Nonsense, What if it is true? | Tyrone p. Jones | Easter For The City 2026

And if you will take your Bible, we're gonna go to Luke chapter 24. And I'm gonna read verses one through 12. Luke chapter 24, verses one through 12, as we look at the resurrection of our Lord. Amen, amen. Here's the word of the Lord. Matthew, Mark, Luke chapter 24. But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and crucified on the third day rise. And when, sorry, be crucified on the third day rise. And they remembered his words and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Johanna and Mary the mother of Jesus and the other women

with them who had told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to be to them an idle tale and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in and he saw the linen cloths by themselves. And he went home marveling at what had happened. So far, the reading of the word, can you say amen? Amen. Lord, it's so good to be together. Oh my, to worship the king of glory, the risen savior. Father, we're thankful for the service, first service this morning. Lord, the many ways that you minister to your people and I'm trusting the same even now. Lord, as I bring forth the word of God, I'm asking for your anointing, but Lord that the words that are spoken, Lord will minister to people right where they are. May the Holy Spirit speak, may the word of God speak. And Lord, as we celebrate the risen savior, that there'll be so much joy and excitement about what you have done for us, that we may embrace this opportunity, not only to glorify you, but live for you. You're a good God, a good Lord, a good savior. And we give you thanks. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. Now, I think if you've been at CTC any length of time and heard any manner of messages here, you know very much that the heart of Christianity is not a new approach to morality, nor is it giving you some new insights on the universe. The heart of Christianity is that a dead man walked up out of a grave. That's the heart of Christianity. And because of that, everything changes. We've been walking through this with the Apostles' Creed, and we've talked already about believing in God, the father almighty creator of heaven and earth, that we believe in the son, his only son in Lord, who was crucified. He was conceived actually by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried and descended to the grave. And then it goes on to say the third day he rose again from the dead. And obviously our focus this morning is the resurrection of Christ. When this passage that I just read, there's some words that I wanted to stand out there. In verse number four, you see the word perplexed. In verse six, you see the word remember. In verse eight, you see the word remembered. In verse 11, you see two words that says idle tale. And then in verse number 12, you see the word marveled.

What you see here being described by Luke the writer is a movement from confusion that those who were at the tomb had to remembrance, to belief. I'm very much aware as a pastor that even people who are faithful followers of Christ, will it be a miracle? times wrestle with their belief. They'll wrestle with their belief and here the resurrection it just seems like nonsense. They have never known. Crucifixion had been going on actually for a while there but they had never known of anyone who was executed by crucifixion actually coming back to life. That was nothing that had ever been seen but for us Christianity absolutely stands or falls on the claim that Christ did rise from the dead and so we're going to look at that from a few angles here and one is the confusion. The confusion we see at the tomb. The women get there very early in the morning, very early, way before sunlight. They get to the tomb and understand is they're not coming with hope. They're not coming with any thought of doing anything except preparing his body for burial. Knowing that they're Jewish people of course when Jesus was taken off the cross which was right before Sabbath began. It was against the law for a body to be hanging through the Sabbath. So somewhere before 6 p.m. Jesus was crucified at 3 p.m. on that Friday. Somewhere before 6 p.m. they took him off the cross. He was taken by Joseph of Arimathea and he was put in a tomb. Because of their Sabbath there was no ability, no time for them to actually go and do the work of preparing the body. You got to of course you understand that this is a time we didn't call morticians or anybody to come pick up the body. These families took care of these things themselves and so because of that there was no time to prepare the body for the burial. So these women are coming with spices. They're coming to take care of the body. They're coming to anoint a corpse. This was going to be the best opportunity for them to find some kind of get some kind of closure of what's happened to Jesus. And again because they were the ones responsible of taking care of any dead person in their family they understood death very well. Probably better than many of us do. They'd seen bodies up close and they knew when somebody was dead. They knew if a person was dead that person was dead. So after seeing what Jesus experienced, him being beaten, him being crucified, him being

pierced, there was no category in their minds that this person was going to be alive. That didn't fit nowhere in their thinking. And so when these women came they did not have faith in a resurrection. Not at all. So they didn't come packing their lawn chairs and snacks and bringing their popcorn waiting for a miracle show. That was not what was happening. They brought spices. Heavy spices because they expected the dead to stay dead. Are y'all following me on this? And so when they arrive the stone is rolled away. The body is gone. The Bible says that they were perplexed. This word means confused. They were disoriented. They were unable to make sense of the reality. What they saw didn't match their expectation. They had an expectation in their head and the reality didn't match it. I was gonna say I don't know if you've ever been to an all-black funeral, but since most of y'all ain't black then you haven't been. So I just wanted to catch myself. You've never been to an all-black funeral if you ain't black. But the first time, I was young but I went to a funeral of all-black folks. What we experienced in the church was like what you think. People crying, people sorrow, people grieving. That's what I expected and that's what took place and then we have the I think they call it the repass where you go and gather at a home and honestly I was expecting the same thing. We're just gonna be sitting around sad and crying and doing more of what we just did. As I'm approaching the door with my family, the door was open and I hear music. I hear Marvin Gaye bumping up in there. Folks in there talking about got to give it up, keep on dancing. passing around cognac, they all got their red cups, that was nothing I expected, nothing I expected, the reality of that was nothing that I expected at all. They said to them, why are you looking for the living among the dead? It just made no sense, their expectation was totally wrong. Shared with the first service, two Saturdays ago, the women had their women's brunch, and Tesla and I were all taking a walk while the brunch was going on, and we came around through the back of the date grove behind the church there, and as I passed the playground equipment, I looked over and I saw Jaime and another young man, they was over there fixing breakfast, it was smelling good, and I hadn't ate yet, so I just, you know, doing a pastoral duty, I just wanted to go over there and thank them, you know, thank them for volunteering and fixing the breakfast, and I'm just re-emphasizing how much I appreciate, eventually they kind of caught on, one of them said, Pastor, do you want anything? And I said, you know, now that you ask, you know, sure, I'd be happy to take something,

Denise Sweet McGregor, I don't know if Denise is here, she popped out of the kitchen, and when she popped out, I said to Denise, Denise, can you grab me a little plate? These fellas gonna give me some breakfast, so she goes in, now I gotta tell you, she comes back out, and what I expected was a plate, like a big, I've been knowing Denise for decades, she didn't been to my house, we didn't ate with her, had fellowship with her, she know I'm a grown man, and I'm gonna eat breakfast, so I'm expecting a plate, Denise comes out with something like this, something about this big, it was not what I expected, I looked at that, I said, Denise, why did you come out with that little plate? She said, Pastor, I did exactly what you asked me to do. You said, bring me a little plate. And here is what I know oftentimes about our approach to the Lord, He does exactly what He says He's going to do, but our expectation is off. Sometimes we have the wrong expectation, and that's what they're experiencing here. The second look I want you to see is that the resurrection is explained by remembering. The angels say to them, He's not here, He has risen, and then they say something powerful, remember, remember what He told you. Notice that they didn't give any new information, they point back to what Jesus had already said, the Son of Man must be delivered, crucified, and rise on the third day. And then the Bible says, and then they remembered His words. I'm telling you, I've learned this in my own life. I don't have doubt because of lack of evidence. When I experience doubt, it's because I've actually forgotten what Jesus has already done for me. It's because of forgetting. It's not a faith problem, it's a memory problem. I've forgotten the fact that the last time I got in a crisis and I cried out to the Lord, He delivered me. I forgot the fact that the last time that I got sick and I asked Him for healing, He healed. I had forgotten the fact that the last time I was in a financial crisis, the Lord came through. Forgotten the fact that the last time you felt like the marriage was going to fall apart and the Lord restored it, this time when you got into argument, once again, you thought the marriage was going to fall apart, but you forgot what He'd already done. Our problem is not necessarily the lack of evidence, it's that we forget what the Lord has already done for us. We forget what Jesus has said. We forget what Jesus has promised. We forget what Jesus has already proved. And when we forget, when we forget the word, then everything becomes uncertain. It always, it blows my mind every time that whenever I'm going somewhere and using my GPS, because of the way it is, you know, it'll give you the map,

but it also lists every place that you're going, where you're going to turn, what highway you're going to be in, and of course you get a snapshot of that and you get it in your head. But I'll always go into a panic, even though I've seen where I'm going and know where I'm going, whenever I hit a spot and that wheel is just turning as if we just lost the signal, I go into a panic. That's the same thing we do with God. He's already he told us what he's going to do, he's told us where he's going to take us, he told us what to expect with what he does, but whenever for some reason another we think that God has taken us in a tailspin, we go into a panic. Am I talking to the right church? And so that third angle is the response of the disciples. The resurrection sounded like nonsense. The women, they go and tell the disciples that we went to the tomb, he's not there, and the angels told us that he did just what he told us he would. So they go and tell the disciples this, and it's interesting, these fellows basically told those women that's a bunch of nonsense. Now these are the disciples that follow Jesus, mind you, they saw all the miracles, they've heard every sermon, they've seen Jesus do everything that he's done, and they respond that's nonsense. They didn't say it was confusion, they didn't respond like, oh I'm curious about this, it was a complete dismissal. Ten of them didn't even investigate, didn't lean in, just wrote it off. Similar to how many of us would if we just hear something that's just so unbelievable, things that you would laugh off that this can't be real. That's what they did with the resurrection, and can I be honest, I think that's where many people are still today. I always, and of course I'm a pastor on Easter Sunday, but whenever we come here on Easter Sunday, and now of course where I live I don't get to pass people, but here I get to drive by things. When I see people at swap meets, when I see people on the golf course, when I see people going about doing everything except coming to church, my mind is they didn't just dismiss the resurrection as if it's never happened. And let's be honest, why is it that people do this when they're confronted with the resurrection? I think they dismiss it because there's something that they got to address, and here's the issue. If Jesus is alive, then he has to be Lord. If Jesus is alive, then you have to do what Jesus tells you to do. If Jesus is alive, then you got to be accountable to him for righteousness, and I think it's easier for some folks to just dismiss it as if it never happened to keep them from being in that situation so they consider it nonsense. But then we have Peter. Peter jumped up after everybody dismissed it. Peter jumped up. I'm

thinking, the scripture doesn't say it, but I'm thinking Peter has kind of been in this situation before where he hasn't quite believed what Jesus said, and then Jesus proved it. You know, he didn't really know if he was going to be able to walk on water, but then Jesus proved it. He didn't really know if they could catch fish after been fishing all night, but then Jesus told him to cast out on the other side, and Jesus proved it. I think there was something in Peter that snapped and said, just what if this dude actually got up out of here? What if he did? So Peter goes. He runs to the tomb. He ran in. He looks in. He sees the linen cloth, and the scripture says he was amazed. He didn't stay in skepticism. He kind of moved toward the evidence. He didn't leave there triumphant. He didn't leave there, you know, ready to preach. He left there a little bit stunned, but at least he tried to make sense of what he saw, and I'm suggesting that people here that hear this message also do the same thing. Instead of just being somebody who heard the message, and maybe even you've questioned the message, that you respond to it and don't just dismiss it. If you're here today, something must be stirring in you. There's something causing you to want to be in a place where you know you're going to hear about a resurrected Lord. Something must be stirring. I want to believe you're on the edge of belief, and I can hear the Lord saying, don't stay where you are, just come and see, because what you may think is nonsense absolutely is the most important event that's ever happened in the history of the world. Can you say amen? And here's what I know. If the resurrection is true, then hear this, Jesus has redeemed all of your sins. Now that alone, yeah, that's worthy of a praise, all of your sins. That's the good news of the gospel. Listen to what Romans 4, 23 and 25 says, it was recorded for our benefit, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him. The one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, he has handed over to die because of our sins and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Just try to comprehend that for a moment. The scripture is assuring us because of the resurrection of Jesus that every one of us is now counted righteous. Have you ever done anything that at the end of the day, you think I'm just a righteous person? None of us can get to that place of righteousness on our own, but because Jesus rose from the dead, it's not a pursuit that we have to have because Jesus has already accomplished it for us. He's the one that brings us into righteousness and raises, because he was raised, we now are right with God. The resurrection is the proof. The resurrection, it's the proof that the cross has worked. It's like the receipt. Whenever you go to Sam's Club, I think Sam's Club is the only place that does this. Once you get all your stuff and you're on your way out, they got somebody there checking to make sure that you got in there what you said you got in there and check off that receipt. You don't mind, you don't mind walking up because you have no reason to be guilty. You don't mind approaching that person. When you're pushing that card or boxes you're carrying from Sam's Club, you ain't trying to see, man, how can I dodge him? How can I get around him? I don't want them to ask me anything.

You got no guilt. You got no shame because you got a receipt that says everything in here is paid in full. It's the same thing with our life. I ain't trying to dodge God. I ain't trying to get around the Almighty. I'm not scared of the judgment seat of Christ because the blood of Jesus has paid the price for me. Everything is paid in full. Everything is paid in full. I got the receipt of what Jesus has done. And we need that because our sin, it's not a minor flaw. We're not just people with weakness. We've rebelled against God. This is a cosmic treason. We were created by the creator and we have rebelled against him. That's a cosmic treason. It's us saying to God, you don't get to rule me. I get to rule my own life. The Bible is real clear to us that the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. That's the curse. That's what's falling upon every human race. But on the cross, Jesus Christ has stepped into our place and the gift of God is life eternal through Christ Jesus. Can you say amen? Amen. And so Isaiah 53, five says this,

but he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Christ took that on. The crushing, the beating, the whipping, the piercing. Christ took that on so that we could be healed. He took the sting. It's very much like a bee sting. If you was trying to kill a bee and the stinger went into your hand, that bee goes to death. He only got one sting in him. His life comes to a demise after that. Christ did that for us. The sting of death went in Jesus. When death hit Jesus, it took the sting out of death. That's why as believers, as people of God, we're not afraid of death. We got no concern about death. Death got no sting, no hold over us. As a matter of fact, when Jesus rose from the dead, Acts chapter two says that the reason that death could not hold him is that death was trying to break the law. The only way you can make somebody pay for their sins, the only way death can cause you to stay in the ground is because your sins haven't been paid for. But when your sins have been paid for, death is trying to break the law to keep you in.

Death can't hold you down because death has no grip on you because Christ has. It's taken the sting, can you say amen? Amen. So even though death may come physically to all of us, the sting has been taken away. Death no longer can hold us under condemnation. I love when we sing that song, no guilt in life, no fear in death. This is Christ, this is the power of Christ in me. He's paid that price and the payment has been accepted. Here's the second thing I want you to take with you. If it's true, you can have new life. If the resurrection is true, the power of new life is here. Sin didn't just bring a curse over us. Sin released us into corruption, but death is working in our human heart. You can see it in people's lives. You can see it in addictions. You can see it in selfishness. You can see it in anger. You can see it in lust. You can see it in lies. You can see it in broken relationships, that death is at work in the human heart. But Jesus didn't just merely forgive you for your sins and leave your life unchanged. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not only did he forgive your sins,

but he rose that you may be a new person, a new person in Christ Jesus, brand new in him. Listen to Romans chapter six, verse number four. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the father, now we also may live new lives. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, our lives are new. Not the cleaned up version. Not the new and improved version. You know, anything that they say new and improved, that means they didn't get it right the first time. Not the cleaned up version, not the new and improved version, not the polished up version, but an absolute new creation. A new creation, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun. Consider Mary Magdalene, who was one at this, at the tomb of Jesus. And honestly, I didn't mention this in the first service, but every time I read Mary Magdalene, if I could just say something, it was, many of you know, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years ago and, you know, walked through a process for almost a year. And then Virginia and I went to Jerusalem, to Israel. And actually it was in the home of Mary Magdalene

where I got prayed for and the healing began. It was in that home that that tumor began to get smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. So every time I read about Mary Magdalene, I get a little emotion. But think about Mary Magdalene. When Jesus found her, scripture says she had seven demons. She was just totally in bondage, utter ruin, a life that was beyond repair. Imagine what her life must've looked like, broken and outcast and haunted and hopeless, kind of person that most folks would give up on. And yet Jesus healed her. Jesus restored her. Jesus called her by name, made her one of the witnesses here of the resurrection. Think about that. Look at the grace and the power and the mercy that's given to this woman who had such a horrible, horrible life. And that may be your story. Maybe it ain't seven demons. Person next to you may say it's 11 demons, but maybe it ain't seven. But you got habits you can't break. You got patterns that you can't outrun. You got a shame that you can't silence. And you got wounds that you cannot heal. I want you to hear me on this. There's more healing in Jesus

than there is brokenness in your life. There's more forgiveness in Jesus than there is sin that you could have committed. There's more power in the resurrection than the ruin of your past. He can put you back together. I don't care how you've been torn apart, and he can build you up for a life forever more. This is the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if it's true, then every sad thing will come untrue. Every sad thing in your life will come untrue because of the resurrection. Death oftentimes feels like it's final. Loss feels permanent. I get that. I understand that. But the resurrection said this ain't the end. The Bible talks about the resurrection of Jesus being the first fruits of something new. Here's 1 Corinthians 15, 20 through 23. it says but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead he is the first of a great harvest of all who have died everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life do you hear that everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life but there's an order Christ raised at the first of the harvest then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back that's where our hope comes death can seem final it can seem cruel it can seem irreversible some of you know that grief you know a person buried a parent or spouse or a sibling a child a friend you may feel that ache even now as I talk about it but here's what I

know here's what I know no matter how that grief may come maybe for some people it's not even the death of a loved one for some people honestly it's the fear of their own death and if you apart from Christ then then you ought to be afraid because death absolutely is certain but the resurrection says that death doesn't have the last word there is a day coming when every tear from our eyes will be wiped clean everything that's been made wrong will be made right a day is coming when all pain will be healed all graves will be empty and sorrow will be undone I love the writing of Lord of the Rings when Tolkien says that every sad thing will come untrue every sad thing that's what gives us resurrection hope that there's gonna be a day that no matter what we're experiencing now if there's somebody in the wheelchair there's gonna be a day you get to walk if you if you're blind there's gonna be a day you get to see if you came here there's gonna be a day you get to hear whatever that situation is all of that comes back because the Lord restores us to the glory that he designed for us it's not a denial of pain it's a transformation of pain we don't pretend that things don't bother us but believing in Jesus Christ absolutely gives us victory so know this we may have to go through a grave but it don't end there it don't stop there the empty tomb is not the end place for us that's just a doorway to what God has for us and so let me close with this if it's true then those who wait on God will not be disappointed if the resurrection is true those who wait on him will experience no disappointment can I just challenge you with the question why did you think God waited when Jesus died on the cross on Friday because of who God is and the power that he exercises couldn't he rose Jesus up right away of course he could of course he could but why did he wait till Sunday why leave a silence why leave a gap and oftentimes for us it's we feel like we're living in the gap that that place between Friday and Sunday oftentimes we live in that place of unanswered prayers oftentimes we live in that place where it seems like heaven is silent where promises feel like they're delayed those those moments when you ask where is God but but you got to hear me on this the resurrection tell us that his silence

is not an absence his delay is not a denial God was working on Saturday even though nobody saw he was preparing for his power to reveal to the world at a time when they didn't expect it how great he is even when you don't see it you know the song he's still working even when you don't feel it he's still working even when you see the darkness he is still working so you may feel abandoned you may feel like God is not there but I'm telling you if God did not abandon his son who was crucified and in the grave he absolutely will not abandon you not now and not never lamentations 319 through 26 says this the thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss yet I still dare to hope when I remember this the faithful love of the Lord never ends his mercies never cease great is his faithfulness can you say amen his mercies begin afresh each morning I say to myself the Lord is my inheritance therefore I will hope in him the Lord is good to those who depend on him to those who search for him so it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord so let me encourage you don't give up don't walk away too soon don't confuse the silence of saturday as if it's the absence of god sunday is coming friday is not the end of it all sunday is coming and you can still see the good of the lord in the land look at psalm 27 13 yet i'm confident i will see the lord's goodness while i'm here in the land of the living can you say amen and so as i wrap this up i get it to them it seemed like nonsense but it was true then and it's true now and because it's true everything is different so the question is not a matter of fact is this true the question is do you believe or do you just admire the story or do you just think the story is inspiring or do you just come to church on easter because that's what people do do you believe it if you believe it i don't know why you would wait to let jesus christ be the lord of your life to receive salvation jesus died on the cross for you and he rose for you so that you can trust him today not just appreciate him not just thinking of think about it but surrender to him to absolutely give your life to jesus christ and if you have done that they shared it very well ryan and nye did very well then it's time to be baptized it's time to go public with your faith to take that step if you've trusted christ the savior now is the time to go public baptism is that declaration that you belong to

the lord you'll see numbers on the screen here if today if you want to commit your life to jesus christ you just text life to that number and you'll be considered in the number of the the family of god and our team will work with you if you need to be baptized you just text baptism to that number and we'll make sure you get you get baptized but here's the last thing and prayer team can you come you may need prayer you may need prayer here this morning there may be something that resonated with you with the life of mary magdalene maybe some stronghold maybe some addiction maybe some affliction maybe some fear maybe some oppression in your life that you need jesus to break you don't have to leave here this morning without letting people pray for you because our god is able to break that stronghold over your life he's able to break that addiction over your life all you got to do is trust him just come and watch the power of the lord god work in you you may need healing you may need freedom you may need deliverance of some sort trust me the resurrection power of jesus christ is for you and because of the resurrection everything that's overwhelming your life can be broken by the power of the lord jesus christ this is the day for you to be free will you stand with as i pray for you and pray with you leave here knowing this because jesus is rose because jesus is alive everything in your life can be different everything in your life can change because of the resurrection of jesus christ father i want to thank you for this opportunity we've had to share to speak the gospel of the lord jesus christ to minister to our community to our city to those that are part of ccc and even those that are abroad lord i pray that you take the words of this message and minister to the hearts of everyone those who need to come to jesus today may today be the day that they surrender those who need to be baptized may this be the day they make that commitment to go public and those who need prayer lord may they come forth without fear without concern without being feeling like they're going to be looked upon with judgment may they come and trust the power of christ as mary magdalene was delivered lord you are a deliverer you are a healer and father to you that we trust and so god we pray that you would be glorified in us from here as we go to our various places our homes and gather together may you be exalted may you be lifted up may you be glorified we thank you for the resurrection of our lord jesus christ god bless you