I'd like to invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke 24. Our focus is going to be on verses 36 through 49, but I'm going to read the next four verses through the end of the chapter on the ascension. So Luke 24, 36, and we'll be reading through verse 53. This is the third Easter in a row that I have come to Luke 24. Two years ago, we looked at those two dispirited disciples on the road to Emmaus in the afternoon. Last year, we looked at the women at the tomb in the opening part of Luke 24, and this week we come to the upper room in Jerusalem in the evening of Easter. You might wonder, well, why didn't I go in order? Well, it's not a perfect world, is it? I didn't realize that when I decided to preach on Luke 24 a couple of years ago that I would be coming back in subsequent years. But when you have preached in vocational ministry, Easter sermons for 30 years, you kind of run out of territory after a while. I'm glad that we can focus on Luke 24. Would you follow along as I begin reading at verse 36 and read through the end of the chapter? As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones. as you see that I have, and when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then skipping 40 days later to the ascension, we read verse 50 and following, and he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. Well, what makes Luke unique is that the focus in Luke 24 is almost exclusively on what happened on Easter. He does talk about the Ascension at the very end of the chapter, but otherwise, everything that he records in this chapter concern Easter morning, then Easter afternoon, and then Easter evening, as we are considering today. Luke focused on Easter morning that we looked at last year in the opening 12 verses, and you remember that on Easter morning he put the focus on the women who had come to the tomb. And they encountered two angels who appeared as men dressed in dazzling clothing. And they had these words for the women who obviously didn't take Jesus literally when he said that he would rise on the third day or else they wouldn't have shown up at the tomb. And they spoke these words to these believing ladies, these unbelieving believing ladies, perhaps we should say, beginning in the back half of verse five. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's 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 be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and all the rest. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." Now, I pointed out last year that women were the first witnesses of the resurrection. Luke doesn't actually put the lens on the women beholding Jesus. The other gospel records do that, and we find out that Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness, and then the other women who had come to the tomb were the next eyewitnesses of Christ. But the focus of Luke is on the message of the angels to these women. They were jarring their memories as to what Jesus had said. the angels put the pious women back under the solid ground of the Word. Now, I noted last year when we focused on those opening 12 verses, some of the unique and even strange testimonies to the resurrection that are provided by Luke in that Easter morning A story, one being this, that God shocked the male chauvinist world of that day by making women to be the first witnesses of the resurrection. I pointed out last year that I've never been a fan of the feminist movement because I believe it to be unbiblical, but that I understood why there was a feminist movement in the world, and the reason there's a feminist movement in the world is because there are men in the world. And there's been a male chauvinism movement ever since Genesis 3, and it was very strong and entrenched there in Israel. The elders of the people decided that women were too unreliable to be witnesses in the court of law. Apparently, they thought that they were too emotional, too giddy, and so they thought in their wisdom that they ought to be excluded from giving testimony in the sobriety of the court. Well, God didn't get the memo, did he? Because God determined as a matter of history and as a matter of providence that women would in fact be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. And it's not the way that men would have arranged it. If Christianity is a hoax, as the infidel says, well, this is no way to perpetrate a hoax. The surprising place of the women in the resurrection story, like everything else associated with the gospel records, has the ring of truth about it. Is this surprising that God would make women to be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection? Well, yes, on one level, I suppose, and human society would be surprised by that. Surprising, but for that very reason, all the more powerful. And then Luke took us to the afternoon next with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were walking from Jerusalem to that sleepy village about seven miles from Jerusalem, probably a man and wife, although the Bible doesn't tell us that. probably a man and wife, and you could not have found two more dispirited disciples in all of the world than those two people. And you remember how Jesus came among them and they didn't recognize him. And he held a Bible study as they walked all the way to Emmaus. And it was no doubt the most incredible Bible study that has ever been done on planet Earth. And we read about both the necessity of that Bible study and the study in verses 25 through 27, where Luke records this. And he said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Well, later in the afternoon, these same disciples, still not recognizing Jesus, but wanting very much his company, invited him, prevailed upon him to come into their home and break bread. And then we read that their eyes were opened. Look at verses 30 through 32. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. and he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures. Notice that Luke is telling us that they had burning hearts before they realized that Jesus was raised from the dead. They had burning hearts because he was opening up the scriptures and opening up their minds to understand the scriptures. And that's how come they had the burning heart. In other words, Luke is writing that for our benefit. Maybe you think, well, if I had only been there, if I had been an eyewitness of the resurrection, then I would have a burning heart. And what Luke is saying is that the spirit and his word are adequate for you. The path is there for you and for me to have the burning heart. Now, we read in Luke 24-33 that the two disciples then made a beeline for Jerusalem. It was late afternoon when they got to Emmaus, and by the time they get to Jerusalem and to the upper room, it is now evening, and they are in the room for this last Easter appearance in Luke. Easter evening and Ascension Day are the concluding events of Luke's gospel, and as we come to the evening on Easter Sunday, I want to consider our text under two heads. First, the assuring fact of the resurrection, and then secondly, the resurrection and the church's mission. Let's begin, and we're going to spend most of our time with the assuring fact of the resurrection. We have the fact of the resurrection. Well, is it a fact or is it not? One would say by the reports in the room immediately before Jesus appeared that it was a fact. When those two disciples from Emmaus join the others, the resurrectionists are carrying the night. Look at verses 33 through 35. And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. So no doubt about it, in the upper room, when these two disciples come, the resurrectionists are carrying the evening. There's no doubt in the room at this point because Doubting Thomas isn't there. He's going to carry his doubts all through the next week, and then Jesus is going to make his next appearance, interestingly, on another Lord's Day. He's going to wait a whole week. And he's telling us there's something important about the Lord's day and public worship for the new covenant people of God by that. And when he appears next, it is in that same upper room. This time Thomas is present and he doubts no more. And he proclaims him my Lord and my God, which is the proper inference for all of us to draw from the fact that he is indeed resurrected from the dead. But on Easter evening, it seemed that the yeses were carrying the night until, interestingly, Jesus showed up. Look at verses 36 through 38. And they were talking about these things. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? And so we read that the resurrectionists were carrying the night until the resurrected Christ showed up, and then they had doubts. They were startled. They didn't know immediate subjective peace when he said, peace to you. They were scared. They thought they were seeing an apparition. They thought they were seeing a spirit, a ghost. Why this response? Well, John gives us fuller detail of the same appearance, John 20, verse 19. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. So we learned that the doors were locked because they were afraid. They were afraid that the temple police would come at any moment at the behest of the Sanhedrin and arrest them for their association with Jesus. And while the resurrection body of Christ, as we're gonna see in a moment, had some continuity with the body that had died, it also had wonderful discontinuity. I mean, after all, it could disappear suddenly in that afternoon in Emmaus when Jesus broke bread with those two disciples, and just as suddenly, Jesus could appear in this room, this locked room, I mean, he didn't knock on the door, as one preacher said. He didn't gently call out from outside of the room, it's me, it's me. He just suddenly showed up. You know, I don't know if you're like me, but I don't respond well when I'm startled. Our house is an interesting design. It's a kind of a reverse daylight basement design. It's a little unusual. We would never have designed it that way, but when you buy a foreclosure, you take what you get, right? And what that means is our garage is downstairs, and next to the garage is a family room, and next to that is the master bedroom and bath, which means almost all the living that takes place in our house is upstairs, where the living room is, the kitchen, the other bedrooms and bathrooms, and so on. So what that means is in our house, where we only have three people, when I go downstairs at night to take a shower, I am under the impression I'm all alone. And I'm not expecting anybody to enter into my world at that point. And we have a history in our house of my wife coming down the stairs, and the woman is as quiet as a mouse. And I might be taking a shower, and she enters into the bathroom or the bedroom. I act like one of the main characters in an Alfred Hitchcock movie at that point. And so she has learned over the years to adjust her behavior. And now when she comes down, she could, it's me, it's me. What Jesus didn't say from outside of the room, it's me, it's me. He just suddenly showed up. The glorified body, not only has the powers to disappear, see Emmaus, and then appear suddenly, see the upper room, it has power to enter a room that's all locked up. I had a professor in seminary that speculated that perhaps it's because of the greater density of that body. It's obviously adapted to the unique dynamics of the age to come and You know, he pointed out that water moves through air because of its greater density, and this body is perhaps more dense than anything that Earth knows. And I think that's intelligent speculation, because Paul says of our bodies at present in 2 Corinthians 5, that they're likened to a tent, which is rather flimsy, but the body to come is likened to a building, far more substantial. So maybe that is the explanation, but we'll find out someday, right? We'll find out more about that glorified body. Now, this body that Jesus appeared in, it obviously had continuity with the body that died. He's able to show them the crucifixion marks, and we're going to get into that in a moment, but it obviously also had wonderful discontinuity. In other words, this is not a resuscitation. This is a resurrection unto glory. This is a glorified body that appears in the room. They can come into that room, doesn't matter if there's a locked door, Jesus is there. And they are surprised and they fear that they are seeing an apparition, a ghost, a spirit. And that's how come the initial response was terror. They saw someone in the flesh, They couldn't take it in. And I think that this story is recorded in our Bibles because our omniscient Lord knew what was coming down the pike in church history, that there would be heretical groups. In fact, early on in church history, even in the first century, there would be people who would deny that Christ was bodily raised from the dead. And our faith depends upon a bodily resurrection. Paul makes that very clear in 1 Corinthians 15. And so this point, needs to be established, and we need assurance of this, and that's how come we have a text like this in our Bible. Jesus, in his condescending grace, gives two evidences that the resurrection is the real deal. First, he does what I would call touch and tell. Look at verses 38 through 40. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. John also adds, by the way, that he showed them His side, where that sword had entered in, where that Roman soldier, in order to prove that he was dead, had thrust that sword through the side, right into the cavity of the heart. And you remember how that blood and water had separated, clinical death had occurred and came out. And we considered that years ago when we were in John's gospel. And so Jesus showed them all the marks of his crucifixion. to demonstrate that the one speaking to them is the very Lord who had just died for them three days earlier, died for their sins and was now standing before them having been raised for their justification. What they touched was no hologram. They didn't grasp a bunch of air. They touched that which was solid. That which was convincing and assuring, I mean, Jesus, after all, was aiming to assure, verse 38 and 39. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, touch me and see. Dr. Davis writes, Jesus had not appeared to spike their blood pressure, but to provide assurance. and so offered them evidence that it is I myself. They must be convinced that Jesus rose, but they must also be convinced that the same Jesus arose as was crucified. And so this touch episode in the upper room does lead to the telling that John, one of the eyewitnesses, does in 1 John. It's not just enough that these faithful eyewitnesses would handle Jesus at the substantial resurrection body of Christ, that he was really bodily raised from the dead in a glorified body, a body that had continuity with the body that died, but wonderful discontinuity. The substantial body had to be handled and touched by credible eyewitnesses in order to tell us. And John does that in 1 John, because our faith depends upon this. If there's no bodily resurrection, Paul says, you're still in your sins. There's no gospel. There's no hope. And John will tell us in 1 John 1 that because he is bodily raised from the dead, there is fellowship with the triune God and there is joy. There is true joy. That's what's at stake. 1 John 1 verses 1 through 4, John does the telling. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, That's not just a glancing touch, it's a manhandled touch in the Greek. We manhandled him. That's what we did in that upper room and in the 40 days that followed those many appearances, we manhandled him. It was a real substantial body. He bodily arose from the dead. It goes on to say concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. And obviously John is writing 1 John because of the Gnostic heretics who are denying both a real incarnation of the Son of God, denying that he had a real physical body even in his earthly ministry, and denied that there was a real physical resurrection. And so John is setting the record straight. He is a credible eyewitness and he is giving us his testimony. There has to be telling. Our faith depends upon this. Secondly, Jesus did eat and know, as in know that it's not too good to be true. There's another sensory exercise here. Look at verses 41 through 43. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate before them. Well, you know, the disciples, they couldn't take it all in. I mean, there was joy, and yet there was a kind of incredulity. Are our senses deceiving us? It was almost as if it was too good to be true. I mean, this is hardly a bunch who was plotting to perpetuate a resurrection hoax. And Jesus gives them more sensory assurance that it's not too good to be true. Ghosts don't eat fish. They don't even eat fish on Fridays. And they certainly don't eat it on Easter. And so Jesus is giving them another sensory experience that he is really bodily raised from the dead. And this bodily resurrection is significant. It is vital to our faith. There is no gospel apart from it. What I received I passed on to you as of first importance, says the Apostle Paul, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. There's the Gospel. You ask, what is the Gospel? It is the finished work of Christ as God interprets it for us. That's the Gospel. There is no Gospel apart from the bodily resurrection of Christ. But because He really is bodily raised from the dead, He really did die for our sins on the cross, and God was satisfied with what He did. Our faith depends upon this. There's no Christianity apart from it. There would be no peace with God apart from it, but there is peace with God because it's true. Look at verse 36. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. Now notice who he is speaking these words to. He's speaking these words to true disciples in the upper room. He's not appearing to the Sanhedrin. He's not speaking these words to unconverted Pharisee and Sadducee. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. No, he appears to those who have believed upon him. And he says to them, peace be to you. And not only to them in the upper room, but these are the words that Christ speaks to every sinner in the long history of the church. The moment they believe the gospel, the first message of God to that believing sinner is peace to you. I mean, that's what Paul talks about in Romans 4. He says at the end of Romans 4 that he died for our sins and was raised for our justification. And then in the very next verse, Romans 5, verse 1, he writes this. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you thought about how gracious these words are? Certainly, the very timing of these words underscore just how gracious these words are to people like you and me, and I'm indebted to J.C. Ryle who helped me to see that, and so I want to quote him now. He wrote this. We should observe in this passage the singularly gracious words with which our Lord introduced himself to his disciples after his resurrection. We read that he suddenly stood in the midst of them and said, peace be unto you. This was a wonderful saying when we consider the men to whom it was addressed. It was addressed to 11 disciples who three days before had shamefully forsaken their master and fled. They had broken their promises. They had forgotten their professions of readiness to die for their faith. They had been scattered, every man to his own, and left their master to die alone. One of them had even denied him three times. All of them had proven backsliders and cowards. And yet behold the return which their master makes to his disciples. Not a word of rebuke is spoken. Not a single sharp saying falls from his lips. Calmly and quietly he appears in the midst of them and begins by speaking peace. Peace be unto you. We see in this touching saying one more proof that the love of Jesus passes knowledge. It is his glory to pass over a transgression. He delights in mercy. He is far more willing to forgive than men are to be forgiven, and far more ready to pardon than men are to be pardoned. There is in his almighty heart an infinite willingness to put away man's transgressions. Though our sins have been as scarlet, he is ever ready to make them as white as snow, to block them out, to cast them behind his back, to bury them in the depths of the sea, to remember them no more. All these are scriptural phrases intended to convey the same great truth. The natural man is continually stumbling at them and refusing to understand them. At this we need not wonder. Free, full, and undeserved forgiveness to the very uttermost is not the manner of man, but it is the manner of Christ. Where is the sinner, however great his sins, who need be afraid of beginning to apply to such a Savior as this? In the hand of Jesus, there is mercy enough and to spare. Where is the backslider, however far he may have fallen, who need be afraid of returning? The graciousness of these words are brought out in the timing of these words, the deep, deep love of Christ for sinners like us. Well, we've considered the assuring fact of the resurrection. Let's more briefly consider the resurrection and the church's mission. I'm going to borrow some of the outline thoughts of Dr. Davis and make three points in closing. First, the mission of the church is grounded in the word. Look at verses 44 through 46. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Now Jesus had spoken to his disciples many times prior to his death on the cross and prior to the resurrection that these very things would happen. In fact, in Luke's gospel, there are five separate places before the cross where Jesus clearly tells them of what's coming. And he makes it clear, not only is he going to die, he's going to be raised on the third day. Let me give you the first of the five, Luke 9, 22. And he said, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. If you want to look up the others on your own, Luke 9, 44, Luke 17, 25, Luke 18, 31 through 33, Luke 22, verse 37. In other words, the prejudice of even true saints like those gathered in the upper room in Luke 24 had darkened the understanding of their hearts. That is until the resurrection in this very moment in the upper room where Jesus not only opened up the scriptures to them, but opened up their minds to be able to receive the scriptures that had foretold everything that Jesus had been telling them was coming in all of the parts of the Old Testament. And there were three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. There was the law, there was the prophets, and there was the Psalms. because the Psalms headed up the largest, was the largest book in that division of the writings. And so that's how they divided their Bibles. And in every part of their Bible, these realities had been spoken of many times over. And Jesus had only told them what the scriptures had said would take place. Jesus is reinforcing the Bible study that he taught earlier in the afternoon and the road to Emmaus. As he speaks very clearly about the fact that the Old Testament scriptures make it very clear that the Christ must first suffer and only then enter his glory, which commences with the resurrection. Notice the divine must about these things. Look at verse 44. Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. There is a divine must here because how else could God be both just and the justifier of the believing sinner? A God can't sweep sin under the rug, and he hasn't swept sin under the rug. That's what the cross is all about. That's what Isaiah said that the cross would be all about. This is what Isaiah had prophesied 700 years earlier. Mr. Anderson referenced it earlier in the service, Isaiah 53, verses 4 through 6. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. So Jesus fulfills these words of Isaiah. He is the substitutionary and penal sacrifice for our sins. He took our place. He bore our penalty. Isaiah is giving us the meaning of the cross 700 years before it and telling us the necessity of it. Sin has to be dealt with. And it has now been dealt with. That's what Jesus is proclaiming loud and clear on Easter. That's why we have a Savior. He is the only true Savior this world has. There's no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. This is the united testimony of both the Old Testament of promise and the New Testament of fulfillment. So the mission is grounded in the word. But the mission is also clear. Look at verses 47 and 48. This great gospel makes a demand. It's to be proclaimed. This gospel of the Savior who has died for our sins and was raised for our justification. It needs to be declared as wide as the human race. But as it's declared, we need to make a demand upon people. And that demand is very clear. That demand is repentance. Look at verse 47. and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Now, repentance is one side of the coin of biblical conversion. On the other side is faith. And so the mission of the church is to preach repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without that, there is no forgiveness of sins. There's no entering the kingdom of heaven. But there is a promise connected to this demand of repentance, and that is that whoever repents of sin and turns in faith to Christ will be forgiven for his sake, even if that person be the chief of sinners. And again, I'm indebted to J.C. Ryle, who points out that the gospel is even for the chief of sinners when we consider to whom God had his apostles preached to first. You think about that in a moment. If I ask you, what was the most wicked city in the history of man? Some of you might say Sodom and Gomorrah. I would say wrong, wrong. Sodom and Gomorrah were almost pure in comparison to this city that I have in mind. The most wicked city in the history of man, by far, not even a close second, is Jerusalem. Jesus said they had a history of killing the prophets I sent to them. I mean, they killed my prophets. And then when the Christ came, they capped off their sin and they crucified their own Messiah. But God overruled this evil for great good, for great saving good, in providing the gospel for both Jew and Gentile. And where did God tell his apostles they were to go preach the gospel first? Jerusalem, to that city full of the chief of sinners. I mean, really. That's a city full of the chief of sinners. And I remind you that there was a sizable church that was saved out of that city. The gospel is to be preached to sinners of every kind. No one is so bad where they cannot be saved by this gospel. Nobody is so good that they don't desperately need to be saved by this gospel. So the mission is grounded in the word, and the mission is clear, that this gospel must be met with the respondence toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I ask the question, have you responded to this gospel in that way? And maybe one of the ways of phrasing it is simply this, is your life a life of continual repentance toward God, because repentance is not just initial. If you have the Holy Spirit in your life, you're going to know the necessity of daily repentance, right? Do you know in your own experience a life of daily repentance and daily looking again to Christ as your only savior and hope? These are the people who have profited and benefited from the gospel. Does that describe you? Has there been repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in your life? So the mission is grounded in the word. The mission is clear. And finally, the mission is sustained by the spirit. Look at verse 49. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. So the mission began in Jerusalem. But in accordance with the scripture, it has spread to the nations, and this, too, is a fulfillment of many, many Old Testament texts. Recently, we got a missionary letter from some missionaries who are seeking to reach an unreached people group, and they began with this text from Isaiah connected to the suffering servant of Isaiah, Isaiah 49, verse 6. It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Well, this is being fulfilled in our day. Today, all over the earth, there are Easter celebrations. There are true assemblies of worship practically in every part of the globe. There are people of God, people who know new life in Jesus Christ, who are gathered in worship today, who are celebrating all that the resurrection means, the forgiveness of sins, new life in Christ, even our own hope of physical resurrection on the final day, for he is the first fruits of those that sleep. And I ask, how can this be explained? The expansion of the church beyond Jerusalem to the ends of the earth and throughout the centuries, how can we explain this fulfillment of scripture that is taking place before our very eyes? How do we explain it? Well, there's only one explanation. We serve a living savior and he's on the throne of heaven. And he rules all things in the world for the sake of the church, read Ephesians 1. And he's doing exactly what he promised he would do. He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That's the explanation. Let's join with the whole church in heaven and on earth and do what the apostles did in the wake of the ascension. and that is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice in what God has done, is doing, and will yet do in fulfillment of the scripture. Amen. Our Father, we thank you for putting this account into our Bibles. We thank you for that very substantial resurrection body of Christ. And we thank you for the hope that is ours because you have accepted everything that he did on the cross and bearing our sins in his own body. And we thank you that there is peace with God. And we thank you too that there can be subjective peace. And so we pray, Father, that on this Easter that we would not only remember that objective peace, but that you would work in our hearts by your word and spirit that we might be people who enjoy that peace that passes understanding. We pray, Father, that in light of your great mercy to us, that we would live carefully, that even in this day that is in front of us, that we would be careful in our speech, that our speech might be seasoned with the salt of grace, and that we would constantly be remembering that we were bought at no small price and that we are not our own. So we pray that we would be given the grace and help of your spirit to offer ourselves afresh even this day as living sacrifices. We thank you for the mercy of God in the gospel of your own son. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.