The Evidence of the Resurrection of Christ (Easter Sunday)

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Evidence of the Resurrection of Christ (Easter Sunday). He will be reading out of Luke 24:1-12.

Remember that Thomas had his doubts, but Jesus appeared to them, and he said to Thomas, look at my nail-scarred hands, feel the wounds in my side, and then you’ll know that it is truly me. And when Thomas did that, he said, my Lord, my God. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders broadcasting from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

This is Hope Worth Having, and we’re delighted that you’re with us today. And we’re looking forward to what God has for us. And let me just say, Happy Easter.

And we certainly are celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. And as part of that, we’re going to be in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24, and we’re going to learn about the evidence of the resurrection of Christ. So join me as we study the Bible together.

If you have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in Luke chapter 24, in the Gospel of Luke, the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and then Luke. But in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24, verses 1 through 12, will be the text of our message this morning. As a believer, the most wonderful thing about Easter is the resurrection of our Savior and Lord.

Yes, he has risen, and we stand here today to affirm to each of our hearts that God has raised him from the dead, and the horror of the cross is laid to rest. And Jesus has come forth in glorious triumph. And this is truly a glorious day.

And that is the focus of our hearts this morning. This was no ordinary day. And we take time, and we take this moment to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because the resurrection of Christ is important. It is the heart of our salvation. You remember that the Scriptures teach us in 1 Corinthians 15, that the resurrection of Christ, that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus.

The good news is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The good news is that he was buried, but three days later, he arose again. He died to take care of our sins and to take care of our past, but he has come forth out of that tomb to take care of our future.

The highlight of the Christian faith is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul taught us, And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. You are yet in your sins.

That is, that if Christ had never been risen, then we would still be in our sins. The early church understood the importance of the resurrection, and they demonstrated that by regularly meeting together on Sunday morning to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. We see this throughout the Scriptures again in Acts 20, verse 7. It says, Wouldn’t that be awesome if Pastor Mike spoke to you today until midnight? Buddy, I would be so thrilled, but I know that you couldn’t take it.

It’d probably be just me. I don’t even think my family would stay. The Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 16, Revelation 1.10 says, The early church started this practice of gathering together on Sunday.

Why? Because it was the day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, they gathered on Saturday, which was the Sabbath, the end of the week. It was to commemorate the resting of the believer.

It was to be a day of rest. It was to be a day where there would be no work. But now that has all been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And our rest is not physical, but our rest is spiritual in that we find our rest in Jesus Christ and put our faith and trust. It doesn’t mean that you don’t need a day of rest, and it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to take time to retreat and relax and kind of re-energize and renew yourself. We’re all for that, but it doesn’t have to be on a Saturday.

It could be any day. But for the believer, we begin the week on Sunday. It is the first day of the week.

I know the world calls it the weekend, but for us as believers, it’s the first day of the week. It is the day that we give to God. It is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that’s why we come together.

For the believer, because of Christ’s resurrection, death has become a doorway into eternity. Death’s grip is finally conquered. Death is not the end when we meet at the grave to commit the body to the grave.

It’s not final. It’s not the finish line. But for the believer, it is just the doorway, the gateway, if you will, into eternal life with Jesus Christ to be with him forever, ever, and ever, and ever.

And we’ll never be separated. To be reunited with our loved ones, to once again recognize that Jesus has paved the way for us to have eternal life. We’re no longer stuck in our sinful bodies.

We’re no longer stuck in this flesh, but we have been granted a new body that the Bible describes as being immortal, incorruptible. That is, that it will never decay, never fall apart, and it will never experience disease or sin ever. That is something to rejoice.

When we come to the Gospel of Luke chapter 24, on this glorious day, Luke begins to describe to us the evidence of the resurrection. That if this resurrection is so profound, and it is so important that the church would gather every Sunday, and think about this, that you are a part of an assembly of believers literally around the world that are gathering on Sunday to worship Jesus Christ and to celebrate his resurrection. Luke begins to describe what the evidence of this resurrection are in that he begins in verse 1 and says of chapter 24, Now on the first day of the week, that is Sunday, very early in the morning they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this that behold the two men stood by them in shining garments.

Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when 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. And they remembered his words.

And then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales or we might call it crazy talk.

And they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb and stooping down, he saw the linen clothes lying by themselves. And he departed marveling to himself at what had happened.

The first evidence that Luke gives us is the empty tomb. Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. And the location of this tomb would have been known to not only those who loved him and followed him, but even to those who were not Christians or unbelievers.

It was not a secret to where Jesus was buried. But the women went to the tomb and they were coming to finish out the embalming of Jesus. If you jump back to chapter 23 and verse 53, you can see that very quickly.

The Bible says, Then he took it down, meaning they took the body of Jesus down from the cross. They wrapped it in linen and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of a rock where no one had ever lain. That day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew near.

There were limitations to what they could do in the preparation of the burial of the body of Jesus Christ. And so verse 55 of chapter 23 says, The women who had come with him from Galilee followed after and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices, fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

So because activity was forbidden, the women would come and they came again on Sunday morning because they wanted to be able to finish up putting the spices and ointments upon the body of Christ because they so treasured who Jesus was and who his body was and what it represented to their hearts and the meaning of his life and the significance of his life to them. As God’s Word presents us with these facts concerning the fact that Jesus was buried and that he rose again, we are presented with something that is very important. And that is that when the women showed up, verse 2 of chapter 24, they found the stone rolled away.

They found that it was rolled away from the tomb. Now most likely the women did not even know that the tomb had a large stone in front of it. It would have been impossible for them to even move that stone but not only was it in front of the opening of the tomb but the stone was sealed.

We learn from other gospel writers that the Roman soldiers sealed the tomb because they didn’t want anyone to come in and take the body of Jesus Christ. And so the women coming thinking that they’re going to have access but do not have access and they find that the stone in front of the tomb has rolled away. And then they went in in verse 3 and they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

The stone was not rolled away to let the Lord Jesus out but the stone was rolled away by the angels so we could have access to the tomb. To see that our Savior was not there. To give evidence that he is risen, that he is alive.

The stone was there, rolled away and then the people could come in. Later Peter would come in and he would find that Jesus’ body was gone. The soldiers that were there were told to guard the body of Christ to make sure that nobody stole it.

But now all of a sudden the stone is rolled away, it was sealed and now all of a sudden the body is gone and the women were puzzled about the disappearance of Jesus’ body. But the empty tomb provides evidence for us this morning. The proof that we need of Jesus’ resurrection.

Now there are those who say that Jesus did not die that he just simply swooned on the cross but this is refuted because the spear went deep into his side and Joseph and the women witnessed his dead body. Others say that the disciples stole the body of Christ from the tomb but they forget that the Romans sealed it. They sealed the tomb and they were instructed not to let anyone steal the body.

And if they did, it would mean death for the Roman soldiers. The only explanation that you and I have this morning about the resurrection of Christ is that the empty tomb explains that Jesus is alive. That he has risen again and that he is not to be found among the dead but he is to be found among the living.

And the empty tomb testifies to us this morning that Jesus Christ has risen again. The resurrection, this story, those skeptics who would say it’s just a theory, Mike but it would not have lasted in Jerusalem. For a single hour, if the authorities could have found the body they would have been able to say, here is his body.

Somebody stole his body and so there is no resurrection. It would not have lasted for even an hour but my friends, there was no body to be found because our Savior was risen again and he is alive today. The holiness and the love of God was seen on the cross when we saw our Savior suspended between heaven and earth.

But forgiveness and grace is seen in the empty tomb. If Christ would not have been raised from the dead he would not have been able to forgive us of our sins. What I want you to recognize this morning is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the affirmation that the Father has accepted his sacrifice for your sins and my sins.

And it is through the resurrection that we rejoice in the culmination of the grace and forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. The first evidence that Luke presents to us is the empty tomb. The second is the prophecy of Christ.

We come down to verse 5 and the Bible says, Then as they were afraid and they bowed their faces to the earth that is the women. Why are they afraid? Because they saw these two men that least looked like men stood by them in shining garments. We know that they were angels.

They were so overwhelmed with their glory and brightness that they began to bow their faces to the earth. And the angels said to the women, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee.

And the angels began to share the prophecy of Jesus Christ that Jesus had been teaching his disciples for three and a half years. He had been teaching them verse 7, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. Now we are in quite the quandary here.

Jesus Christ is claiming to be God. He is claiming to be Lord. And he is boldly and confidently telling his disciples long before ever his crucifixion and resurrection that he will be crucified and that he will rise again.

And all of a sudden in verse 8, the women they remember those words. They remember. Now if Jesus is making these kind of claims, you’ve either got to determine logically this morning that he is a crazy person, a lunatic, that he’s kind of lost it.

That he is on this death mission. Or you have to say to yourself, he’s lying. He is intentionally deceiving people.

He is leading them astray and that he is a cult and he is a religious leader who is taking people down a path to their own destruction. Or thirdly, you have to say that he is the Lord. Now those three options that have been presented to us by C.S. Lewis who was a great philosopher and theologian and thinker of Christianity and that’s what he teaches us here.

The women had forgotten the prophecy of Jesus. They had forgotten that he said he would rise again. The angel said he’s not here but he is risen.

Jesus said in Matthew 12 verse 40 long before he was crucified long before he resurrected he said for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. God’s word is always true and what he says will always happen. It always comes to pass when Jesus showed up to the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus.

The funeral service was already over. He came four days after he had been petitioned to come. Lazarus was already in the tomb but when Jesus showed up he said to the family I am the resurrection and the life and he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and foreshadowing not only our resurrection but also foreshadowing his resurrection and reminding the people that were present as they were mourning and grieving over the loss of Lazarus.

Jesus called forth Lazarus out of the tomb telling us that he has power not only of diseases and nature and sickness but he has power over death and to put a final explanation point on the power he has over death Jesus himself rose again in Matthew 16 verse 21 the Bible says from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. I want you to understand that the resurrection of Christ proves that his sacrifice for sin was accepted by God the Father and that everything that Jesus said would happen did happen and he is alive today. Again where are you? Are you in the camp that says Jesus was a crazy man? Are you in the camp that Jesus was lying and deceiving people or are you in the camp? Yes, what he said came true and he is Lord.

There is no other explanation for the empty tomb. You can’t say that his body was stolen. You can’t say that Jesus never died he just went through kind of a swooning and a fake death.

All you got to do is read about all that he endured on the cross there is no person that could have gone through what Jesus did and it’s not only that he bore the sufferings from mankind but the suffering of all the weight of sin placed upon him, upon our Savior, your sin, my sin placed upon Jesus Christ on that day. It is no wonder that the sun hid its face. It is no wonder that the earth shook for not even creation could watch the Son of God bearing the sins of the world.

But yet Jesus fulfilled the prophecies that he spoke of. The third and final evidence that I want to share with you this morning is the witnesses. We look at them in verse 9 through 12 and again we see that the Bible teaches us that they returned from the tomb and they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Meaning the women went and hurried where were the disciples? They were huddling in Jerusalem afraid, fearful couldn’t understand what was going on. That’s what grief does sometimes. We lose perspective.

We can’t see the big picture. But these women the Bible says they returned and they told all these things. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna Mary the mother of James and other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

What is so phenomenal about what Luke is writing to us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God is that in the Roman culture, hear me, women were not allowed to give a witness or a testimony in the court of law. But Luke, he elevates the ladies because he knows that they would be truthful. Where are the men at the foot of the cross? They’re not there.

They’ve all scattered and ran away, right? Where are the men that are helping Jesus’ body to be prepared for the final burial? Where are they? It is only the women that are there and it is the women who witness the angels. It is the women who hear the words of the angel and say, why are you looking for Jesus among the dead? He’s not here. He is alive.

And so having experienced all that, they run to the disciples the apostles and they share this incredible story and look in verse 11, it says their words seem to them like idle tales, meaning like crazy talk. What these women are saying cannot be true. They disbelieved them.

They did not trust in the story of the women and that is why Peter took off and he goes and he runs to the tomb. He wants to see for himself and what does he find? Verse 12, the Bible says he arose and ran to the tomb and stooping down, he saw the linen clothes lying by themselves and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened. Now the witnesses are evidence that Jesus truly is risen again.

When we think about the witnesses, we certainly have the angels from heaven who witnessed. We have the women at the tomb who witnessed the resurrection of our Savior and we learn in the other gospels that Jesus disappeared to those women. We also have the witness of those who had died and were resurrected during the crucifixion of Christ.

In Matthew 27, we learn that while Christ was being crucified, that as the earth shook, that literally the Old Testament saints rose again. That there were those who were looking forward to the Messiah, they resurrected. Can you imagine what it was like to have one of them show up at your door and say, hey, just wanted you to know I resurrected.

And I’m sure this story that they had to tell of what it was like to die and the incredible joy and the peace that they had in their heart as they knew that God was with them, guiding them every step. But my friends, they were also testimonies. They were witnesses to the truth that this truly is the Son of God, the centurion.

It wasn’t the apostles who stood at the foot of the cross. It wasn’t any great religious leaders that stood at the foot of the cross. It was a Gentile, a centurion who witnessed the endurance of the suffering of Christ on the cross who said, truly this is the Son of God.

Because he’d never seen anything like that before. And so there they are, these resurrected bodies testifying that truly this is the Son of God. We also know that the apostles were witnesses because 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus appeared to the apostles.

And we go on to read in 1 Corinthians 15 that more than 500 people were witnesses to Christ. He appeared to over 500 people after his resurrection. It wasn’t like Jesus just disappeared and never showed himself again.

But we know that very evening on the resurrection day, according to the gospel of John, that Jesus Christ appeared to the disciples. Remember that Thomas struggled? Remember that he had his doubts? Remember that he wasn’t sure? But Jesus appeared to them and he said to Thomas, look at my nail scarred hands. Feel the wounds in my side and then you’ll know that it is truly me.

And when Thomas did that, he said, my Lord, my God. Because only God can rise from the grave. And so we have the witnesses that Jesus again appeared for 40 days after his resurrection.

For 40 days, he’s showing himself to people, over 500 people, the apostle Paul said, who gave testimony to the fact that he is alive. And this is incredible. So Christ’s resurrection rests on the evidences of many witnesses.

Twelve appearances Jesus made in those days after his resurrection. He appeared to over 500 people in the span of 40 days. That is why Luke would write later in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion or his crucifixion by many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

The foundational truth of Christianity is the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And without it, our faith is in vain. And thus we stand before you this morning to bring to you the very evidence that the scriptures give us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And you say, what does that mean to me, Mike? I want to remind you that the power of the resurrection that raised our Savior has the power to change your life. That’s what it means to you. When you find yourself stuck in sin, stuck in guilt, stuck in a trap of a life that is meaningless and without purpose, you have a Savior who has risen again.

And if you will turn to him and you will receive him as your Lord and Savior, he, my friends, will not only wash away your sins, but he’ll give you a life of significance, meaning, and purpose. That is the power of his resurrection. He bursts within you a new beginning, a new start.

How many people in this world need a brand new start? Many of us, we find the complications of this world are more than we can even deal with in our own lives. But friends, we have the confidence of this, that just as Jesus changed people in the scriptures, just as he changed and transformed the apostle Paul from a persecutor to a preacher, my friends, he can change your life. He changed a man named Peter who lived in fear, who denied him and wanted nothing to do with him, to a man who stood boldly before millions of people, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and thousands came to believe in Jesus.

He changes people. That’s why the resurrection means so much to you. It’s not just this great theological doctrine that Pastor Mike’s trying to teach you.

It’s not just that I’m trying to help you understand the scope of how the evidence is so clear and obvious, but I want you to know it personally. And that on this beautiful day, this glorious day, the resurrection that we celebrate, the resurrection of our Savior, we are blessed and have the opportunity to renew our faith and to restore our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and to once again begin a journey of faith in where we follow Christ and we live a life of purpose and forgiveness and grace in this world that we are called. So I challenge you this morning, consider the evidence of our Savior.

And there’s only three areas that you can fall in. He’s either lying or he’s crazy or he is truly the Lord. When you think about the resurrection, it is a very significant event in the history of the church and it’s very foundational to the message of Christ.

And the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So what we present to you are evidence and wanting to help the skeptic, the doubter, to be able to understand that we are not asking you to take a blind leap of faith, but to take a step of faith on truth. And then for you as a believer, we’re equipping you to be able to articulate that evidence that God has already given us and helps us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the ends of the earth.

We want to continue to encourage you as our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we try to do that. You can check out our website, HopeWorthHaving.com, and there’s a lot of materials, a lot of information, and you can sign up for our daily devotions. You just go to the website, HopeWorthHaving.com, and just click on the pop-up button that says, Sign up for our devotions, and write to your email box every day a devotion to encourage you, challenge you, and strengthen you in your walk with Christ.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.