Luke 24:1-9 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, 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 returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
This is the familiar story that we have read many times on Easter Mornings. It is the recorded story of the physical discovery that the body of Jesus of Nazareth was no longer held in the tomb. He had been crucified just two days prior. This was the morning of the third day that had dawned without the presence of Jesus to comfort and to guide His disciples. They were morose in their depressed attitudes. They had seen the end of their hopes and their dreams. The places that they had envisioned for elevating themselves were fallen and shattered asunder. Nothing was left to them. They had forsaken their livelihoods and their other acquaintances for the hope of a far better life with the prophet whom they had willingly followed. Their ideas of an earthly kingdom, in which they would rule, with Jesus of Nazareth as the King, were dead and buried along side Him. He had been their mentor and their friend. He had taught them in the power of God, and His miracles were fantastic to consider. But all that was gone with the last cry of Jesus on the cross as He gave Himself up unto death. 
It is unimaginable for us to think of the utter despair that filled the hearts of these disciples. They had walked with God incarnate. They had dwelt with and eaten with the very Son of God. Their entire beings had been turned inside out in His teachings and in His chiding of their foolish notions. He had loved them as no one ever had loved them, and now He was dead. They were forlorn as the women returned with the startling news that the body of Jesus was gone. They doubted the voiced testimony of the saying of the angelic messengers who had declared that Jesus was risen. Sure, He had talked about it in their midst, but that had been seen as a philosophical discussion of the resurrection of God’s people at some time in the future. They did not recognize that this was the time for which Jesus had given Himself. They were so caught up in the woes of their hearts; they forgot the truth of their life on this earth. They had been trained by the Lord to be the witness of both His death and His resurrection. All they were seeing at that moment was the death of the cross. 
Their eyes had not yet been focused upon the One, by Whom their entire lives were to be radically transformed. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they would become those men of God, who would witness to the fact of the risen Lord, against all odds and persecution. They would proclaim the grace of God in Jesus, the Christ, the promised One from the very heart of God. On this morning, however, the eyes of their understanding were filled with the tears of self-pity and self-absorption. 
So lost were they that morning, that they refused to submit to the wonderful news brought from the sepulcher. They could not accept the truth until He, Himself, presented His bruised and pierced body unto them for inspection. When their eyes were finally opened to the truth, they were overcome with so many emotional crises. They were filled with joy at the presence of Jesus. They were overwhelmed with the fact that He had been raised from the dead. They were also shamed by the doubts that had raged in their beings. The anger that they had felt before God burned its humiliation into their souls. The depth of their lack of faith tormented their minds. 
They were humbled before God, in their unworthiness to be so loved. We should be as humbled in ourselves. We are unworthy to be saved at the price of the life blood of Jesus Christ. In our self lives, we are not worthy to even consider that He came to the earth to pay the debt that we owed in our sin and transgressions before the holiness of God. Such a realization burrows into the morass of our being. It sinks itself into the very fibers of our soul before the throne of God’s grace.
 He did not save us unto Himself because of what we were. He saved us unto Himself, through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We were redeemed for what His love would develop in us. We are the recipients of eternal life in Christ by His grace alone. We are covered with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. We are placed into the very presence of God, without the dreadful consequences of who we used to be hanging over our heads. We are now, in Christ, made that perfect creation that God has always desired to dwell with in the ages of ages to come.
That is what we are now, in Christ. That is what the disciples discovered when they took their eyes off of the depth of their own depravity and faithlessness, and looked into the loving face of God, in Christ Jesus. The love that He had been unto them before the cross, paled in the full appreciation of the great love with which He had loved them, by going to the cross. They began to understand that the plan of God was not attached to their hopes, but rather was far beyond their comprehension. The earthly kingdom of their dreams was set aside in the deepening reality of the work that Christ had completed for them and for all who would believe upon Him. 
…remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, 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… There was the crux of the love of God in Christ. There was the depth of the deliverance of God’s amazing grace, they remembered. It finally dawned in their minds that all the previous teachings of Christ, all the miracles of His hands, all the admonitions of His heart unto them had led Him to the cross for their sakes. The rest of their earthly lives would be given over to the course that He had plotted for them, and taught them to traverse. His Spirit would be their guide and their comfort and their strength when the road was both easy and difficult. 
Sometimes, I think that we take for granted the life that we have before God. We become set in our ways, in our ideas, in our desires. We fail to notice the course of development that God has put into us through His Holy Spirit. This morning, we are here for a variety of purposes. Some are traditional, some are habitual, some are self-centered, and some are Christ-centered. The following key questions, and there are a number of them, need to be addressed in each one of our hearts. 
Are we willing to let God have His perfect way in our lives through the cross of Jesus Christ? Are we willing to put our thoughts and our understanding of what it means to be a Christian before the throne of God’s grace? Are we willing to allow Him the freedom to shake asunder all the elements of our earthly flesh and bone in order to come to a complete reliance upon Him? 
Are we willing to recognize Him seated in His place of authority at the right hand of God? Are we willing to accept the truth that He is not condemning those that strive to hurt us, to persecute us, to ridicule us? He, rather, loves them to the uttermost, as He has so loved us. Can we rejoice in that seeming injustice that expresses the purity of the love of God?
There is much that we need to have eradicated in terms of what we want and hope for. There is a lifetime of learning before us as we seek after the Holy Spirit to make us that which will fully please God. He needs to establish in us the deep knowledge of His eternal course for our lives. We have these earthly concepts of a heavenly city, with streets paved with gold, in which we will dwell forever. But what if that is not God’s heaven? What if He has something entirely different in His heart as to the value of man in union with Himself? Are we willing to face the cross of Christ with our hearts absolutely open unto Him? Are we willing to have Him do that which pleases Him in our beings, in our lives, in our marriages, in our families, and in our enemies, and not balk at the means that He ordains appropriate? 
There is much to take to the Lord in prayer in our heart’s desires. We have so many needs to see God having His way on this earth through us, as willing servants of all. We need to have the Holy Spirit open our hearts to...remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, 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… Do we know Him in the power of His Word? Do we recognize him in the life of His resurrection? Or, do we simply bear the brunt of each day in resignation? Are our eyes constantly focused on ourselves in self-pity? Do we stumble aimlessly in this world with our desires shattered because we are not getting what we think we deserve? 
That was the frightened group of men who cowered, forlornly at the start of that third morning. Let that self be buried on the death side of the cross of Christ. Let us lift our hearts, in life, and in rejoicing, unto the truth of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. He is risen! Allow His Lordship to mold each one of us into those men and women of God who proclaim, in life, that He is alive. That He does reign over all creation, and that He is Lord! As the angels said, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:… Praise His Holy and Wonderful Name!
(Eph 3:20 + 21) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.