The following is a message given at Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Worland, Wyoming. All right, so after the sermon, we're gonna sing one of my favorite songs this week. It's a song called Mercy Tree. And it's my favorite because my favorite musician sings it and made it famous, but also because the words are just awesome. Let me read you part of that song. It says, on a hill called Calvary, stands an endless mercy tree. Every broken, weary soul, find your rest and be made whole. Stripes of blood that stained its frame, shed to wash away our shame. From the scars, pure love released, salvation by the mercy tree. In the sky between two thieves hung the blameless Prince of Peace. Bruised and battered, scarred and scorned, sacred head pierced by our thorns. It is finished, was his cry, the perfect lamb was crucified. His sacrifice, our victory, our Savior chose the mercy tree. Hope went dark that violent day. The whole earth quaked at love's display. Three days silent in the ground, this body born for heaven's crown. That's why we're here this morning, isn't it? We're here this morning to celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Savior from the dead. And really, that's the heartbeat of Christianity. When we think about and when we talk about Christianity, at the heart of what that means is not simply that we follow a set of rules and laws that God has given us. At the heartbeat of Christianity, what we mean is that God himself became a man and died on a cross to take the sins of his people, that he went into the ground for three days and was buried to prove that he was actually dead. And three days later, he came back to life. Today's Easter, and that's what we are celebrating. This is culturally the day that we've set aside to honor and to remember and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And we're gonna look at the resurrection of Jesus from Luke 24 today. And we're gonna look at a longer section than we normally do. So rather than reading the whole thing right now, what I'm gonna do We're going to answer two questions from Luke 24, and I'm going to just read portions of Luke 24 as we answer those questions. The first question we're going to ask is, how do we know Jesus was raised from the dead? And the second question I'm gonna ask is how should we respond to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Let's start by asking how do we know Jesus was raised from the dead? If you're familiar with the historical response to the Christian claim that Jesus was raised from the dead, you know that's not believed by most people. Most people today do not believe Jesus, God became a man, died on a cross, and rose from the dead three days later. But in spite of the fact that most people don't believe it, they've tried to come up with ways to respond to it. Some people have theorized that Jesus didn't actually die. He got really, really sick and really beat up, and after three days of recuperating in the tomb, he came back and he was healthy again. Other people have tried to say Jesus didn't raise from the dead physically, he rose from the dead spiritually. Like us, his spirit was gone and his spirit came back. Other people have tried to argue that Jesus' disciples went to his tomb, took his body, and hid it somewhere to fabricate a resurrection. But while people have done all sorts of things to try to disprove over the years the resurrection of Jesus, this continues to be the heartbeat of our message. So much so that in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, if Christ be not raised, our faith is in vain. Without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no hope. There is no point in believing anything, 1 Corinthians 15, 17. And so the bodily resurrection of Jesus is an astounding claim. And it's a claim that we as God's people take by faith. But it's not a claim we take on blind faith. It's a claim we take by faith with much evidence to back that faith. And part of the evidence that Luke gives us in Luke 24 is that there were many people who were eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. If you have a Bible turn, we're gonna start looking at some of the eyewitness accounts to the resurrection of Jesus in Luke 24, verses one through 10. Luke 24, verses one through 10. If you're unfamiliar with the way the Bible's laid out, it's divided into two halves. The first is the Old Covenant. The second is the New Covenant or the New Testament. And if you go to the middle, you'll probably be somewhere near Matthew. And then there's Matthew, there's Mark, and then there's Luke. We're at the end of Luke in chapter 24. And I'm gonna read verses one through 10. Luke 24, starting in verse one. It says, 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 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 they were afraid and they bowed down their faces to the earth and said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but he has 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. Then they remembered his words and they returned from the tomb and told all of these things to the 11 and to 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. The first thing to notice in Luke 24 is that as Luke's recording this account of Jesus's resurrection, he begins by showing us Jesus first reveals his resurrection to women. He gives us their names in verse 10, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and also some other women. And it tells us these women were the first ones to witness the resurrection of Jesus. It's significant that as Luke's writing this, he actually includes this. We don't think much of it because in our culture we value women. In ancient cultures, especially in the culture that Luke's writing to, they didn't always value women. In fact, in this culture, they so devalued women that women weren't even allowed to testify in court. You just didn't believe women. Of course, we know that women can be as credible as men, but in their culture, that's how women were viewed. And so it's remarkable that Luke starts this account of the resurrection and the first people he brings forth as witnesses wouldn't have been admissible in court, but he says, I don't even care. This is how it happened. This is exactly the truth as it played out, and I'm throwing culture away, and I'm just going to tell you this is what happened. But you'll notice these women are going to the tomb, the tomb of Jesus, and they're going for a purpose. They're bringing spices. Obviously they're intending to re-embalm Jesus. We'll look at why I say re-embalming him in a minute. But they're going with spices. They're going, why do you bring spices to a tomb? You don't go expecting to see a resurrection bringing spices. You bring spices expecting to find a corpse, expecting to find a dead body. They're not going pre-geared in their thinking to find a resurrected Christ. They're going to finish the burial process. But the fact that they're bringing spices is interesting for another reason. It's also interesting because we know from the account in Luke 19 that Jesus has already been embalmed. Joseph of Arimathea and this guy named Nicodemus have already embalmed Jesus and they did it really well. So much so that they used 75 pounds of spices to embalm him. Who knows what Jesus weighed. Let's say he weighed 200 pounds. That's almost half of his weight. And they have already embalmed him. They've already wrapped him up. They've already put smelly stuff on him to be part of the decaying process. And these women know that. They know Jesus has been embalmed and they're still bringing spices. We have to ask why? Did Jesus need this? Did the people passing his tomb need it because it might start to stink? That's not what's going on at all. What's going on is these women love Jesus. And they want a way to express their love. They want to honor Jesus, even in his death. And so they're coming to re-embalm him, to do something totally unnecessary, not because Jesus needs it, but their heart needs it. Kent Hughes says, the impulse came from great love, because the lapse of time in the Middle Eastern heat would assure that the body was already in decay. Their actions would not be of utility to the dead master, but it's what their hearts needed. I wonder, do you know anything about that love, that kind of love for Christ? Do you love Christ enough and do you love him so much that you're like, I want to serve him, I want to honor him, I want to praise him, I want to do things for him, not because he needs it, because he doesn't, but because my heart needs an outlet. My heart needs a way of expressing its love for Jesus. These women get up early in the morning to do something totally unnecessary because they love Christ. But what do they find when they get there? Verses two through four tell us they come to the tomb and they find the stones rolled away, the doors opened. They can see inside and they don't see the body. The body's gone. And Luke adds a little comment. He says they were perplexed. I think perplexed is an understatement because we know from the other accounts, especially in Matthew, that they come to the tomb and there's this earthquake that happens. There's also angels that show up and that's not just a perplexing scene, that's a creepy scene. Imagine one of your loved ones passed away. And imagine two or three days after the funeral, you go out to the graveyard and there's still the mound of dirt where your loved one was buried. And you go to put flowers on the new tomb. And imagine you get there and there's not the mound of dirt like there was three days later. There's now a six foot deep hole. And imagine their casket is laying on its side with the top open. And imagine there's an earthquake. And imagine you turn around and there's two angels there. This is not just a perplexing scene. This is a creepy scene. This isn't the scene that your Sunday school teacher put on a flannel graph when you were a kid. They dumbed it down for you so that they could keep teaching you and not get arrested. And then notice what the angels tell them in verses five through eight. The angels rhetorically ask the women, why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? The angels are asking them, why are you here? What are you doing bringing oils to this place? You're looking in the wrong place for your Savior. This is where you look for dead people. Your Savior is not dead, he's alive. So what are you doing here? And then they also tell them, didn't Jesus teach you this? Didn't Jesus predict back in Galilee that he was gonna raise himself from the dead? And so the angels remind these women, Jesus already told you about his resurrection. And what's remarkable is that the women believe it. They don't question it. They're reminded of what Jesus has taught them. They see with their eyes the empty tomb, and what do they do? They believe. They embrace the truth, and they believe it, so much so that they run and find the disciples and tell them. So these women are not initially expecting a resurrection, but when they hear about it, they become the first witnesses to the resurrection. But Luke gives us another lengthier testimony of some eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. And he does so in verses nine through 33. Look at verses nine through 33. It says, then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and 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. But when Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen clothes lying by themselves, and he departed marveling to himself at what had happened. Now behold, two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all the things that had happened. So it was when they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so they did not know him. And he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and why are you sad? And one of those whose name was Cleopas answered and said, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things that happened these days? And he said to them, what things? So they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people. And how the chief priests and the rulers delivered him over to be condemned to death and they crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was gonna redeem Israel. Indeed, beside all of this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women from our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us. When they did not find his body, they came saying they had a vision from angels who said he was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. Then he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all of the prophets, he expounded to them in all scripture things concerning himself. Then they drew near to the village. where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone farther. But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it's now towards evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, he took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they saw him, and he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, didn't our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? So the women go and they find the empty tomb. They run back and they tell the 11 disciples and also the rest of Jesus' followers. And by and large, Jesus' disciples don't believe them. In fact, it tells us in verse 11, their words seem to be like idle tales. You guys are just making stuff up. In fact, the followers of Christ are in such disbelief that in verse 13 it tells us there's this follower of Christ, Cleopas, and another unnamed disciple who are traveling on the road to Emmaus. More than likely, they would have been in Jerusalem for Passover. They would have been present for the arrest and the trial and the crucifixion of Jesus. They waited around afterwards for three days, and now they're making the seven-mile journey back home, and they have no hope. They're leaving downtrodden. They're walking, and it's evident to Jesus that they are emotionally distraught over the fact that they have spent a week in Jerusalem, and this is how it ended. It ended with their Messiah being killed. But as they're walking back to Emmaus, a stranger catches up to them. It's a stranger to them. We know it's Christ, they didn't. We know they didn't because verse 16 tells us their eyes were restrained from seeing him. The word restrained in Greek is what's called a divine passive, meaning it was God himself who was blinding them. He was restraining them from being able to see so that he could teach them a lesson. And so the stranger begins walking with them, eavesdropping on their conversation, and he asks them in verse 17, what are you talking about? What's making you so sad? I think it's important to notice that Jesus calls attention to their emotional state. Why are you so sad? That's important because it shows us that after three days of waiting in Jerusalem, they have no hope of a resurrection. These two people are walking home dejected, they're walking home hopeless, because their expectation that Jesus was their Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel, that expectation has been smashed against the rocks of the reality that he is now dead. But Jesus asks them, why are you so distraught? And what are you talking about? And they look at him like, are you clueless? What are we talking about? What are we sad for? And they look at Jesus like he's got five heads and seven eyes. Everybody knows what's going on. If you live within 500 miles of here, you know this guy that we have been following for years has been crucified. This isn't news to anybody. This would be like walking into Kiev, Ukraine right now and seeing decimated buildings and smoke and Russian tanks and walking up to someone and being like, what's all this about? They'd look at you like, don't you even news? Do you even Google? Everybody knows what's going on. And that's what they're saying to Jesus, like, where have you been? What rock have you been hiding under? And so what they do is they recount their story to Jesus of what's happened to him, how he was delivered over by the chief priests and the rulers to be crucified, and now he's dead. They just told Jesus he's dead. But notice what else they say in verse 21. Verse 21 says, but we were hoping but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, beside all of this, today is the third day since these things happened. Remember Jesus' question. Jesus' question is what's wrong? Why are you so emotionally down? What's happening? What are you talking about? And they say the climax of our sorrow, the thing that everybody's talking about is this. Jesus is dead and with his death it brings into sharp focus the fact that he could not be the Messiah we thought he was. We were hoping he was the Redeemer of Israel. We thought this was going to be the guy who came in and redeemed. More than likely, the disciples that are mentioned here thought Jesus was a Moses-like redeemer. So, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know the nation of Israel is in bondage in Egypt. They're slaves in Egypt. And God sends Moses to do what? To redeem them. To bring them out of their slavery and to set them free. And more than likely, so in this time, There's much Roman oppression over God's people, and more than likely, they thought Jesus was the next Moses, the next guy who's gonna come in and start getting a following, and he was, and build an army, and kill some Romans, and set them free from Roman oppression. They thought Jesus was their long-awaited political messiah who would give them temporary political freedom from their oppressors, but now he's dead. And his death has proven that their faith was in the wrong place. He was fake. Three years earlier they started following him, they had hopes, they had expectations, but now he's dead. And with his death comes what? Comes the disappointment of realizing Jesus is not who we thought he was. Makes me wonder if there's people today who are disappointed to realize Jesus is not who you thought he was when you started following him. Maybe you thought Jesus, when you started following him, was the one who was going to fix your marriage. Maybe you thought when you started following Jesus, he's the one who's going to heal all of your physical diseases in this life. Maybe you thought following Jesus meant you were going to become wealthy. And guess what? Your marriage still stinks. You're still broke. You're still sick and you realize maybe Jesus isn't who I thought he was. But notice how Jesus responds to the sorrow of their unmet expectations. Jesus doesn't do what I would expect him to do. I would expect Jesus to see their sorrow, to see their misunderstanding of who he was and to open their eyes and to just blind him with his glory and be like, check it out, I'm here, I'm alive. That's not what Jesus does. Notice what he does in verses 25 through 27. It says, So Jesus comes to these disciples. who don't understand who he is, and he does two things. First, he rebukes them, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. He calls them foolish not to insult them, but to make their minds realize we're thinking about this wrong. We've been foolish. We should see this, but we don't. And then after he rebukes them and calls them foolish, he says in verse 26, wasn't it necessary? Didn't it have to happen for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into glory? Notice the word necessary in verse 26. The word necessary is doing something really important. So first, the two disciples say, we thought that Jesus was the Redeemer. Head hangs low. Obviously he's not. And Jesus hasn't corrected their thinking that he's the Redeemer. He is the Redeemer. But what he does is he says, in order for Jesus to be the Redeemer, as he truly is, it was necessary, it had to happen. The way that he redeems his people is not through being alive and never dying and raising up an army to kill Romans. The way he redeems his people, it was necessary. He had to die if he's gonna redeem his people. And so Jesus is interpreting what these disciples are saying, not as they would, but in its proper light. And he's saying in order for Jesus to redeem Israel, he had to die so that he could be raised from the dead and ascend into glory. And so what Jesus does is he recounts the central truths of the gospel, the death and the resurrection and the ascension of Christ on behalf of sinners. If Christ is gonna redeem anyone, this is how he's gonna do it. He doesn't redeem people apart from his suffering. He doesn't redeem people, he doesn't save us from our sins apart from his resurrection and ascension into glory. And then notice what he does in verse 27. Verse 27 says, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures things concerning himself. So there's seven miles between Jerusalem and Emmaus. We don't know how far into this seven mile walk Jesus picks up with them, but for however long he's there, here's what he does. He takes the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, he takes the prophets, the rest of the old covenant scriptures, and what does he do? He explains to them from the Old Testament scriptures things concerning himself. He explains the reality of the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the burial. He takes the essential truths of the gospel that they're missing, and he shows them to them from the Old Testament. I hope when we get to heaven, we get to see what this looked like. Talk about a cool Bible study. Maybe Jesus starts in Genesis 3.15. Genesis 3.15, you have the promise that the seed of the woman is gonna come and crush the head of the serpent. Maybe he comes in Genesis 3.15 and he says, that's Christ, that's me. The one that just died, this is how he crushes the demonic heel nipper. He does so through his death. Maybe he turned then to Genesis 22 and he showed them the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the mountain. And he says, just as Abraham offered up Isaac, and the writer of Hebrews will do the same thing, and received him back in a metaphorical sense, so also God the Father offered up his son on a mountain and received him back, not in a figurative sense, but in a true sense through his resurrection. Maybe he went to Exodus and he showed how in the same way that Moses led the nation of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt to the promised land, Christ would come and he would redeem his people and lead them through the wilderness of this life into their ultimate rest. And he would do so by laying down his life. Maybe he showed him in Numbers 21 where you have the scene where all the snakes are biting God's people in the wilderness and Moses lifts up the serpent and maybe he did the same thing John will do later. He says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also had the son of man to be lifted up if he's going to save those who have been bitten by the snake. Maybe he went through all the Messianic Psalms, Psalm 110, Psalm 2. Maybe he showed how ultimately they're not about David, they're about Christ. Maybe he went to the Messianic prophecies, like Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 53, and he showed the suffering servant is the one that just suffered. You guys are totally missing it throughout the Old Testament. We don't know where all Jesus went or exactly what this looked like. What we do know is that Jesus starts in Scripture, and from Scripture he reasons with these people. He teaches them that his death is all over. Throughout the entire Old Testament, Jesus is walking with these two doubting disciples and showing them everything that's happened in the last couple days has been predicted in the Old Testament. He had to suffer if he's gonna redeem his people. Remember, Cleopas and this other disciple don't know this is Jesus yet. They only know there's this walking stranger who seemed clueless, who's now taking the Bible and showing them Jesus had to die and be raised from the dead. And he does so from scripture. I think we have to notice that before Jesus opens their eyes to see who he is by a miracle, we have to see he wants to root their faith in scripture. Why is that? Why does Jesus appeal to the word of God before revealing himself miraculously in the flesh? I think the reason is because what Jesus is doing here will set a precedent for how all of his followers will follow him. We don't follow Jesus because of miracles. We follow Jesus because through the eyes of faith we find him in his word. And Jesus wants his disciples here to be the same way that his disciples are here with us this morning. He wants us to be those that have rooted our faith, not in our subjective experience. Not in our emotions and our feelings, not in miracles, although we may see them. He wants our faith to be rooted in the reality of Christ as he's revealed in his word. That's how Jesus builds his kingdom. And these disciples needed to believe in Christ as their redeemer, who would redeem them from their sins, not because they have like a poof of light and miracles, but because they've seen it in the word. That's a lesson for us today. How many people today would say, I would believe in Christ, I'd follow this God you're talking about if only he would heal me of my cancer. I'd follow this Christ if only he would show up and reveal himself in a cloud with a big bright light. I'd follow this Jesus if only he would give me a feeling, if only he'd give me an experience, give me a miracle, give me something to root my faith in. And here's what he's saying, I already have. It's bound in leather. There's 66 books in one. I've given you the place to root your faith. It's my word, and if you don't believe it there, you won't believe it if there's a miracle. Jesus repeatedly points his people back to the word of God to root, to anchor their faith, not in their subjective experience and miracles, but in the word of God. That is, after all, what faith is, isn't it? The writer of Hebrews says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We think we have to see something to believe it, and the Bible says no, you have to see it in the Word. You have to see it with the only way you can see it, through the eyes of faith. But then notice what happens as the story plays out in verses 28 through 32. Verses 28 through 32, it says, Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it's towards the evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him. And then he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, didn't our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? So Jesus, remember they're walking somewhere between Jerusalem and Emmaus, about seven miles, and they get to Emmaus at the city limits, and Jesus in some way indicates, I'm actually planning to keep going, I'm gonna keep walking. But these two disciples constrained him. Maybe your translation says they compelled him. They talked him into staying longer. Some commentators suggest that they talked him into staying longer because travel was dangerous at night. I don't think that's it at all. I think they just sat in the best Bible study that's ever happened and they loved it. They just had the Son of God who has been raised from the dead open up the entire Old Testament and show how it's all about Jesus. And they're not over it. They can't get over it. They compel Him to stay because they want more. These disciples are attending the best Bible study ever conducted, and they want more. Maybe you've heard sermons like that. Maybe you've, like, 14 years ago, 13 years ago, Krista and I drove home from church when we lived in Powell. And we were, I mean, we lived like eight blocks from the church or something. It wasn't far, we could've walked. And there was an awesome sermon on the radio. And we parked in front of the house, and normally it's like you park, you turn off the car, you go inside. We sat there for like 40 minutes listening to the rest of this sermon, because it was awesome and we wanted more. And that's exactly why these disciples talk Jesus into staying longer, because they love his word. They love hearing his word. It's engaging, it's hitting them in new ways. They're seeing Christ in ways they've never seen him and they can't get enough. And so Jesus decides to stay with them and to sit down and to have dinner. In verse 30 he tells us, now it came to pass as he sat at the table with them that he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight. So verse 30 tells us Jesus sits down with them. It's interesting, because they're probably in one of these guys' house, but Jesus assumes the place of the host. He's the one that takes the bread, he's the one that blesses it, he's the one that breaks it and distributes it to them, and in so doing, as he's doing that, they see him for who he really is. So what's this business about taking and breaking bread and giving thanks and giving it to his disciples? And how is it that in that they see him for who he truly is? To understand that, I think we have to notice the similarities between Luke 24 and Luke 22. Turn back just a couple pages to Luke 22. As we read Luke 22, verses 14 through 19, notice the similarities with what we have in Luke 24. Luke 22, starting in verse 14, says, when the hour had come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. Then he said to them, with fervent desire, I've desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat the fruit the fruit of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this, divide it amongst yourselves for I say to you, I will not drink the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. you have to turn your brain off to miss the similarities between Luke 22 and Luke 24, because in both of them, you have this pattern of Jesus sitting down with his disciples, taking bread, breaking it, and distributing it to the disciples. And why does Luke explain Luke 24 the same way it takes place in Luke 24? Certainly because it happens, but also because there's something going on here. What's Jesus doing? He's showing them. He just walks into their house and he picks up the bread and he says, I'm the boss here. I'm the host. And he does so so that he can use this as an illustration to show them the Lord's Supper just a couple days ago. Remember? Remember I said the bread is my body which is given for you? It's now that I've been raised from the dead and I want you to see it was given for you and I'm alive. Now, if you're paying attention, you say, wait a minute. In Luke 22, Jesus told the disciples he wouldn't observe the Lord's Supper until he did it new with them in the kingdom of God. So what's that about? I think that's exactly the point Jesus is making in Luke 24 when he does the Lord's Supper again. Remember, the disciples are looking for a kingdom on the earth. They're looking for a kingdom where Jesus raises armies and kills Romans. And what's Jesus doing? He's saying, no, here's how the kingdom of God comes. It comes as I, as the king, lay down my life for my sinful, rebellious subjects. Here's how I bring my kingdom. I do so by taking my life back into my own hands three days later and rising from the dead. That's how I build my kingdom. And what about us? Do we see that that is how Christ builds his kingdom? He doesn't do so in this world by setting up governments. He sets up his kingdom in the hearts and lives of his people who see that Christ has died for their sins, who see that Christ rose from the dead three days later. who see that he is now ascended into heaven where he is ministering to us by his spirit in our hearts and establishing his kingdom in our hearts, and ultimately he will establish his kingdom in this world. That's what Jesus is teaching these disciples. He's teaching them, your expectations were kind of right. Who I am is kind of who you thought I was, but I'm actually something far better. And so what's happening to these disciples that Jesus encounters on the road to Emmaus? They had their eyes blinded, but now they can see. They've seen Christ in his word, they've seen Christ in the Lord's Supper, and now they know this is our Messiah, and God opens their eyes to see it. So here's these men who, for all practical purposes, are down and out when it comes to their faith. They're walking home from Jerusalem, heads hanging low in utter despair because their hopes that Jesus is the Messiah has been smashed against the rocks of his crucifixion. And Jesus first opens the scriptures, then he breaks bread to show them, I am your Messiah. I am your Redeemer. I am your Savior. I am your King. I have to ask you, has that ever happened to you? Have you ever opened up the word of God? Have you ever had the word of God taught to you? Have you ever had the word of God preached to you in such a way that God opens your eyes through the teaching of his word to see Jesus really is who he claimed to be? He really is your savior. He really is the one who died to take your place under the wrath of God on the cross. He really did rise from the dead three days later, and he really is right now seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. If that's happened to you, you've also had the next part of this story happen to you. We've seen the witnesses to Jesus' resurrection, but the second question we have to ask is, how should we respond to our encounters with the resurrected Christ? How do these disciples respond when they realize who they just saw? Look at verses 32 through 35. Verses 32 through 35 say, and they said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? So they rose that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord is risen indeed and he's appeared to Simon. And they told about these things. As they told about these things, it happened on the road and how he had been made known to them through the breaking of bread. Put yourself in these disciples' shoes. You just sat down with Jesus and he takes the place of the host in your house, he breaks the bread, he opens your eyes to see who he truly is, and then poof, he just magically disappears. He vanishes from your sight. How would you respond? What would you do? Call ABC or NBC or Fox News and be like, I just had this thing happen. You might want to send a reporter. How did the disciples respond? Verse 32 through 35 tells us the disciples respond to the resurrection of Christ in two different ways. First it tells us their hearts burned within them. Verse 32 leaves these two disciples sitting at the table with no Jesus, bread still in their mouth. And what do they say? Didn't our hearts burn within us while He walked with us and talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? The idea of their hearts burning is that they have joy, amazement, they're overcome with a sense of wonder and awe and excitement that they have seen the resurrected Christ. They've just fellowshiped with the resurrected Christ. They've had the resurrected Christ open the scriptures to them and teach them in ways that no one has ever taught them, and they loved it. Their hearts burn. It fills them with wonder and awe and fire inside. Remember the emotional state of the disciples just a little bit before this. We thought Jesus was the Messiah. No joy, no hope, and now what's happened? They see that Christ is their Messiah. They see he's been raised from the dead, and it raises their heads too. It raises their hearts. It raises their emotions to a place where they are elated. They are stoked because they have seen the resurrected Christ. And we have to ask ourselves, shouldn't our knowledge of and fellowship with the resurrected Christ do the same thing for us? Shouldn't our time in his word as he reveals himself and continues to reveal himself in the truth of his word, shouldn't it do the same thing for us? There's something sick about our hearts if we can come to the word of God and read it. And come away thinking, cool story, bro, I'm unchanged. There's something sick in our hearts if we can have the word of God preached to us, if we can have Christ revealed to us and expounded to us through all of the scriptures and come away unaffected. Christ continues to meet with his people. He continues to reveal himself with his people. He does so in his word, he does so through the Lord's Supper, and he does so not to leave us unaffected. He does so so that our emotions are raised to a place of worship, and we would say with the disciples, don't our hearts burn within us? And so I have to ask you, does your heart burn this morning? As you think about the fact that your God became a man, died on a cross, took the wrath of God that you deserve, stood in your place as a sinful, condemned criminal, allowing every drop of wrath that God had against you to be poured out on him so that there was no more wrath for you. As you think about the fact that he went into a tomb, humiliated and naked for three days, and rose from the dead three days later, triumphant and victorious over every one of your enemies that matter. Sin, death, the wrath of God, victorious over all of them so he can give that victory to you. Do those truths do anything for you? Does that change your emotions? Does it lift your heart to a place you can say with the disciples, my heart burns. There's a fire that these truths create in me and I'm nuts about it. It's awesome. But their hearts don't just burn. Their hearts burn and their mouth speaks. As these disciples' hearts are burning with joy at having seen the resurrected Christ, their feet can't stand still. Who's seen the movie Happy Feet? Come on, for real? Oh, there we go, all right. You're gonna have to repent if you lie about it. So there's this kid's movie called Happy Feet and it's about this colony of penguins and all of the penguins are born and they have a song, they sing. This is a singing colony of penguins and one of the penguins comes out and he's broken. His feet don't stand still. He's dancing and he's tapping and he's all over the place and he's a little off. That's how these disciples are. Their feet can't stand still. Because what do they do? Remember, they just made the seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and now they're in Emmaus, and when they got to Emmaus, they compelled Jesus to stay because it's late. It's getting dark. It's the end of the day. Seven miles on foot is a long journey. And what do they do after Christ reveals himself to them after dinner? They go back. They make the seven-mile journey back to Jerusalem, and they find the disciples. And what's interesting is that sometime in between this, Jesus has also bodily appeared to Peter. And Peter's come to the 11 disciples, and they're all in the upper room, and they all start to believe. The women have told us, Peter's told us, it's obvious Christ has been raised from the dead, and they get to the disciples, the 11, and they bang on the door, and they're like, let us in, let us in, and they open the door, and the 11 disciples behind the door are like, guess what? Jesus is alive. And they have this time where they both are so excited, ecstatic about the resurrection of Christ, they both have to talk about it. Can you just imagine this scene? This room is popping with excitement. All parties involved have come to believe, they've come to put their faith in Christ and they've had their faith confirmed that it's valid because Christ has revealed himself as the one who's been raised from the dead. And their experience with the resurrected Christ can't be contained. They have to speak about him. That's why they run these seven miles back and bang on the door of the disciples. That's why the disciples are talking before they've even opened the door. And in scripture, this is one of the clearest ways to know that a person has had a saving encounter with the resurrected Christ. How do you know you've had a saving encounter with the resurrected Christ? We sing about it, your lucid tongues employ. We open our mouths and we start talking about him. That was Jeremiah's experience when he wrote Jeremiah 20 verse nine. He says, if I say I will not remember him or speak anymore of his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I'm weary from holding it in and I can't endure it. Acts 4 verse 20 says we have, We cannot but speak of the things that we have seen and heard. What happens when people have saving encounters with Christ? They talk about Him. They love Him enough. I mean, think about what you love so much you never stop talking about it. Maybe it's your husband. You get together with your girlfriends and you're like, he is so awesome. He's so dreamy. He mowed the lawn. He took out the trash. He brought me flowers. And you're just like always talking about your husband because you love him. Maybe it's your new job. I love it. My boss is cool. I get all the time off I want. I'm on salary. I have benefits. I have like 50 weeks of vacation. It's an awesome job. And I just, I'm kidding. If you have that job, let me know. But whatever we love, we talk about. And here's these disciples who love Christ so much, they can't stop talking about Him. And so I ask you, what's on your mouth? What do you talk about? Whatever you talk about reveals what you love. And these disciples love Christ so much, they have to talk about Him. Let me close by giving us one more point of application. Maybe you're here today like these disciples who when they leave Jerusalem, you're sorrowful and you're rejected. Maybe you feel hopeless. Maybe you're not hopeless and dejected and sorrowful because Jesus isn't who you thought he was. Maybe you're sorrowful and rejected and dejected and an emotional wreck and seem hopeless because your sin robs you of joy. The reality that you have sinned and you have a conscience that bears witness to you, you are not right with God, continues to weigh down and to rob you of your joy because you know you are not right with God. Understand what Christ does on the road to Emmaus, he continues to do today. He continues to reveal Himself, to show Himself for who He truly is. And who is He truly in Luke 24? He truly is the Son of God. He truly is the God who becomes a man and lives for 33 years a perfect, sinless, righteous life in obedience and subjection to the law of God so that He could procure righteousness for His people. Righteousness that you don't have. Righteousness I don't have. And at the end of his 33 year life, he allows himself willingly to be treated like a sinner as he offers himself as the final sacrificial lamb who actually takes away the sins of the world. Who dies in the place of his people. He redeems Israel in the truest sense. What does the word redeem mean? It means to make a payment. It means to buy something back. He offers himself as the payment to buy sinners out of the wrath of God. And what does he do three days later? He does the thing we celebrate today. He rises from the dead as the one who has defeated all of your enemies. You think your enemies are the stock market? You think your enemies are president? Those aren't your greatest enemies. Your greatest enemy is the fact that you are a sinner who deserves the wrath of God and will one day die in your sins and be separated from Him for all eternity. And Christ came to defeat that. And He did so through laying down His life as a sacrifice, by rising from the dead victorious over death, and by giving you the promise that if you will put your faith in Him, Not put your faith in your works, not put your faith in yourself, not put your faith in your parents or your parents' works or your church attendance or anything else, but if you will simply trust in what He has done, and He won't just redeem Israel, He will redeem you. He will forgive you of all of your iniquities. He will pardon you of all of your sins so that there will not be any sin that you have ever committed that he will ever bring up in judgment again. Instead, he'll do something far better. He'll welcome you, he'll receive you into his home as his very own child for all eternity. Let's pray. Father, we thank you today for the resurrection of Jesus. Paul does remind us that if Christ be not raised from the dead, our faith is in vain and we are all the more to be pitied. But Christ has been raised from the dead, which means our faith is grounded in the ultimate reality. which means we are not to be pitied because we are people of grace. We're people of mercy. We're people that have been redeemed and adopted into the family of God. And so Lord, we praise you today for raising Christ from the dead. We praise you for crucifying him in our place. We praise you that in Him we have eternal life and forgiveness of sins. We thank you for all of this and we know we can only thank you because of Christ. Amen. We hope you've been edified by the message you heard from Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Worland, Wyoming. For more information about Sovereign Grace Bible Church or to support the ministry, contact them at sgbcwy.org. sgbcwy.org.