Sermon Title: The Implications of the Resurrection
Scripture: Luke 24:1-11; 17-18
I. It’s possible to have love for Jesus but lose hope in Jesus.
Their journey to the tomb was motivated by love but it was entirely without faith.
The Christian’s faith rests entirely upon grasping, believing and resting on what God tells us about what God has done.
II. The promise of God on Easter is not that you will not die, but that death is defeated.
Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55
What that means:
While death is still a dark valley, an experience of great sadness and heartache, it is no longer a dead end.
When you come to that dark valley, you have a savior who has walked that path and will walk through it with you. He promises in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
III. The message of Easter isn’t just God changed death but he’s changed life.
The equation here isn’t:
Jesus is risen + You will be resurrected = now you can die well.
Jesus is risen + You will be resurrected = now you can LIVE well.
Additional Notes:
Luke 24:1-11; 17-18
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?