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[0:00] We have been looking for the last several weeks at an Easter series focused in the Gospel of Luke. We have seen the presentation of the lamp. We have seen the preparation of the lamp.

[0:17] This morning for the 24th chapter I want us to see the power of the lamp. A little bit later we won't be in the Gospel of Luke. I won't tell you where we will be. We will not be in the Gospel of Luke. We will be in the service this morning.

[0:31] We will continue our theme. Luke chapter 24, I want to ask you to stand. Well, I tell you, let's do it. We don't physically have one of the pictures. We know some of the experts in the lamp. So I understand it. If you can, would you stand with me?

[0:43] We won't read the entire chapter. We won't read the majority of it. We'll start in the first verse. When on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

[0:56] Then they found the stone and rode away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing.

[1:07] And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

[1:27] And they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James. And also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles, but these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

[1:45] But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the lending wrappings only, and he went away to his home marveling at what had happened. And behold, two of them were going that very day to the village named Emmaus.

[1:58] And while they were about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all the things which had taken place, while they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached them and began traveling with them.

[2:12] And what we read throughout the rest of this, if you remember, he's talking to them, he's speaking to them. And he goes down in verse 25 and he says, And he said to them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets had spoken, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?

[2:30] Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. And as they approached the village, they were going, and he acted as though he were going further.

[2:42] But they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. And when he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, he began giving it to them.

[2:55] Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. Go with me over a couple more verses. To verse 36. Because they went back to Jerusalem, and while they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be to you.

[3:14] But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing his spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? And when I do doubts arise in your hearts, see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

[3:25] Touch me and seek, for his spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat?

[3:39] And they gave him a piece of grilled fish, and he took it and ate it before them. Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all these things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

[3:57] And he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

[4:12] You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are told with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them.

[4:27] And while he was blessing them, he departed from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God.

[4:39] You may be seated today. I want you to see this morning the power of the Lamb. The power of the Lamb. We've seen that he is the spotless, blameless Lamb.

[4:50] In his public presentation, he was given the public the opportunity to examine him. He is the prepared Lamb. He is the one foretold by the prophets and foretold by the scriptures.

[5:02] And now we see the power of the Lamb. We understand the reality of Friday's events. We understand the reality of the crucifixion. But we know the Gospel doesn't stop at the crucifixion.

[5:13] It is necessary, absolutely necessary, for the atonement of our sins. We'll get to that later. But that is not the end of the good news. The good news is the power of the Lamb to come out of the tomb.

[5:25] And we see this power being displayed for us in a number of realities. First, we see that the resurrection is first and foremost a revelation. That is, each one of these found out the reality and came to understand the significance of the resurrection.

[5:42] Not because they discovered it, but because he revealed it to them. If we read at the end of the 23rd chapter, we see that the women were watching when Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea laid him in the tomb.

[5:57] People have asked, why did they go back with spices? Well, they know that they had already been involved. And I say it's very simple. If you read scriptures, it says in the Gospel of Luke that they saw how they laid him in the tomb.

[6:09] So, the reality is that the women saw how the men did it hastily. And they wanted to go back and finish it correctly. I mean, we know that. I mean, it's just a reality. And so, they saw how they laid him in the tomb.

[6:21] They went and purchased the spices. Took their day of Sabbath rest. And then it says, then on the next day, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. A normal working day for everyone else.

[6:35] A normal start to a normal week, supposedly. And they went to the tomb to do their last respect. And it says, and they went there, but the stone was rolled away. And they looked in and he wasn't there.

[6:47] And we find that the women are startled and they're amazed and they're confused. And it would have been left right there, as a matter of fact, the Gospel of Luke. Not the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Mark and its original copies ends right there.

[6:59] With the women being startled, being amazed, being uncertain of what has happened. But we are told that two angels appear to them and begin to reveal to them the reality of the resurrection.

[7:12] We know, as we put it together with the other Gospel accounts, that the Lord Jesus Himself appears in the garden. That we know that all of these realities come by way of revelation.

[7:25] Even the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, as they're walking with Him. They know not who it is that is with them until He breaks the bread and their eyes are opened.

[7:36] And then the disciples that are gathered in the upper room, trying to comprehend everything that has been told them. Because as Luke tells us, Peter sees the tomb, but he goes home, not believing, but amazed, and astonished, and uncertain.

[7:52] But the uncertainty is removed the moment Christ shows up. See, the resurrection is a revelation event. And so we should not be surprised when we cannot comprehend it nor understand it on our own ability.

[8:08] Because having eyes we will see not, and having ears we will hear not, until our eyes are opened. And the power and the Spirit of God reveals the reality of the resurrection.

[8:19] You know, there's tucked right here in the Gospel of Luke. One name of Christ that it appears only here in all four Gospels. And it only appears after the resurrection.

[8:30] And it is, Luke says it in passing. It says, they went to the tomb to prepare, it says, there in verse 24. But on the first day of the week, or verse 1, or chapter 24.

[8:41] But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rode away from the tomb. And look at this. But when they entered, they did not find the body of, here's the name, the Lord Jesus.

[8:57] You know, that's the only time that title was used in any of the four Gospels. After this, in the epistles, and in the book of Acts, it is the Lord Jesus.

[9:09] It is the Lord Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus. Why? Because something significant has happened. And the significance of the events, and the revelation connected to it, led to the reality that that's not just Jesus.

[9:24] That's the Lord Jesus. This is a revelation event. Not only is it a revelation event, it is a repetitious event. The reason I read so much of the chapter is because we have three appearances.

[9:39] Three unique moments of revelation. And in each three of them, in all three of them, there is something repeated. There is a refrain that keeps coming up.

[9:50] And I don't know if you caught it, but there is this refrain that keeps being repeated over and over again. When the women are at the tomb. It says that they were terrified because there were two angels there.

[10:01] And it says to them in verse 6, He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was in Galilee. Remember how He spoke to you. And then Jesus begins to speak on the road to Emmaus.

[10:15] And it says in verse 25, And He begins to speak of how everything in Scripture testifies.

[10:26] And then when we get to the end and He's in the upper room, what does He say? This is to fulfill all of the law of Moses, all of the prophets, and all of the Psalms. See, the repeated refrain is, the resurrection is not a new event.

[10:39] It's just a newly understood event. He said all of Scripture has been speaking about it from Genesis onward. It's just something that God has been proclaiming over and over and over again.

[10:50] Man just has not comprehended it, nor have they understood it because their eyes had not been opened. Job says what? That though I die, I know that I will see my Redeemer in the land of the living.

[11:03] Job began to testify about the reality of the resurrection. Over and over again, when we read Scripture, we see this theme that keeps coming up. That death will not hold Him.

[11:14] The grave cannot contain Him. That God will not allow His bones to decay and shield. And then all of a sudden we get to the tomb and we say, Oh, this is what it's been talking about all along.

[11:25] It is a repeated refrain. God has been saying over and over and over again. Friend, listen, the resurrection is not something that happened new in history. It was just something that we came to understand because it was revealed to us at the empty tomb.

[11:40] It is a revelation event. It is a repetitious event. Number three, we also see that this is a reassuring event. We find the women who are confused.

[11:54] They are astonished. They are amazed. They know not what has happened. Their confusions and their fears are turned into overwhelming joy. Now all of a sudden they have something to talk about.

[12:07] We have the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They are downhearted. They are down in spirit. They are upset. They are terrified. But they meet Jesus and all of a sudden their hearts are aflame.

[12:20] We meet the apostles in the upper room. And they are fearful behind locked doors. They are terrified of what may awake them. And then they become the most emboldened force in all of history.

[12:31] Each one of them. One of the greatest testimonies you will ever find is their willingness to suffer persecution and even death because of the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[12:42] This is a reassuring event. It changes from what we were to who we are going to be. It is a reality that changes the downhearted.

[12:53] It is a reality that changes the fearful. And it is a reality that changes the confused. But we don't understand it until we understand the resurrection. Fourth and finally, listen to me.

[13:04] This is not only reassuring event. It is a rejoicing event. The ladies went back rejoicing and could not wait to tell.

[13:15] The disciples on the road to Emmaus went back to Jerusalem because they had something to say. And it says that when they were gathered in the upper room that they still could not believe it because of the joy that overcame them.

[13:28] See, there is something overcoming about the joy of understanding the resurrection. That he is the first fruit. He is the forerunner.

[13:40] He is the one that goes before us. He is not the last fruit. He is the first fruit. Right? So that he could gather in more fruit. That would be the reality that we understand as followers of Jesus Christ.

[13:51] And then it says, and after worshiping him, because he is deserving to be worshipped. If you are here later you will understand that. He is deserving to be worshipped. After worshipping him, they were daily in the temple rejoicing.

[14:05] The resurrection heightens our worship. The resurrection heightens our joy. The resurrection heightens and takes us to another level.

[14:16] That voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance voyance change them.

[14:48] As it's been said over and over again, the gospel and all of scripture swings on the hinges of the empty tomb.

[14:59] If the tomb is empty, and it is, then he is. Let's stand and pray. We'll make our way to the kingdom.

[15:11] Open up my path. Some of you kind men, if you'll help me carry these chairs. Because I don't think anybody wants to stand at the table in the evening. So I know that we have Sunday schoolers to fill back up.

[15:24] I'll tell you before we pray, Brother Mike's room right there in the back had about 30 chairs in. The ladies Sunday school class had about four chairs. After you tell us what to do, in case you get there before I get there.

[15:36] Had four chairs in. And I've been praying about a baby from the next Sunday school room. And I had about three other than that. They were either on the park or in the fellowship park. Okay? So let's all stand.

[15:47] We're going to pray together. And men, let's help carry these chairs. And then I know we'll go in there and they've been working and laboring. I love resurrection Sunday morning.

[15:59] But I've got to say, there's nothing like walking up to church smelling bacon cooking. It's only Sunday morning. I walk up and there's bacon on the grill outside. So let's pray.

[16:09] Father, thank you so much for the day. Thank you for the joy and the blessing of gathering with us all. We rejoice, truly rejoice, in the empty day.

[16:21]  For we know the servant of resurrection and the faith who is the Lord.