ resurrection, and I wanna talk about the doubter’s conversion. And you know who I’m talking about, don’t you? There’s an idiom after his name. What’s the idiom? You’re a what? — Doubting Thomas. And I mean… what a way to be remembered! But I would just say to you that I think he gets a bad rap. Thomas wasn’t a shrinking violet. He’s mentioned a couple of times in the Gospel of John. In fact, in [John] chapter 11, remember the story where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? So Jesus is in another town when He gets word that His friend Lazarus has died. And He says to His disciples, ‘Hey, let’s go to Bethany. Let’s go there and we’ll wake up our friend Lazarus.’ And they go, ‘Hey, Jesus… not a good idea! They tried to kill You the last time you were in that area! And besides, he’s sleeping anyway, so he’ll wake up.’ ‘No, he’s dead!’ — Jesus said. ‘And I’m gonna go there.’ Thomas spoke up and said, ‘Let’s go with him. We’ll die with Him.’ [John 11:16] That’s not a scaredy-cat who talks like that. There was courage in this man.

In fact, it was also Thomas on the night before Jesus died who’s question to Jesus gave way to one of the greatest statements in all of the Bible. Jesus said to His disciples, ‘I’m going to be with My Father.’ And Thomas said, ‘If you’re going there, how can we know the way?’ And Jesus said, ‘Thomas, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ [John 14:6] So, John chapter 20 is the story… and the only time we read the story of Thomas.

Now there are four records of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have them all here: Matthew, Mark, Luke and… John. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called synoptic Gospels. The reason why is because they’re very similar, and they were written relatively around the same time. John’s Gospel was written 30 years later… 30 years later. Matthew, Mark and… Luke, none of them told a story of Thomas. No one would have known the story of Thomas except for the disciples. But what happened was in 30 years, a whole new generation of doubters raised up, and it’s like the Holy Spirit said to John, ‘Hey John, put that story of Thomas in there.’ And do you remember the story? Well, let’s renew it again, shall we? John chapter 20 verse 24, it says:

John 20:24, “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin,” (and I think the doubters out here… we’re his twins) “was not with them when Jesus came.” (that is, when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning Thomas wasn’t there when He revealed Himself to His disciples) “So the other disciples told him (Thomas) “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my hand in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’

There’s the powerful declaration… negative one, and that’s where he gets his doubt moniker. But I would say to you that Thomas is representative of all doubters. In fact, I think he’s representative, not just of the other disciples, because they doubted, too. In fact, Luke tells us back in Luke chapter 24, it says when Jesus first appeared to them, it says:

[Luke 24:41] ‘The ten stood there in disbelief,‘ (Do you see that?) ‘filled with joy and wonder.’

Now what’s this, herky jerky? — ‘disbelief filled with joy and wonder.’ That word disbelief there that you’re looking at, it’s just used a handful of times in the Bible. It literally carries the idea, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me! This is too good to be true!‘ That’s the idea here.

I know that our country is at war right now. And I was thinking… I grew up actually in the Vietnam generation. I didn’t fight in Vietnam, but my brother Steve did. He was there during some of those pitch battles that took place. And there was another individual, his name was Porter Halyburton. He was a fighter pilot. He and his co-pilot were flying over North Vietnam in May of 1965. It was their 76th mission, and they were shot down and killed in action. And I was thinking about that, because there is a scene… I think it’s one of the most powerful scenes hardly anybody ever talks about in the epic movie, Saving Private Ryan. Do you remember? — when these soldiers are killed and the mother of the soldiers, she’s cleaning dishes at the sink, and she looks out the window and and she sees this car… military car… pulling up, and it’s very powerful and pathetic. And she makes her way to the porch. And you can just sense the tension in her body as she makes her way there. And she stands there shaking. It’s not until the chaplain gets out of the car that she completely loses it. It’s just… it’s so pathetic. They’re called “Notification Officers.” They showed up at Marty Halyburton’s home to tell her about her husband, Porter. This is his gravestone right here. It’s got his life, his death, and then that line, “Killed in combat over North Vietnam.” Do you know where that gravestone is? It’s on the entrance to his house. You’ve gotta walk over the top of it as you go into his house… because a year and a half later, the Notification Officers came back and they said, “He’s alive!” Can you believe that? That’s the idea in this word “disbelief.” This is too good to be true! You’ve gotta be kidding me! He lived a long life.

Here’s the difference. Jesus did die, and came back! Thomas didn’t have to wait a year and a half. He only had to wait eight days, but he did have to wait… eight days. I think that’s kind of almost humorous, right? Jesus didn’t just show up again. He made him wait. And you remember the scene eight days later? Let’s look at it again, shall we?

John 20:26-29

26 “Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

27 Then he said to Thomas, (as if he were… silently present a week earlier, which he was) “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

28 ‘And Thomas says, (we don’t even know if he actually did it. Thomas just falls down and says) “My Lord and my God!” (which is exactly what Jesus was, Amen?)

29 ‘And Jesus says, ‘Thomas, you believe because you’ve seen me? Blessed… (and that’s what some of you are still awaiting) ‘Blessed are those who believe, who’ve never seen Me.’

I want to conclude my time with a thought from another passage of scripture. I’ll put it up there for you in a minute. I know all of us are, we have a little “Missouri” in us… You know, “the Show Me State?” We all wanna see it. We wanna see the evidence. I’m telling you, there’s tons of evidence that He’s alive! … and it’s all right here in God’s word.

But there is a passage of Scripture that has always confounded me, and some of you have even memorized it. Here’s how it goes. Paul said this. He said:

[Philippians 3:10] ‘I wanna know Christ and the power of His (what?) resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.’

And this is what’s been confounding to me. As I look at this. isn’t there something inverted here? Shouldn’t it say, ‘I want to know Christ and the power of his suffering that I may share in His resurrection’? That’s the order of it all, isn’t it? We suffer, we die, we rise again. Amen? Was Paul just sort of not thinking straight when he said,  ‘I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection? Why would he put that first? Here’s the reason God would have him put it first… because the resurrection is a doctrine of hope. It gives you, the believer in Jesus Christ, a surging sense of hope no matter what you’re going through. That’s what it does. Advances in medicine might add years to your life, but only a resurrected Jesus can add life to your years.

Now recently we’ve experienced a number of heavies in our church; in my own life personally, people that are sick, some that are dying, some heartbroken over broken relationships. And then there’s those who just, there’s just something sort of hanging over them like the ‘what ifs.’ ‘What if this turns out to be… this?’ ‘What if this turns out to be…?’ Can you relate to that? I’m telling you, if you know the resurrected Jesus, the resurrection answers every single one of those worries, every single one of those losses, every single one of those doubts… it answers every one of them.

Just the other day I was in a hospital next to one of those individuals facing a life and death surgery. He was not well, but he was a fervent follower of Jesus, and his wife was right off to the side. I shared some truth with him, and I prayed with him. And the anesthesiologist was about to come in and put him under. And he looked at his wife, and he said, “Hey, honey, I’ll see you on the other side…” And then he paused, and he said, “… one side or the other.” And I love that! That was a man of faith. I’ll see you on the other side. You know what that meant. ‘After the surgery… after I survive the surgery.’ But he understood that there was no guarantee of that. And so he said, “I’ll see you on the other side… one side or the other.”

What side will you be on when you wake up after dying? Jesus said:

John 11:25-26

25 “… I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and he who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

That was Jesus’ question. Do you believe this? — because if you do, I’ll see you on the other side! Let’s pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the resurrected Lord, the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus. He was both crucified for our sins, raised up from the dead to prove that everything He said, everything He did… was true. And I pray for everyone in this room and those who are watching online knowing that we will die, knowing that we will be buried, and knowing that we will rise again, but only those who know You, Lord Jesus, will rise unto eternal life. Lord, we want them to see You on the other side, worship You on the other side, be reunited with all the saints and loved ones on the other side. If you, dear friend, have never repented of your sin, believed that Jesus died for you, believed that Jesus rose from the grave, and yet you believe it now, tell God that. Acknowledge your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved and seen by Him on the other side. We pray these things in His Name. Amen.

Let’s all stand.