Transcript
I invite you to turn your Bibles once again to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 24. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. Our passage is found in Luke 24, but for the sake of connection, a couple of verses from Luke 23. You glance back up at Luke 23, verse 49. Luke 23:49.
“But all His acquaintances and the women who followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things.”
Now skip down, if you will, to verse 54 of chapter 23. Luke 23:54.
“That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still 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. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
William Usery II, whose nickname is Runt, is now a little boy ten years of age. But he can tell an amazing story which very few children his age could equal. You see, on June the 2nd, 1993, Runt was playing in front of his home in southeast Fort Worth when he was struck by a stray bullet from a gang member’s gun.
The bullet ripped into his body. It struck his stomach and his liver. And he came out on the relatively short ambulance ride to John Peter Smith Hospital. Runt died twice again in the emergency room, where doctors revived him for a third time. But they had to cut open his chest and massage his heart to get it to beating again.
The medical people at the hospital had a very grim prognosis to share with the family. They said to the family that there was only a ten percent chance that Runt would survive the damage that was done by that bullet. And yet two years ago this past Friday, on July the 26th, 1994, an article appeared in the Dallas Morning News which reported that more than one year after the shooting and ten surgeries later, William “Runt” Usery the Second was beginning to resume his life as a normal little boy.
It hadn’t been easy. It was a painful road. When he was in the hospital in 1993, the doctors removed three feet of his large intestine. And when he was released from the hospital in August of that year, it was necessary for him to wear a catheter bag for many months that followed.
There were other surgeries after he was released. One of them fixed the connection between the catheter bag and his body. Another cleared away some skin that had grown around a tracheotomy tube that had been inserted into his neck, because the skin was making it difficult for him to breathe.
Speaking at his dining room table to the Dallas Morning News reporter, his father, Mr. Usery, recalled many nights when he changed his son’s dressing. And three times a day, he said, Runt cried out in pain because the medical tape pulled at his skin. But now, at the time of this interview, at last the oxygen tent was gone, the catheter bag was gone, and even the tracheotomy tube had been removed from his throat.
The doctors had told the family that they didn’t expect there to be any serious consequences from the shooting. Runt gets tired a little bit more easily than before. Runt has scars on his chest and on his throat. And he has a bald place on the back of his head where his red hair will never grow in again, because he spent so much time lying on a hospital bed.
The family has now moved to a quieter section of southeast Fort Worth. But they realize that even there there’s no one hundred percent guarantee against the recurrence of violence. But they’re just happy to have their son Runt back with them again.
The newspaper article in the Dallas Morning News that reported this story had a two-word headline. The two-word headline was this: “Comeback Kid.” And then the sub-headline said that after almost being killed by a stray bullet from a gang member’s gun, boy has amazingly recovered.
Now I hope you will agree with me, and I’m quite sure that you will, that if any young boy has ever deserved the title of comeback kid, one such young boy is certainly William “Runt” Usery II. But do you know that into every life and into every experience there come setbacks? There come experiences so serious, so severe, so disturbing, so traumatic, that these setbacks threaten our capacity to come back. They threaten our ability to make a comeback.
And so this morning, my friends, I’d like to talk to you about setbacks and comebacks. Setbacks and comebacks. When you have a serious setback in your personal life, do you collapse in defeat? Or do you push forward and, by the grace of God, make a comeback? Or to put it another way, collapse or comeback? Which will it be?
And that question just happens to be the title of my message to you this morning: Collapse or Comeback? Which will it be?
Now you know, in all of the years that I have preached to you, only on rare occasions have I been able to preach from a passage where women are the center and key to the passage. A number of years ago I was preaching about the women in Luke chapter 8, verses 1 to 3. And a woman who was in the audience, who used to attend this church but now is living in another city, paid me one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten as a preacher. I can’t resist sharing it with you.
She said, “Every time I hear you preaching about women, I never detect any kind of condescension at all. What comes through is your respect for women.” I certainly hope that’s true. And I want you to know this morning that I have the utmost respect for the women that we have read about this morning in our passage of Scripture. I have profound respect for these women.
You see, first of all, these women had a very special dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were the women who had followed Him all the way from Galilee on this final visit of His to the city of Jerusalem. And their purpose in following Him was to serve Him, to help Him in all of His personal needs.
Obviously they were women who had believed in Him. They had believed in Him as the Christ, the Savior of men. They had received from Him the free gift of everlasting life. They were believers who were born again into the family of God. But they were more than that. They were not only believers in Jesus Christ with eternal life. They were dedicated disciples. They were dedicated to the service of the Son of God.
Now I want you to understand that when they arrived in the city of Jerusalem, there was nothing that really prepared them for the events that would take place before they left. And can you imagine the shock and surprise that came to them when they found that the person whom they had believed in as God’s Savior, the person that they believed would someday reign over the nation of Israel and the whole world, when they found that He got arrested, that He was tried and convicted and condemned to die on a criminal’s cross?
And according to the Gospel of Luke, they stood at a distance from the cross. And they watched Him hanging there, dying on that cross. And then they watched as some men took His body down. And they followed the men who carried His body to the garden tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea. And they observed as the body was carried into the tomb. And they watched the way it was laid in the tomb. And then they watched the stone being rolled across the mouth of that tomb.
Can you imagine what an enormous setback that was for them? The person in whom they had believed, the person they expected to reign as King, had died like a criminal. He was buried. And His tomb was sealed with that massive stone. That’s a setback.
So what did they do? Did they throw their hands up in despair? Did they run home and spend the rest of the day weeping their eyes out because of this terrible, terrible tragedy that had shattered their hopes and expectations? No, that’s not what they did.
Did you notice what they did? They continued to serve Jesus Christ. They continued to serve Jesus Christ. And they went home. And they got to work preparing spices and fragrant oils. And then they rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment of the law, because they were still under the law. And then, very early on the first day of the week, they brought these spices and fragrant oils to the tomb of Jesus.
Just because He was dead did not mean that they had to stop serving Him. And they intended to minister to Jesus’ dead body. And don’t you see, my friends, the way that these women faced their setback was to persevere in their dedication to the Son of God? Or to put it another way, they kept on keeping on. They kept on keeping on.
And the most fundamental and basic rule that you and I can follow, regardless of the setbacks that come into our life and experience, is that we should press forward in our determination to serve Jesus Christ in whatever way we can. We should keep on keeping on. We should keep on keeping on.
Many years ago there was a young Midwestern lawyer who was suffering a very deep depression. His depression was so deep, in fact, that his friends thought it would be wise to conceal from him any knives or razors during the period of his depression. This lawyer wrote these words. He said, “I am the most miserable man in the world. I really doubt that I shall ever be better.” I doubt it very much. But he made a comeback.
And his name is known to every single person in this audience and just about to every person in the entire United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
Over three decades ago a newspaper man who worked for the Chicago Daily Times noticed an advertisement that attracted his attention. The advertisement said this: “Five thousand dollar reward for whoever can help me find the murderer of Officer so-and-so.” And the officer’s name was given.
The newspaper man smelled a story in this. And so he tracked down the advertiser. The advertiser turned out to be an old woman named Tilly who was living in a poor house. The story was this. Tilly’s son Joe had been arrested and tried and convicted for the murder of a police officer. He had been sent to prison for life.
Where did Tilly get the money to offer as a reward? From scrubbing floors. She scrubbed floors for eleven years, eight hours a day, six days a week, thirty-five hundred hours, miles and miles and miles of floor, and years of backache.
Well, the story interested the newspaper man. And he dug into it. And he turned up conclusive evidence that her son Joe had not even been at the scene of the crime when the officer was killed. The case was reopened by the Supreme Court. And on August the 15th, 1945, a little over three decades ago, Joe was released.
Tilly was no longer in the poor house. And at home she welcomed Joe with the cake that she had baked. She didn’t eat any of the cake. She just sat and watched Joe eat the cake with tears in her eyes and with joy in her heart.
And yes, my friends, the arrest and imprisonment of her son had been a setback. But Tilly persevered. And she made a marvelous comeback.
Someone has said, “Well, one step won’t take you very far. You have to keep on walking. One word won’t tell folks who you are. You have to keep on talking. One inch won’t make you very tall. You have to keep on growing. One deed won’t do it all. You have to keep on going.”
“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
And the fundamental secret of confronting setbacks and making a comeback is to persevere in our dedication to Jesus Christ and to keep on keeping on. So that’s what brought the women to the tomb: their continuing determination to serve Jesus Christ.
And that continuing determination led them to the greatest surprise of their entire experience. When they arrived at the tomb, to their surprise the stone had been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. When they walked into the tomb, to their even greater surprise there was no body inside the tomb.
And the Bible tells us here that they were very perplexed by that. And no doubt the roller-coaster ride that they had been on for the last few days seemed now to have hit the bottom. Not only was Jesus dead, they thought, but His body had somehow disappeared. What in the world were they going to do?
And it was just at this point that suddenly two men appeared in shining clothing. Obviously they were angels. And apparently their clothing was so bright the women couldn’t really look at them. And so their faces were cast down to the ground.
Get this picture, folks. These women are perplexed and fearful. Their eyes are downcast. Perfect picture of somebody at the bottom of the well. And it was then that these women heard one of the profoundest questions ever asked: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
It was then that they heard one of the greatest announcements ever made: “He is not here. He is risen.” And it was then they were reminded of one of the greatest prophecies ever spoken: “Don’t you remember how He said to you when He was still in Galilee, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again’?”
And my friends, I think that these words must have come across their hearts like floods of water across dry and barren land. And suddenly the light dawned on them. And the Bible tells us, “And they remembered His words.” And that’s where the comeback began.
The comeback began when they realized that Jesus Christ was alive. May I suggest it to you? Every comeback that any Christian will ever make from any setback will be because Jesus Christ is alive from the dead.
Said the Lord in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior, waiting the coming day. Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er His foes. He arose a victor o’er the dark domain. And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose. He arose. Christ arose.
And my friends, that’s the greatest comeback in human history: Jesus Christ rising from the dead. And because He is alive, our comeback is possible from any setback that life can bring us.
So what did the women do? Well, they continued to do what they were planning to do in the first place. They came to the tomb to serve Jesus Christ. They left the tomb to serve Jesus Christ. There was no longer a body to anoint with spices and fragrant oils. But there was now a living Savior to proclaim.
And Luke tells us that the women went back to the eleven apostles and told them all these things. What did it matter the apostles didn’t believe them? You see, in this story it’s the guys who are the meatheads. And let’s face it, men, we’re like that lots of times. But it is the women who have discovered the truth. And it is the women who are proclaiming it.
What a glorious comeback that was. And folks, nobody knows what happened to the spices and fragrant oils. They weren’t needed anymore. But one thing we know from the comeback of these women: the Lord Jesus Christ was glorified. They became the very first people in human history to announce that He is alive.
And rest assured of this: when God gives you a comeback of any kind, whatever the nature of that comeback will be, it will always be a comeback that is designed to glorify Jesus Christ our living Lord and Savior.
I don’t know what setbacks you may be facing. But whatever they are, the question remains the same: collapse or comeback? Which will it be?
Charlotte Elliott had a brother who was in the ministry. And he was planning to construct a school where the daughters of other ministers could be educated. It was a big project for him. And he was absorbed in it. But Charlotte Elliott couldn’t get involved.
You see, Charlotte was forty-five years of age at the time. She was in very ill health. And on the day when a fundraising program was planned, the night before, Charlotte and they couldn’t see. She knew she couldn’t go to the fundraiser. And she began to doubt that she could be useful to the Lord.
The next day everybody in the household except Charlotte left the house to go to the fundraising program. And she was left there alone. At that point, alone and lonely and wondering if she was useful to the Lord, she had bought Him. But then the comeback began.
And she remembered that she had been saved just the way she was by faith in Jesus Christ. And she began to understand that as a Christian she must trust Jesus to use her just the way she was. And so she picked up a pen and she began to write some words. And some of the words that she wrote go like this:
“Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come.”
And later on, William Bradbury, I believe it was, set those words to music. And they became the hymn which we know by the title “Just as I Am.” Possibly the greatest evangelistic hymn ever written. Completely clear about the gospel. It has been sung at hundreds and thousands of evangelistic meetings.
When I was a kid, before I was saved, I heard it sung many times. And I was deeply moved by its message. And nobody on earth can count or compute how many hundreds and thousands of people have been drawn to Jesus Christ, at least in part, by the message of that song.
Did Charlotte Elliott make a comeback or what? And folks, remember that whatever comeback we need to make, we will make it only because Charlotte Elliott’s Savior and your Savior and mine is alive forevermore.
Because He lives I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know, I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.
Shall we pray?
We rejoice that He lives. And Father, He ever lives to make intercession for us. His living power is available to each and every one of us according to our need. May we look to Him. May we trust in His wisdom and goodness. May we accept gratefully whatever comeback He chooses to give us from the hardships and setbacks of life.
We thank You that life is worth living just because He lives. We pray in His name. Amen.