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[0:00] Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word. Heavenly Father, we know that our salvation and every progress we make in the spiritual life, they depend on what Christ did, his death, his resurrection, and his sending of your Holy Spirit.

[0:45] Lord, we don't want to lose sight of that. We want to remember that truth daily. We want to live in accordance with that truth.

[0:56] Amen. Because that's where the power and perseverance for every believer come. So we pray that you'd remind us of that.

[1:13] And as you always do, speak to us this morning in the reading and preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray.

[1:24] Amen. Amen. Luke 24, verses 1 to 12. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

[1:45] And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

[2:01] 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? He is not here, but has risen.

[2:13] Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

[2:26] And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now, it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other woman with them who told these things to the apostles.

[2:44] But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in.

[2:57] He saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. This is God's holy and authoritative word. Every single human being that has ever graced the history books that we read has died and is dead, except for one, our Lord Jesus.

[3:24] The death which has plagued humanity since Adam, the very first human, was defeated at the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. So that we who trust in him are promised eternal resurrection life.

[3:41] And if you really grasp this and come to grips with this reality, then your life is not going to be the same. You can't return to business as usual. It changes your life.

[3:53] It gives you his resurrection power. And that's my prayer for us this morning as we go through this passage, that we'll be confronted with the reality of the resurrection so that we live every day believing and remembering the good news that Jesus Christ was delivered, crucified, and raised to give us life.

[4:13] That's the main point of this passage. I'm going to talk about it in two points. First, we're going to talk about remembering the word of Christ. And secondly, we'll talk about believing the word of Christ.

[4:26] Before we dive right into our chapter, though, look back with me at the last two verses of chapter 23, which we covered last week. It says, So it was customary in those days for people, the loved ones that are remaining, to take the deceased person's body, to wash it, anoint it, and wrap it so that it doesn't decompose too rapidly.

[5:00] And so these faithful women who, unlike most of Jesus' 12 apostles, accompany Jesus to the end, they are getting ready for their life after Jesus.

[5:11] They expect Jesus' body to rot after his death. So they prepare spices and ornaments. And as all the faithful Jews did, these women, on the Sabbath, they rest according to the commandment.

[5:29] So Jesus has died, and now they are returning to their lives, their old lives, business as usual. But something unusual is about to happen.

[5:42] It says in verse 1 of chapter 24, But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

[5:53] So the Jewish Sabbath runs from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, but probably because it's hard to locate a cave in a tomb, a tomb in a cave that's in the dark in the middle of the night.

[6:05] They went away for daylight. And as soon as there's light at the crack of dawn, they go to anoint Jesus' body. And every one of the four gospels, as Luke does here, records that Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week.

[6:21] They also use sometimes, as Luke later does, the more traditional formula that we know on the third day. But this is intentional. There is a reason why they say that Jesus was raised on the first day, and they emphasize that because it conveys a note of hope and renewal.

[6:41] And this is in the same way, that's for the same reason we like the new year. Something fresh, something new, a clean slate, a hope, new beginning. That's what that first day represents.

[6:54] Jesus' resurrection makes all things new. And that's why Christians from the earliest times switch their worship time and day to Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and to worship on that day instead of on the Saturday, on the Sabbath, as Jews had historically done.

[7:15] And not just on the first day of the week, the woman also journeyed to the tomb, it says, at early dawn. And Luke, like John, makes use of this light-darkness motif throughout his gospel.

[7:27] Just before Jesus' birth, his would-be uncle, Zechariah, prophesies in Luke 1, 78-79, the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

[7:46] And Jesus teaches in Luke 11, 34-35, your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

[7:57] Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness. And notably, just when Jesus was being delivered into the hands of sinful men to be tried and executed, Jesus said in Luke 22, verse 53, when I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness.

[8:20] And when Jesus finally breathed his last, he says in Luke 23, verse 44, there was darkness over the whole land. Luke is playing on this motif to tell us that something is happening.

[8:33] It's the early dawn. The woman had come to mourn Jesus. They had come to see death, a grotesque reality, but it's the first day of the week.

[8:45] It's early dawn and something strange and radical and new is afoot. And we find the first clue of Jesus' resurrection in verse 2.

[8:57] And they find the stone rolled away from the tomb. So in those days, a tomb cut in stone would be covered with this big kind of slab of disc-like stone.

[9:07] It'd be rolled in front of it to cover it up and keep people just that have no business being in there from getting into it. And so the fact that the stone is rolled away suggests some kind of tempering.

[9:20] Something's happened. But this doesn't deter the woman. Mark 16, 3, a parallel account tells us that the women were asking themselves, who among them will roll away the stone? So they're probably a little relieved that it's rolled away, but they're probably also troubled.

[9:34] Maybe they're wondering there was a grave robbery, which was common in those days, although that robber would not have found much to take in this tomb. So they head right on in, still expecting to find Jesus' body there.

[9:51] But, it says in verse 3, when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Notice that there's a repetition of the word find in verses 2 to 3.

[10:02] It forms a nice contrast between verse 2 and verse 3 and heightens our expectation for the resurrection. Because in verse 2, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

[10:13] But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord. The stone they did not expect to find rolled away, they found rolled away. And the body that they did expect to find, they did not find.

[10:27] What could this possibly mean? So verse 4 continues, while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

[10:38] We learn later in verse 23 that these are, in fact, angels. Throughout Scripture, angels often appear in the likeness of man, human likeness. And the dazzling apparel is a clue to this because Luke often describes heavenly beings with this word, dazzling.

[10:56] So example in Luke 9, 29 to 30, when Jesus is transfigured into his heavenly glory, it says that his clothing became dazzling white and behold, two men were talking with him.

[11:09] So this is, there's a lot of parallels between the transfiguration and the resurrection. And the presence of the two angels, it reflects the scriptural precedent for requiring two or three witnesses, at least two witnesses, in order to establish a testimony as valid.

[11:25] So earlier in Luke 10, verse 1, Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God and of course when he did that, he sent them out two by two so that their testimony and witness is valid.

[11:37] And in Luke 23, verse 16, Luke carefully noted that two civil authorities, not one, all the other gospel writers only note one, but Luke notes that both Herod and Pilate bore witness to Jesus' innocence.

[11:51] and so now, there's, and actually not even just during the trial, but also at his execution, both the centurion and the criminal crucified next to him declare his innocence.

[12:03] So in each juncture, Luke is very careful to show us there are two witnesses. This is a valid testimony. Jesus is innocent by all accounts. And here, his resurrection is attested to by two angels for that reason.

[12:18] And this is, this kind of literary emphasis is why you find some variations in the resurrection accounts. So some of the other gospel writers only include one angel and because that's not a focus.

[12:31] They only needed one angel to display their purposes, to fulfill their purposes in writing. So these discrepancies are not irreconcilable. They're complementary rather than contradictory findings.

[12:44] And what's important is that the basic framework is all the same in every single gospel account. All of the accounts are set in the early morning of the first day of the week, Sunday, with Mary Magdalene sometimes accompanied by other women going to the tomb.

[13:00] The resurrection occurs when the disciples are not expecting it. The initial reports are doubted. The women are the first to witness the empty tomb. The stone is rolled away.

[13:11] The tomb is empty. The angels appear. And then later, Jesus appears to a variety of people leading to firm belief in the early church in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Every single one of the gospels, every single resurrection account has all of those skeletal consistencies.

[13:28] There's extraordinary consistency in that regard. And if you think about it a little bit further and you're tempted to doubt these accounts, the minor discrepancies in eyewitness reports are not all that surprising.

[13:42] People often wrongly assume that various eyewitness reports of the same event would be identical. But they rarely are. It's common knowledge among forensic scientists that eyewitness accounts vary because both human perception and human memory fluctuate and vary.

[14:03] And depending on who you are, what your background is, your attributes, and your experience, what you perceive, what makes the deepest impression on you, and how you interpret that sensory experience, it all varies.

[14:17] And how much you recall of it all varies. So if two independent eyewitnesses were to give in court an identical testimony to forensic lawyers, there would be a clear red flag that there was collusion involved, that they're not giving independent eyewitness testimonies.

[14:35] So the fact that there's some minor variations in these kinds, which, by the way, are not irreconcilable, shows that these are actually authentic accounts. That's not a fiction developed by the early church.

[14:48] With that aside, let's return to the text. After encountering the angels, it says in verse 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?

[15:02] He is not here, but has risen. But the fear is a common response to angelic or divine encounters. But the angels offer hopeful words to them.

[15:15] Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. The verb has risen is actually passive in the Greek. So it should be has been raised.

[15:27] It's a divine passive. When there's a passive word that's not, doesn't have a subject that's identified, scripture writers are using a divine passive to indicate that God is the agent of that action.

[15:41] So who raised Jesus from the dead? God, the father himself, the almighty God, the creator of life himself, is the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

[15:52] And so the woman should not be searching for Jesus among the dead. He should be sought among the living. And this leads to a gentle prodding from the angels in verses six to seven.

[16:05] Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

[16:17] The angels are reminding the woman that Jesus had already told them that this would, exactly this thing would happen. And he did in multiple occasions.

[16:28] Luke 9, 22 and Luke 18, 32, 33. Jesus prophesied of his suffering, his death, his resurrection on the third day, all of it. And this is the more traditional form of the third day.

[16:40] It's the tradition that's preserved in 1 Corinthians 15, 4 and later in the Apostles Creed passed down to us that Jesus was raised on the third day. And this also has biblical precedent and meaning.

[16:53] In Genesis 22, after journeying for three days in order to sacrifice his beloved son, the only son of his wife, Sarah, Isaac, Abraham is delivered on the third day.

[17:09] God provides a substitute, a lamb, to sacrifice so that Isaac can be spared. In Hosea 6, which we read for call to worship this morning, while prophesying of the impending judgment on the nation of Israel for their sins, he utters this promise, come, let us return to the Lord for he has torn us that he may heal us.

[17:31] He has struck us down and he will bind us up. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him.

[17:42] And the prophet Jonah is swallowed up by a great fish and dwells in the belly of this great fish because of his disobedience to God.

[17:52] And it's on the third day that God delivers him. And Matthew 12, 40 makes an explicit connection between his third day resurrection of sorts and Christ's resurrection on the third day.

[18:05] So Jesus had very specifically predicted this. He said in Luke 18, 32 to 33, for he, referring to himself, will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.

[18:20] And after flogging him, they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise. As the history of redemption shows and as Jesus' own prophecy shows, the woman should have expected something to happen on the third day.

[18:38] They should have expected the resurrection. And so the angels exhort them to remember. They try to jog their memory. And their exhortation produces this pattern of word and response.

[18:52] In verse 6, the angels told the woman, remember how he told you. And then in verse 8, they respond. They remembered his words. In verse 5, the angel said to the woman, why do you seek the living among the dead?

[19:04] And in verse 9, we see the woman respond by returning from the tomb to the land of the living. So sandwiched between these word and response accounts is verse 7, which is the focal point of this entire passage, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

[19:26] That's the heart of Christianity. That's the basic facts of the gospel. It says that the Son of Man must be delivered, but why is Jesus' betrayal and his sentence and execution and resurrection necessary?

[19:46] Luke often uses the word must or ought to describe something that God has foreordained. It's a divine necessity. Why is this a divine necessity?

[19:57] It says in Leviticus 17, 11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.

[20:10] For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. It's in the shedding of the life blood that there is atonement for sins because as Romans 6, 23 says, the wages of sin is death.

[20:31] Only death atones for sin. And all of the Old Testament sacrifices were intended to foreshadow, point to the ultimate atonement that takes place and that Hebrews 9, 12 describes.

[20:49] Jesus entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood.

[21:03] Thus securing an eternal redemption. There was a price that had to be paid.

[21:14] apart from us paying the price with our own death, there could be no satisfaction for sins.

[21:27] We were doomed. That was our fate. But Jesus took our place. He did what must happen. He did what was necessitated by our sins and by God's love towards sinners.

[21:44] And he did that by atoning for our sins and shedding his life blood pouring it out on our behalf. And so just as Adam, the first man and representative, the head of humanity, sinned and through his sin death came to all of humanity and now through Jesus the second Adam, the new and better Adam, the new representative of God's people, life, resurrection, eternal life comes to us.

[22:16] That's why it's a divine necessity. No one can be saved apart from Christ. I want all of you to understand this. There's no other God that can save us.

[22:27] There's no other man that can save us. There's no other religion that can save us. There's no other philosophy that can save us. There's no salvation apart from the name of Jesus Christ.

[22:39] And that's why it's so urgent to proclaim this message. That's why I say the same thing to you every week. Because there's no salvation apart from Jesus.

[22:56] We have to believe in him. many of you have already put your faith in Jesus Christ for which I'm so grateful.

[23:08] And if that's you, it's your responsibility to remember this truth always. The word remember is repeated twice in this passage. Verse 6, verse 8, it says, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

[23:30] That is the most important thing for you to remember every single day. Too often we forget this truth and remember everything else for our business as usual.

[23:44] But this is the one truth you must remember every day. The command remember is an important theological word throughout scripture. The verb remember occurs 222 times throughout the Old Testament.

[23:59] And that's just one word not counting all the other variations and synonyms of that word. And in the Bible remembering the redemptive acts of God in order that we might apply, reapply that truth and relive that truth in our lives is a central act of worship.

[24:19] You can't worship God rightly unless you remember him. Unless you remember who he is. Unless you remember what he has done. And that's why in Luke 22 verse 19 when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper he said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me.

[24:40] So do you remember the gospel daily in your lives? I guarantee if your life lacks spiritual power and life if you lack joy in your life if you find that your passion and zeal for God is lukewarm or cold I guarantee you're not remembering the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[25:05] there are many things that Christians can be tempted to make the center of their spiritual lives but none of them can take the place of this gospel.

[25:17] Let me give you a few examples maybe your life Christian life is formalistic you're just going through the motions and there is no dynamic life in the Holy Spirit you're bored with God you're indifferent to his word you have no hunger for God but then what you need instead of your formalism is the gospel to remember that Christ personally died for you to reconcile you to God that you can have this dynamic relationship with him and be filled with his living spirit that's what the gospel teaches us perhaps your Christian life is legalistic you're trying to earn God's favor you're relying on your own righteousness rather than in the righteousness of Christ when you're diligent in your spiritual pursuits in your daily disciplines and you're succeeding succeeding at least in your mind you become prideful conceited but then when you sin when you feel like you're failing you get weighed down with guilt a burden that you cannot bear but what you need instead of illegalism is the gospel of Jesus

[26:34] Christ to remember that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that Christ's perfect righteousness is yours through faith in him that's what humbles you and gives you love toward Christ maybe your Christian life is activistic for sure the gospel transforms us to do good works and seek justice Isaiah 1 17 Micah 6 8 but you're so consumed with the evil that is out there that you've lost sight of the evil within you so your activism has become self-righteous and strident you've forgotten the sweet grace of God and your own need for forgiveness you've become so focused on saving this world that you've forgotten that God so loved the world he sent his only son already to save it but what you need instead of your activism is the gospel of

[27:41] Jesus Christ to remember that you yourself is a sinner saved by the grace of God and that the ultimate hope of salvation is not you but Jesus perhaps your Christian life is scholastic you're puffed up with knowledge you can wax eloquent on Christology the theology of the son of God but you do not have the humility of Christ you can debate the nuances of pneumatology the doctrine of the Holy Spirit but you are not yourself filled with the Holy Spirit you do not display the fruit of the spirit in your life you get a rise out of nitpicking books and articles and sermons and you're intolerant and pridefully critical of anyone who does not share your level of theological precision you have mastered the word of

[28:43] God but you have not been mastered by the word of God and what you need instead of your scholasticism is the gospel to remember that Christ didn't come so that you might theorize about him but so that you might know him personally and experientially so that you might be humbled by the grand realities of the gospel and be built up in love that's why maybe your life is more mystical or emotionalistic and for sure the gospel affects our emotions as well if our emotions are not affected something is awry but you go beyond that your faith rests unduly on the highs and lows of your emotions so you're unstable and your pursuit of God is unsustainable going from one emotional high to the next without any enduring steadfast devotion and service to God but instead what you need is the gospel to remember that though your subjective feelings might change the objective reality of what

[29:54] Christ has done for you never changes no matter how bad of a day you're having it's by remembering that that you grow perhaps one last example your Christian life is anthropocentric man centered it's all about you fulfilling your life meeting your perceived needs self actualization you see Christ as a therapist and not as a savior you act as if God exists to make you feel better about yourself but instead what you need is the gospel of Jesus Christ to remember that the death and resurrection of Christ is a demonstration not only of his love for you but also of his holiness and justice and how unworthy and sinful you are to receive it the gospel exalts the glory of God's grace not your deservingness none of these other ways that I mentioned consists of remembering the crucified and risen

[31:05] Christ but for you the way you live must be different you must remember the gospel because that's how we grow and persevere as Christians Colossians 1 21 to 23 puts it this way and you who once were alienated in a hostile in mind doing evil deeds Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard it is not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have already heard that's how you persevere that's how you become presented to God holy and blameless and above reproach so is the gospel functionally your hope before God or has the gospel become unessential and irrelevant to your

[32:11] Christian life and also those who remember the word of Christ must retell the word of Christ there is a transmission of testimony here from the angels first reminding the woman of what Jesus had told them in verses five to eight and from the woman to the apostles and the disciples in verse nine and then it says in verse nine that they told all these things to the eleven which is no longer twelve but eleven because Judas the betrayer is gone and to all the rest and then later in verse 14 we see two of the disciples talking with each other about all these things that had happened so there's ongoing transmission of the good news of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection throughout chapter 24 because Christians are witnesses of Jesus Christ we bear witness to his death and resurrection that's why we're here transmission is essential because unless the witnesses retell the good news of Jesus no one will hear and believe it notice notice how

[33:21] Luke emphasizes this it's not when the woman see the empty tomb that they believe did you guys see that sometimes we think oh man if only I had a chance to see the empty tomb with my own two eyes and I would believe in the resurrection no they don't believe it after they see the empty tomb they believe it after they hear the good news and this is consistent with Luke's emphasis Luke 11 29 32 where Jesus said no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah in that context he's referring to the preaching of Jonah which became a sign to the people of Nineveh so likewise it's the preaching the proclamation of the gospel that's the sign by which all of us ought to believe and that's why Romans 10 14 to 17 says this how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching and how are they to preach unless they are sent so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of

[34:33] Christ saving faith comes by hearing the word of Christ that means brothers and sisters we must tell the gospel of Jesus Christ if you don't tell it people will not hear it that means they won't believe it it's really as simple as that if you don't tell your neighbors your neighbors will not hear and believe and for those who hear the word of Christ of course there is a responsibility to believe it and some of you are here not yet followers of Christ and I want to exhort you in particular with the second point leaving the word of Christ it says in verses 10 to 11 now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other woman with them who told these things to the apostles but these words seemed to them Mary

[35:44] Magdalene and Joanna who were already mentioned in chapter 8 and Mary the mother of James this is a reference to Mary the mother of James the younger as Mark 15 40 puts it this designation distinguishes James James the younger who is the son of Mary and Clopas from the James that we're probably more familiar with the James the other James apostle James who is the son of Zebedee and Salome so then Mary is the mother of James the younger who is the near kin of Jesus and therefore sometimes described as the Lord's brother he's the author of the book of James so these women are women of stature they are godly women they are credible women they were commended in Luke 8 verses 2 to 3 for their devotion to the Lord and his apostles they provided for them out of their own means and the fact that all of the gospel accounts record that the first report of the resurrection was by woman is remarkable considering the status of woman in the ancient world to

[36:51] Jewish historian Josephus writes in one of his books against Apion but let not the testimony of woman be admitted on account of the levity and boldness of their sex since it is probable that they may not speak truth either out of hope of gain or fear of punishment similarly the Talmud which is a compilation of Jewish rabbinical oral teachings and commentary on that it stipulates that woman may not in fact second century Greek philosopher Kelsus who made a career out of mocking Christians and persecuting Christians made this precise point arguing that Christian doctrine of the resurrection was based on the testimony of half frantic self deceived woman so it would have been a point of embarrassment in the ancient world that the first witnesses of Christ resurrection were women but none of the gospel writers try to hide or minimize this fact and

[37:56] I think this is evidence of the authenticity of the resurrection accounts and of the integrity of the authors who are writing it and it also shows that in Christ's economy in the divine economy both men and women are called to be children of God and witnesses of Jesus Christ to share the good news of Jesus with their neighbors and with the world but unfortunately verse 11 says that these words of the woman seemed to them the apostles and the other disciples an idle tale man I'm thinking about apostle James at least he should have listened to his mother they did not believe them the word translated idle tale is a Greek word that usually describes a delirious talk of really sick people almost a hallucination a delusion delirium nonsense and this should correct any mistaken assumption that modern people might have that people in the ancient world believe in things like the resurrection only because they were more gullible and prone to believe in fantastical stories no that's not the case in what age of human history was resurrection ever a normal day to day thing it was hard for them to believe just as it's difficult for many people today but we must believe and this passage contrasts the faith of the woman with the unbelief of the apostles and exhorts us to believe the good news that

[39:36] Jesus Christ was delivered crucified and raised to give us life and this resurrection is an essential element of our faith apart from Jesus' resurrection there is no salvation for sinners and and that's and and and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain and if Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins if Christ has not been raised if he just died that his death his atoning death would not be effective we would still be in our sins so it's a mistake to think that Christ death alone is sufficient for our redemption it's not as Romans 425 says Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification Romans 510 adds if while we were enemies we were reconciled to

[40:39] God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by punishment we are reconciled to God but we are not saved in full until his resurrection life the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ are inseparable if Christ had died and he was not raised it would mean that he was swallowed up by death it would mean that his sacrifice was not accepted it would mean that he was overwhelmed by the weight of sin it would mean that darkness a dead savior cannot give life to anyone and it's because Christ conquered death and that Luke calls him this is amazing the Lord Jesus he says in verse three when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus Jesus has been called

[41:40] Lord before but it's always a little ambiguous because that's the same word that can just be used to generically mean sir even though I do think Luke intends it with more theological weight often throughout the gospel and of course the name Jesus we've seen many times before as well but this is the only time Luke uses this title it combines the name of Jesus with the word Lord to form this exalted title the Lord Jesus this is the only time he uses that but then in his sequel the book of Christ ascension Jesus is called the Lord Jesus 18 times it's only after his resurrection that we see Jesus as the exalted Lord that we saw only a glimpse of during his transfiguration he is now the Lord Jesus who demands our submission he's the

[42:41] Lord Jesus who is worthy of our worship he's the Lord Jesus who rules over all creation yes he was treated like the scum of the earth when he was alive before his crucifixion he was treated like a criminal he was treated like rubbish but now he's the Lord Jesus before whom every knee must bow and every tongue confess he is Lord that's the God we serve and he was raised bodily there's some people who claim to be Christian but then say that Jesus resurrection is metaphorical or mystical that though he is physically dead that his spirit lives among us or that though he is dead his memory lives forever but that's patronizing nonsense it doesn't even take seriously the actual gospel accounts of the resurrection there was no body there it was an empty tomb which means

[43:56] Jesus was raised bodily if Christ was not raised bodily that means death still has not been defeated the effects of sin has not been reversed if Christ bodily resurrection that it's his bodily resurrection that's the basis for our hope that in the future we would have resurrected bodies and that's really what baptism represents which we have the privilege of doing this morning baptism in water which is the initial right of becoming a Christian it signifies our union with Jesus in his death and resurrection our submersion in water signifies our death our death to sin our death to our former life our death to our independence and sovereignty and we rise from that with new life in Christ we go down into the water with the squalor of our sin we emerge washed by the blood of Christ that's what baptism signifies and the people who are getting baptized today have put their faith in

[45:03]  Jesus that he died for them and they're saying that I will I will live for no one else but the Lord Jesus I will serve no other master but the Lord Jesus that's what that means and if you have not yet put your faith in Jesus I urge you this morning to do that that you