He's Alive

Lk. 24:1-12

INTRODUCTION

A. 	One of the craziest movements ever to hit town was that Elvis was alive.
B. 	Elvis is dead, but Jesus is alive.
C. 	However, the story of Jesus' resurrection is one of the craziest in the Bible.  When one studies this 
	narrative, he finds:

AN EMPTY TOMB, vv. 1-3

A. 	Some women went to the tomb very early Sunday morning.
	1. 	The time is actually called "deep dawn."
	2. 	This was very, very early in the morning.
B. 	The women came to the tomb with spices they had prepared, v. 1.
	1. 	These spices would help preserve the body.
	2. 	These women actually came to embalm Jesus' body.
C. 	When the women arrived, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
	1. 	In Jesus' day, individuals were often buried in caves.
	2. 	A stone would be rolled in front of the tomb to prevent grave robbing and to prevent the smell 
		from escaping.
	3. 	These women fully expected to find the stone in front of this tomb.
		a. 	Mark informs us that the women were actually worrying about how to roll this large stone 
			away from the tomb's entrance (Mk. 16:3).
		b. 	Yet, when the women arrived at the tomb, they found the stone had already been rolled 
			away.
D. 	The women went into the tomb but did not find Jesus' body.
	1. 	This caused them to be greatly perplexed.
		a. 	To be perplexed means to be at a loss, in doubt.
		b. 	These women had no idea what had happened.
	2. 	These women went to the tomb expecting to embalm Jesus' body, but they never found the 
		body; the tomb was empty.
E. 	The body of Jesus was not in the tomb.
	1. 	Some say the women went to the wrong tomb.
		a. 	But they helped bury Jesus (Lk. 23:55).
		b. 	You don't forget where you put the body of a loved one.
	2. 	Why did the Jewish authorities never produce Jesus' body?
		a. 	The Sandhedrein ordered Peter and John to stop preaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 
			5:18).
		b. 	It would have been much easier to bring out the corpse and show the Apostles to be 
			liars-We must remember that a record would have been kept as to where the tomb was 
			(Mt. 27:62-66).
		c. 	The only reason the Jewish authorities never produced a body is that there wasn't a body 
			to produce.
	3. 	The apostles could never have preached the resurrected Christ in Jerusalem had the tomb not 
		been empty.
	4. 	That women found the empty tomb supports the idea that the tomb was empty.
		a. 	We must remember that women were not considered highly in this society.
			1)	Women were not considered worthy to serve as legal witnesses.
			2)	Women occupied a low-rung on the Jewish social ladder.
		b. 	Had the apostles invented this story surely they would have invented more reliable 
			witnesses to the empty tomb.

A LIVING CORPSE, vv. 4-7

A. 	While the women were perplexed about the empty tomb, two angels appeared to them.
	1. 	The women were afraid and bowed their heads.
	2. 	The angels spoke to the women:
		a. 	Why do you seek the living among the dead?
			1)	The women had come to embalm Jesus.
			2)	Yet, Jesus is not dead.
			3)	There isn't any sense in seeking living individuals in tombs.
		b. 	Jesus had been raised just as he promised, vv. 6-7.
			1)	Jesus told these women and his apostles that he would be raised.
			2)	Just as Jesus promised, he had been raised form the dead.
		c. 	Jesus had told them that he must be crucified and resurrected.  Jesus had to die and be 
			resurrected:
			1)	It was the fulfillment of prophecy.
				a)	Acts 2:24-31.
				b)	1 Cor. 15:3-4.
			2)	It signified that he is the Son of God (Rom. 1:4).
			3)	It brings salvation from sin (1 Cor. 15:17).
B. 	The tomb was empty for Jesus is alive.

PREACHING WOMEN, vv. 8-10

A. 	Women, of course, cannot stand in pulpits to preach (1 Tim. 2:11-12), but women can do much.
	1. 	Priscilla and Aquilla explained to Apollos the way of the Lord more perfectly (Acts 18:26).
	2. 	Phoebe was a servant of the church in Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1).
	3. 	The women listed here did much.
B. 	The women remembered Jesus' words.
	1. 	Apparently the women were with Jesus when he spoke about his death and resurrection.
	2. 	After the fact, the women (and the apostles) remembered what Jesus had said.
C. 	The women went from the tomb and told the eleven and the rest what had happened.
D. 	These women were so excited that they couldn't keep their mouths shut.
	1. 	We need men and women who are so excited about what Jesus has done that they can't keep 
		their mouths shut.
	2. 	God wants Christians in this age to be like these women.
		a. 	When Jeremiah tried not to speak of the LORD, God's word was in him like a burning fire 
			and he could not keep it back (Jer. 20:9).
		b. 	David did not restrain his lips (Ps. 40:9-10).
	3. 	Are you telling what God has done in your life?

UNBELIEVING APOSTLES, vv. 11-12

A. 	The words of the women seemed to the apostles as an idle tale.
	1. 	The word was used by Gr. medical writers to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane 
		mind.
	2. 	The Apostles thought the women had gone mad.
	3. 	These are the men who are going to be pillars in the church! These are the men who are going 
		to preach Jesus' resurrection.
B. 	Peter went and looked at the tomb, saw the burial clothes, and went home amazed.

CONCLUSION

A. 	Like Peter, we need to go home amazed.
B. 	We need to be amazed that:
	1. 	A man could be raised from the dead.
	2. 	That the Creator of the world loved us that much!