Temple Baptist Church - 4-5-2026
Luke 23:44-24:12
Introduction:
A. Today, we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, the Capstone of the Gospel. I thank God this morning for a finished work that saves the eternal souls of the repentant, believing individual.
B. This morning, I read the Gospel to you. We normally preach on the cross, then on the resurrection. For the first time, because I started on the 7 sayings of Christ a week later than usual, it opened up the totality of the Gospel in one message. Paul emphasized the Gospel’s importance in Romans chapter one.
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
C. In First Corinthians chapter, Paul gave the Definition of the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
D. In our text, we find the demonstration of the Gospel made plain and simple.
1. Luke 23:44-46, the death of Christ according to the Scripture.
2. Luke 23:50-53, the burial of Christ.
3. Luke 24:1-3, the resurrection of Christ according to the Scriptures.
E. Now, let us look at the Scriptural account found in these verses.
1. The Death of Christ and the Believer.
Luke 23:44-46 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. (45) And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. (46) And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
a. At the instant Christ died, His spirit left the body. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
b. His spirit returned to God the Father, who gave it. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
c. In like manner, at the moment of our deaths, our spirits will leave our bodies.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
d. Our spirit will go back to God, who gave it.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
2. The Burial of Christ and the Believer.
Luke 23:50-53 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (51) (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. (52) This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. (53) And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
a. The dead body of Christ was hidden from the sight of men in a sepulchre. “in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone.”
b. Our dead bodies will be placed in a grave, hidden from the eyes of men.
Genesis 23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
c. Now for a major but all-important difference between the death of Christ and the believer. Christ’s body suffered no corruption! “But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.” Sin had no hold on Christ!
Acts 13:36-37 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: (37) But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
d. Our bodies immediately begin to corrupt at death because of Adamic sin. “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:”
John 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
e. At the moment of death, Christ went to Abraham’s Bosom, then led those Old Testament saints to heaven with Him. Both places of comfort and joy.
Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
f. At the moment of death, we will be with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
3. The Resurrection of Christ and the Believer.
a. The resurrection of Christ was a bodily resurrection.
Luke 24:2-3 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. (3) And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luke 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
b. The believer’s resurrection will be a bodily one.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
c. As Christ’s body was His body, our bodies will be ours, but now incorruptible and eternal.
1 John 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
d. Salvation is based upon a finished work and God’s amazing grace.
Romans 10:5-13 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (12) For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. (13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Conclusion: A perfect Gospel. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
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