Luke 24 Scripture reading Isaiah 53:9-12

I would like to suggest to you day that the greatest fear of man, and woman, is the fear of dying. No fear, even the fear of heights can top this, because after all it not the height that scars us or even the falling, it is the sudden stop at the bottom. Fear of flying, same thing, fear of drowning, guns what ever. Most all our fears are based around a fear of death. Even public speaking, we get in front of people and we’re afraid of what? Afraid were going to die. After all death is going to take us all out one day. But Jesus conquered death so we don= t need to be afraid of it any longer. And this is what Easter is all about. Now we have hope and a future. So many times in today’s world we live in fear and uncertainty, and life seems to not make any sense anymore. We’re left asking ourselves what= s it all about. We live in fear of what tomorrow might bring. If this is you, I pray that you will find hope this Easter. Because He lives we can face tomorrow.

Today I would like to share the greatest story ever told, a love story of epic proportions. A story of how love conquered all, even beat the old grim reaper. If your life doesn’t make sense and it seems to be spinning out of control, if you= re living in fear of what tomorrow might bring. I pray that you will find hope this Easter.

Let me set the stage a little bit first. Last time I spoke I left poor Jesus hanging on the cross. Talk about a hopeless situation. He had just bowed his head and called out in a loud voice, A Father into your hands I commit my spirit, it is finished.@ Bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. He died. And there was a whole host of people who felt they were responsible for His being there. And they were left wondering, A What have I done?@ Judas, the religious leaders, Pilate, Peter, Mark, Mary, the Centurion and a whole host of others, all felt like they were somewhat responsible for Jesus being on that cross. But they weren’t the only ones who played a part in placing Jesus on that cross. Because it was sin that caused Jesus to go to the cross. He willingly went there to absorbs the evil that was going to destroy all of humanity. He went to the cross because of your sins and my sins. We played just as big of a part in placing Him on that cruel old cross as anyone. The question those others asked, needs to be the question each of us ask. A What have we done?@ We nailed Him there. But we don= t have to live forever in our guilt and shame.

On Good Friday Jesus willing took the sins of the world on Himself. It was sin that nailed Him there. Not His sin, because He had lived a perfect life without sin, but our sin. And it wasn't the nails that held Him there, it was His love for us that held Him there, on that good Friday so long ago.

For years I always wondered why we called the day they killed Jesus, Good Friday. But I have come to realize that they didn’t kill Jesus. He willing laid down His life, because He loves us. He loves us so much He wanted to make a way that we could enjoy a relationship with Him for all eternity. That could not be possible as long as we were separated by our sins. So often we fail to realize how repulsive sin actually is to God. Do we have any fishermen here today? Anybody catfish? The bait they use for cat fishing is so nasty I don= t know how anybody can bait the hooks. Jay got a chunk of squid to use when we were in Hawaii, and he had to ride home in the car with us. Catfish bait is even worst than this. Can you imagine having this nasty smelling stuff smeared all over your body? This is what sin smells like to God. Sin smells so bad to God that He will not allow us to come close. We live in it and we become accustom to the stench. Just like guys who catfish, the bait doesn't bother them. But God is always and forever repulsed by it. So He had to have a plan to take it away.

Praise God, for Jesus was that plan, He did it. He took it away, that stench of sin that has become such a part of the human condition. That= s why we call it Good Friday.

But here is the neat part of the story. If we but take the time to ask Him to forgive us for our part in placing Him on that cross, and make Him the Lord of our lives we don= t have to suffer like He did. He forgives us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to A forgive@ us our sins and A cleanse@ us from all unrighteousness. This is what love does, it protects, and it forgives. And another neat point I want to explore further is love will never force itself on you.

Because of what Jesus did, His love for us. We can go right straight from this life to the next with scarcely a hick-up, because Jesus paved the way. For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son that who so ever believes in Him shall have eternal life. That was the condensed version of Christianity. But now, for the rest of the story. The exclamation point. The resurrection.

On Friday, as evening was approaching. Joseph a rich man from Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. This was a bold move on his part for he was a member of the ruling council. The very same group that had just conspired to have Jesus killed. But he never consented to what they had done. These guys were just pawns in the cosmic battle of good versus evil. Jesus knew what was going to happen. We read from Isaiah and Zechariah in the past couple weeks. Prophesies that were written 400 and 800 years before Jesus was born. These prophecies read just like they were written in the morning paper on the day after the event. Prophesies about how he would ride into town on a foal of a donkey. About how He would suffer and die and then 3 days latter rise again. It was all planned. God not only created us, but has from the creation of the world had this plan in place to redeem us as well.

Then comes the best part, the rest of the story. This is like the desert. The hard work was done on Good Friday. Then we have the resurrections as a wonderful sign from God for us, John tells us that we may believe.

From Luke Chapter 24 pg.___748__ in your pew bibles. Here we have the resurrection. After placing Jesus= body in the tomb there was a rest day. The Jewish people have for centuries observed a Sabbath, which is a day of rest. So even though these women who were with Jesus when He died wanted to anoint Jesus= body with embalming spices, because of the Sabbath they had no time to do this. Because from the moment the sun went down on Friday till the time the sun set on Saturday, they were forbidden by Jewish law, and common decency to do anything. But on Sunday morning as soon as they were free to go they set about going to pay their last respects to the one they loved so much.

V.1 of Chapter 24 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. (These big stones weighed tons and they were used for doors.) (From the other gospels we read that the big tough Roman guards were laying on the ground shaking in fear.) V.3 But when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. (Now we know why the guards were like dead men, because these weren= t the cute little cherub variety of angels but fierce strong ones, that cause fear and trembling.) The women fell down. And angels just said, A Why do you look for the living among the dead?@ The other gospels fill in many details here. But, Luke tells us the women hurried back and told the other disciples. Peter the impetuous one, ran to the tomb along with John and saw the burial clothes. What they saw was a mummy without the mum. Can you imagine all the wrapping from a mummy all flattened out without the body? Like the body had just been sucked out.

Have you ever had some one say to you, A If God would just do a miracle I would believe in Him, if He would just prove Himself.@ Just point them to Easter. This is like the mother of all miracles. Healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind guys, cleansing the lepers, these were cool. Calming the storm, that was over the top and king of freaky, and then there is the walking on water, and even brought back some people from being dead. Lazarus was one that had been dead for 4 days. Last week Steve talked about riding an unbroken donkey into town, while the fans were going nuts, waving palm branches and throwing their coats in the road. In these miracles Jesus proved He had authority over viruses, and birth defects, demons, storms, surface tension of water, animals, everything. There was not one aspect of creation, which He could not command. All these miracles Jesus performed while He was among them. But none of that prepared His followers for what He did next. He brought Himself back from the dead. V.11 But they did not believe the women because their words seemed like nonsense. So what changed their minds? Every one these guys ended up laying down their lives, or suffered terribly, to defend this story that the women told them. That Jesus is alive. Which at this point seemed like nonsense to them.

V.13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus about 7 miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they were talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing Him.

This was the greatest event in all history and His disciples almost missed; it was to good to be true. The women had told them they had seen Jesus, but it seemed like nonsense. When Jesus died the disciples scattered, for fear they would be next. If the Religious leaders could have a good man put to death, a man who had never done anything bad. He only helped people. What chance did they have? They were walking along the road, talking about how to save their own necks. How foolish those women were that said Jesus was alive, they saw how badly He was beaten, and no one could recover from that, let alone survive being crucified. They were nuts.

What would their family and friends think? Where could they go that would be safe? Everyone will think they are fools. They just spent 3 years following a guy around who claimed to be the Messiah, the deliver. For what? Why did they choose to go off and follow this guy? They loved Him so much, why did they have to kill Him? Have you ever just wandered along with no real place to go, nothing to do. Just gloom despair and agony on me kind of thing. These guys were about as low as low can go. We all can relate. I= m sure at one point in all our lives we have felt like this. Just wondering what= s it all about, what are we here for. These guys thought they knew, and then it got jerked away from them. These two travelers were in the pit of despair.

Then this guy pops up beside them. A Hey what= s up guys? How= s it going? Mind if I walk along with you for a while?@ When you= re down in the dumps the last person you want to be around is somebody who= s all perk. And I= ll bet Jesus is feeling pretty good here too. After all He was dead for 3 days. Now He= s got His new glorified spiritual body on. No arthritis, no more burning cuts from that old cat of nine tails that the Romans used on Him. The hole in His side was all healed up, the bruises all gone, just a couple scars in His hands. He was feeling good. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Just like today. But the travelers didn’t notice.

End of Verse 17. The travelers still had their faces down cast, because they didn’t recognize Him. Some people get all hung up on this. How could they not recognize Him? Well for starters. Last time they saw Jesus he was pretty beat up. Not a spot on His body that was not bloody or bruised, and here is this perky guy standing there, grinning from ear to ear. He hid His identity from them so He could have this teachable moment. When life doesn’t make sense anymore, when you= re at the bottom. When you can no longer do it on your own.

We need to let go and let God. Jesus can work with that. He can make sense out of life that is spinning out of control. God has created each of us for a reason. He has a plan and a purpose for each of us. But we have to let go and let Him have control.

These guys are gloom and despair when Jesus ask them, A what= s up?@ Cleopas turns to Him and goes, A Are you nuts. Are you from Mars or what? How could you not know what= s been going on around here?@ I= m paraphrasing a bit. But I love Jesus= response. A What things?@ These guys are so blinded by grief that they fail to recognize Jesus and they go on to recount all the things that Jesus just lived through. I= m sure He was wanting to add in some details they missed, what about the crown of thorns or getting blindfolded and punched, you guys missed that part. But He kept quiet about that so He could explain all the prophecies concerning Him throughout the Old Testament. Prophecies about how the Messiah was to suffer and die in place of the people. To be their scapegoat. And how He was going to come back to life again in 3 days to prove all He said was true. To conquer the greatest enemy of all humanity, death. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Death is our greatest fear, but Jesus shows us we need not fear the grave. His coming back to life proves all that He said is true.

All Christianity hinges on this one fact. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead. It proved that what He said was true. It proved that Jesus was who He said He was. Namely God. The disciples all ran when Jesus was arrested. For fear they would be next. Even the big tough fishermen, cowered in fear when a little slave girl recognized him, and said he was one of Jesus= followers. So what happen? Jesus came back to life. And all these same chicken livered apostles latter would suffer and most die because they would not be quiet about the fact that Jesus was God, and that He did indeed rise from the dead.

Now I don= t know about you guys, but if I had to choice of living or being crucified. There would have to be a very compelling reason for me to choose to be tortured to death. It= s not something that people chose to do for fun on a Saturday night. That reason. He= s alive.

Back to our two travelers on the road to Emmaus. Jesus just got done with the greatest bible study of all times as they approached the town and Jesus acted like He was going to go further. But the two travelers urged Him to stay with them.

This is just like Jesus, He will never force Himself on anyone. He wants to be invited in. Here I am, He says. I stand at the door and knock, if anyone here my voice and opens the door I will come into him, and eat with him, and he with me. This is what the two travelers did. They invited Him in and He came in and shared a meal. V.30 When He was at the table with them, He took the break, gave thanks and broke it and began to give it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him and He disappeared from their sight. They saw the nail scared hand. And they asked them selves, were not are hearts burning within us when He talked with us? Many of us have shared this experience, when we are confronted with the truth of who Jesus is, our hearts just burned. This is the Holy Spirit convicting us. When this happens we must respond. When they knew it was Jesus they ran back to Jerusalem to tell every one, A Yes He= s alive.@ Bruce and Mervlyn will you come for our last hymn?

I would like to invite everyone to stand as we go to prayer and If the Lord has spoken to you today, if your heart has been burning, and you=ve never made a public confession of faith and would like come to the front for prayer you can do it now, several of the deacons are here and would love to pray with you. What a great day to commit your life to the Lord, the anniversary of the day Jesus rose from the dead. He suffered death so we don= t have to. All we have to do is confess and believe. Because He lives we can face tomorrow. Without the resurrection, life is meaningless, and Christianity is a weak pitiful religion. But the resurrection changes all that. It makes our faith real; it gives our life meaning and purpose. If Jesus has been whispering in your ear today, as you= re walking along the road of life. Open the door and let Him into your life. If this was a Billy Graham crusade we would play Just As I Am, and that is so true. Come just as you are. Don= t wait until you get your life in order. Just come. It= s not where we start that counts, but where we finish. We all have a future, make it a good one. Find hope this Easter.

Let= s pray. Dear Jesus words cannot express our gratitude for what you have done for us, in rescuing us from our sins that was going to destroy us. Thank you for taking all these on your body. And Lord I just want to thank you for giving us the sign of the resurrection, that we can have the assurance that it= s all true. We can have hope that is secure. I just pray now for any who are suffering out there with doubts and worries. Lord strengthen their faith, that with your help they may be able to turn their life over to you, and enjoy you forever. May all of us find hope this Easter. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.