Well, this morning we come to the conclusion of our time in the Gospel of Luke. We've spent the last two years and a few weeks here. It's been a very blessed time for me. I hope it has been for all of us. We'll begin reading the last few verses, Luke 24, verse 46. I'm going to back up to 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, praising God. Lord, thank you for the testimonies of these men you called. Thank you for the heart of Luke to seek out through His own investigation, the things that they had seen and heard and witnessed, that He might write them down, Lord, under the inspiration of Your Spirit for us. Lord, what a joy it is to have these Gospels, these letters. So much of the mysteries of old unfolded for us in these pages. that we can see Your hand at work in the writing of the men You sent. And so, Lord, as we come to the end of this gospel, we pray You would give us a fullest possible sense of what You want us to take away. In Christ's name, amen. So we come to the conclusion of our time in the gospel according to Luke. And Luke has recorded for us probably a broader portrait of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus than any of the four gospels. Luke was not himself an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus. But what he did was investigate, through speaking to the eyewitnesses, the things that Jesus said and did. He was writing, ostensibly, to a Gentile man by the name of Theophilus. In the beginning, though, the words of Luke, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us, Luke says, by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, Most Excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things which you've been taught." So Luke, again, was not one of the twelve, was not one of the eleven. He was a companion of Paul in his missionary journeys. But he had to interview people. Probably Mary, as we see in the first couple of chapters. Maybe Mary Magdalene. Many of the apostles. But he began his account, unlike any of the other three Gospels, with the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, of the conception and the coming of a son. They were a barren couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth. He was told he's going to have a son and his name was to be called John. And that this son would be the forerunner of Messiah. He would announce the coming of Messiah to the world. And then the appearance of Gabriel to Mary, a virgin girl, very young girl in Galilee, in whom the Holy Spirit would conceive the one who would be the Savior. You can imagine how overpowering these things were to these two saints. And on the night of Jesus' birth, there was a proclamation by a chorus of angels to some shepherds out in the field that the Savior had come into the world. And they would be witnesses. Luke wrote that the infant Jesus was circumcised and soon thereafter was presented to the Lord at the temple after Mary's days of purification had ended. And he was received there by a man named Simeon, a man of God. who recognized Jesus as an infant, as the Savior. You see God at work everywhere here. He was also received by a prophetess named Anna, who served in the temple. Now, none of the Gospels relate anything about Jesus' childhood, with one exception. And that was in chapter 2 of Luke. He related this account of Jesus along with Joseph and Mary coming to Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was 12 years old. And so at the conclusion of the Passover week, the caravan goes back to Galilee and Jesus was somehow overlooked and stayed behind. And he stayed behind and spent three days there before they got back and found him. He spent those three days in the temple. Luke tells us, he was sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Chapter 2, verses 46 and 47. Now we're told nothing in any of the Gospels about Jesus' life between the ages of 12 and 30. How much we'd like to know. At the age of 30, that was the appointed time for both he and John to begin their ministries. It was the appointed time for Jesus to make himself known publicly. It was the time for his cousin, John the Baptist, to announce to the world that Messiah had come. And John went out preaching in the wilderness of Judea and baptizing and calling people to repent of their sins just as Isaiah had prophesied 700 years earlier. We've been talking about how the things that were accomplished by Jesus were written in the Old Testament. And from the very beginning we see that's true. Isaiah had prophesied that the messenger would come into the wilderness, preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. And he was saying, make ready the way of the Lord. Isaiah 49, verse 3. So along with the other gospel writers, Luke recorded that Jesus came to John to be baptized. As he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove in bodily form. And a voice came out of heaven saying, You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased. Now this is a remarkable story if it ended there. But it didn't. Like Matthew, Luke provided us with a genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam. And you can look at Luke chapter 3 and 4 and find this whole story of the very beginnings here of Jesus' earthly life. Very early on, Luke records that Satan came after Jesus. Luke wrote about him being tempted in the wilderness. Any of us ever been tempted by Satan? Well, so was Jesus. He was tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin. And Satan, among other things, promised him what? All the kingdoms of the world, if he would do one thing, bow down and worship him. That's right. And how did Jesus respond to Satan? He responded with Scripture. Three times he was tempted. Three times he responded with Scripture. You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone. Deuteronomy 6.13. And Jesus began His public ministry then in Galilee, where He lived. He'd spend most of the next three years in Galilee preaching, what? That the kingdom of God had now come among men. And He was calling all men who heard Him to repent and turn to God and believe in Him. And as a sign to authenticate His message that He'd been sent by the Father, what did He do? He healed the sick and the lame. He restored sight to the blind. He restored hearing to the deaf. He cast out demons from many who were possessed by them. He walked on the Sea of Galilee, brothers. He walked on the Sea of Galilee. He commanded the winds, a hurricane-like wind, to cease. And it stopped. And the waves ceased. He even raised the dead back to life. You know how we know this? We have the testimony of eyewitnesses here. Eyewitnesses who were executed rather than recant their testimony. Passage here in chapter 4 is representative of Jesus' preaching and healing ministry. That's what it says. ...He got up and left the synagogue... He's in Galilee. ...and entered Simon's home. ... Peter. ...Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever. They asked Him to help her. And Jesus, standing over her, rebuked her fever, and it left her, and she got up and began serving them. ...While the sun was setting, all those who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Did you ever spend an afternoon healing people? Did you ever hear of anybody who ever did that? Only the Lord Jesus Christ. Demons were also coming out of many. Luke tells us they were shouting, You are the Son of God. But rebuking them, He wouldn't allow them to speak because they knew Him to be the Christ. Isn't that interesting? those in the spiritual realm knew who He was. When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place, and the crowds were searching for Him. And they came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away. Many loved Jesus. Many for what He was doing. But he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. One of the things we see in Luke's gospel is the fact that Messiah was sent for people from every nation. He shows frequently Christ and the Gentiles and the salvation of the Gentiles through him. Well, we also learn in the gospel that Jesus chose and called 12 disciples to himself, Jewish men. And he taught them over the next three years, preparing them for a mission that they couldn't possibly have understood. During those whole three years, they had no inkling of what their mission would be. They couldn't have imagined when they first began to follow him. There were some fishermen, there was a tax collector, These were twelve men that John MacArthur is fond of referring to as twelve ordinary men. And indeed they were, with faults like us. What was Jesus' message? He proclaimed the blessings of the kingdom of God, of heaven, promising the very blessings of heaven to all who would believe in Him and turn from their sins. Anybody else able to do that? Only Jesus. He promised forgiveness of sins to all who would believe in Him and repent. He taught that we must love God, that we must love one another, we must love the brethren, that we must love our neighbor, and yes, that we must love even our enemy. You want to be like Christ. You must love your enemies. I say to you who hear, He said, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. This wasn't just for them, this is for all of us. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. But love your enemies. Verse 35 of chapter 6. Do good, lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Old Testament passage had said, Be holy, as your heavenly Father is holy. He taught us that we must never speak evil or wish evil on others. He said the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good. And the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And listen to this. For his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. You see our words betray. This is what it is to follow Him, folks. This is what it is to seek to be like Him. Jesus openly declared that He's the Messiah. He openly declared He's the Messiah promised by God for many centuries. And one place we read that is when John, who was in prison, sent a delegation to Jesus. He's wondering, wait a minute, why haven't we conquered the Romans? Why haven't we taken over the land? Why am I in prison? Why are you being challenged and opposed by all the Jewish religious leaders? So John sent two of his disciples to the Lord to ask Him, are you the expected one or should we look for someone else? John the Baptist who leaped in his mother's womb in the presence of the Christ who was being carried in Mary's womb. And Jesus quoted from the Old Testament. Isn't it interesting how we keep seeing him in the Old Testament? Because that's what he said here. Read about me in the law and the prophets. He quoted from Isaiah 35 and 61. He said to them, 722, Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up. The poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. And at the same time, Jesus expressly confirmed. Now we have Jesus' testimony of who John was here. that John was the forerunner of Messiah who was prophesied in Isaiah and Malachi. Now think about this. Jesus confirmed that John was the forerunner. He said, this is the one, speaking of John, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you. who will prepare your way before you. I say to you," Jesus said, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God. And the way into the kingdom of God is what? A narrow road. He was saying to them all, Chapter 9, verse 23, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself. He must take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he's the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." Now he's talking about a day of reckoning, a day of judgment. Are we going to live our lives seeking to give glory to Him, seeking to obey Him, seeking to honor Him in all we think, do, and say? He warned against some specific sins. Covetousness and greed were both near the top of the list. He taught that all men must seek, not the things of this world, but His kingdom. Do not seek, He said, what you will eat, what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek. But your Father knows that you need these things. And if we're honest, we realize He's provided everything we have. Even the opportunities to provide for ourselves, He has provided. And Jesus went on, "...but seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you." And hear these words of our Lord, "...where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." He taught us to always be preparing ourselves for the day of the Lord. Because He's going to return on a day, He said, when we will least expect it. His return will be sudden. He preached the necessity that every man must humble himself if he is to enter the kingdom of God. Have we all humbled ourselves? He said, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So we see those exalting themselves in the world. They will be humbled. Yet those who humble themselves. And he liked that so much he said it twice. At least in Luke's gospel. He said some difficult things. He taught that if anyone is to come to Him, He must place Him first above all things, even above family. He said, if anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. And He said, if you want to walk in both worlds, no servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and wealth." You could sit down in an hour and read through this much of Luke's gospel and realize Jesus was not teaching us to live like the people of this world live. He was teaching us Christ-likeness. He was teaching us to be like Him. He taught His disciples how to pray. Come to the Father in humility, acknowledging Him and honoring Him as the Holy God. Understanding that He alone is the giver of all blessings and that we are wholly undeserving of His grace. And by the way, He reminded us that God knows our hearts. It's a great thing to do before we think or do anything, to remind ourselves, God knows what's in here. Well, this was a great man, to say the least. And yet, he was opposed constantly by the religious leaders of his day in Israel. They tried to persuade people that he was an imposter, a fraud, even an agent of Satan. He has a demon, they said, when he would perform supernatural works. And all the while, he knew what awaited him when he made his final trip to Jerusalem. Now, he had come to Jerusalem for the feast as prescribed in the law of Moses. But as he approached his final trip to Jerusalem for the final Passover, He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished." How many times did he have to say it's him that the Old Testament speaks of before people understand? He said, For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And on the third day he will rise again." Well, we all know what happened when he got to Jerusalem. But Luke tells us the disciples understood none of these things. And the meaning of this statement was hidden from them. They did not comprehend the things that were said. They didn't understand because it was hidden from them. So Jesus came to the mandatory feasts, ordained by God for all the Jewish males. And when He came for this final time, what happened? He was greeted by massive crowds. Many were in Jerusalem from Galilee and outside Jerusalem for the feast. He was hailed as what? The long-awaited Messiah by many, the Son of David, the King of Israel. This was the greeting. But what happened in the days that followed? One of the twelve that he had chosen conspired with the Jewish religious leaders to have him handed over to the Romans. That week, he came into the temple. He was teaching there daily. And on one occasion, he drove out sellers of livestock, selling animals for the Passover. He drove out money changers exchanging currencies from outside of Judea for Judean currency. And he said, you people are turning my father's house into a den of thieves. And in so doing, he exercised his authority over the temple. He'd already exercised his authority over the wind, the natural world, over demons, the spiritual world. He'd said he was Lord of the Sabbath. And now he was exercising authority over the place of worship. And on Thursday, that same week, Jesus met with 12 of His disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem to eat the final Passover meal. And as they were all gathered together there, He told them His hour had come. And He also told them one of them would betray Him. Told Peter he would deny Him three times that very night. That night he taught them many things, most of which are recorded in John's Gospel. And he instituted the Lord's Supper, which he commanded the eleven and all his followers to observe as a remembrance of him. Then he led the eleven into the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed to his father, Father, if there's any way, let this cup pass from me. but not my will, but your will be done." And that night, Judas Iscariot led a mob, temple police, Roman soldiers, Jewish religious leaders, others, to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he betrayed our Lord of the Kiss, and the Lord was taken into custody. That night and into early Friday morning, Jesus was brought before three separate tribunals of the Jews who determined He was a blasphemer. And that night and into the next morning, He was beaten. He was whipped. He was punched. He was slapped in the face. He was spit upon and mocked. And then Friday morning, they brought Him to Pilate, the Roman governor demanding that He be crucified. Pilate found no guilt in him. Here was a pagan man, a Gentile. He could see the innocence in Christ. Tried to avoid being the one who passed sentence by sending him to Herod, but Herod just mocked him some more and sent him back. Finally, Pilate gave in. He gave in to the demands of the Jews, though he knew Jesus was innocent. Jesus was crucified. His lifeless body buried in a tomb that was owned by a member of the Sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimatheus, who was a secret disciple of Jesus. And by that point, every single thing Jesus had said would occur had, in fact, occurred. Everything except one final prophecy. On the third day, he rose again. The whole of the Old Testament was pointing to Him. The whole of His life and ministry was pointing to these three days when He would be executed, atoning for the sins of those who would believe in Him, and then rise, overcoming death. Luke unfolded his account of the resurrection beginning on the first day of the week. Sunday, as we call it. When Mary Magdalene and some other women came to the tomb and found Jesus wasn't there. His body was gone. There were some angels there. Two men in dazzling clothing who said to the women, He's not here. He has risen. He's risen. John tells us that Jesus appeared to Mary outside the tomb, though at first she didn't recognize Him. But the women returned from this empty tomb and went back to the eleven and told them everything that had occurred, everything the angels had said to them, and the apostles wouldn't believe them. That same day, as two of Jesus' followers were walking toward Emmaus, a seven-mile trip from Jerusalem. Jesus approached them and began traveling with them. First they didn't recognize Him, as Mary had not. Luke tells us they were prevented from recognizing Jesus. And Jesus then began to explain to them that all of the Old Testament Scripture shows that Messiah must suffer and enter into His glory. They weren't waiting for a suffering Messiah. They weren't waiting for a Messiah who would be murdered on a cross because they didn't understand what the Word of God had spoken. He showed them throughout the Old Testament the message of God's eternal purpose in Him and God's means of accomplishing His purpose. and that His death on the cross and His resurrection were absolutely necessary to the accomplishment of God's eternal purpose of summing up all things in His Son. And we know as believers that as it was written in the prophets, it had to happen. God's eternal purpose to bring His people cleansed of their sin into an eternal union with His Son must be accomplished. And so the Messiah suffered unspeakable suffering and died in order to cleanse us and bring us to glory with Him. There's no story like this in all of human history. And now, Sunday night, the day he rose, as the eleven and some other disciples were gathered together, the risen Jesus suddenly stood in their midst. And he spoke to them, took food, and ate. Now they were witnessing the greatest miracle of all. Jesus said to them, as He had said to the two men on the road to Emmaus, These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things which are written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. God's Word will not return to him void. And this wasn't any longer the Jesus of his humiliation. He was now the risen and glorified Christ. And he wanted them to know that his suffering and death were absolutely necessary to the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. as written in the Scriptures. And we read again, He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He said to them, thus it's written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day. David had written in the psalm, He will not allow His Holy One to undergo decay. And that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. So He showed them He had to suffer, had to rise on the third day in order that the good news of salvation through faith in Him and repentance from sin might be proclaimed. The events of those 72 hours are what was preached. Belief in the atoning death and the resurrection of Christ is the means of salvation. Those things hadn't occurred yet until that weekend. Because His death and resurrection, the things He'd done in those last 72 hours, was the means by which He was saving His people. The proclamation of the good news was going to begin in seven weeks in Jerusalem. It would be taken to the remotest parts of the earth, to both Jews and Gentiles. Isaiah 49, 6, he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light of the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Well what about the apostles? They've been following along, not understanding, not knowing their mission for three years. Jesus said to them, you are witnesses of these things. Over the previous three years, the eleven faithful disciples in a wider group that included people like Mary Magdalene, and the two men from Emmaus, and others had become followers of Jesus. Day after day, they'd heard him proclaim that the kingdom of God had come. And didn't really understand what he meant. They'd listened as He called on men to repent and believe in Him. They'd seen Him perform many miracles, many supernatural works, works of God, and they believed in Him. But even at that moment, as Jesus, the risen and glorified Christ, stood in their midst, the eleven had no understanding of why He had chosen. Or that he had a very specific purpose for them after he had departed. Or what that purpose was. In fact, despite all he had told them, they did not realize he was about to depart from them. And so now, as his departure from them and his return to his father grew ever nearer, he said, you shall be my witnesses. Witnesses of what? Well, all of them. The eleven, Joseph of Arimatheus, Mary Magdalene, the other women. They would all give testimony to the very events that had occurred that week. Jesus' death on the cross, bodily resurrection, the things Jesus had taught. And though the apostles didn't understand, Jesus had been preparing them for this mission for three years. Remember, He'd sent them out twice. to proclaim the kingdom of God. He empowered them to work miracles, to cast out demons, to heal. And now the mission would begin. The proclamation of the kingdom of God and the call to believe in Jesus and be saved. And their testimony to Jesus' death and resurrection would be their life's work. And He told them, though He's going to be departing from them in a physical sense, He would not abandon them. Now verse 49, Behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. They obeyed Him. He was telling the apostles that He would soon send them He whom the Father had promised, His own Spirit. And when the Spirit came, He would empower them. He would impart divine power to them as they went into the world with the message of His death and resurrection. The message of the gospel, believe and be saved. Now Jesus' words to them on the night before he had died were recorded by John in his gospel. I want to share just a couple of them with you. He told them, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. John 14, 16. That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him or know him, but you know him, because he abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans." I can imagine so many things were happening. These were 12 ordinary men, now down to 11. I won't leave you orphans. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day, you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." Can you imagine sitting there and having Jesus tell us these things? He said, these things I've spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 16, 5, Now I am going to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, Where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I don't go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you." We have the Spirit of Christ within us because He went back to the Father. And He said these things the night before He died. One more thing, He said, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth He will not speak of His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will disclose to you what is to come. This is why we have the knowledge of the truth. We have the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus said, He will glorify Me. He will take of Mine and disclose it to you. These were the promises that Jesus had conveyed to the apostles on the night before He died. But it's clear, even then, as we read of the accounts of the crucifixion and the resurrection, they still didn't understand. But when the Spirit came, they would gain not only understanding, but power. And folks, it's when the Spirit came to us that we gained understanding, that we came to realize the truth. So he said, you got to wait here in Jerusalem. Don't try to do this mission in your own strength. Wait until you are clothed with power from on high. This is the source of our power in evangelism. It must come from Him. And Luke concludes, He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And though Jesus had departed from them, Luke's gospel actually ends on a joyous note. He says, "...and they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God." Well, we don't know a lot about those next ten days. But Luke wrote a second letter to Theophilus, which we know is the book of Acts. And there Luke picks up where his gospel leaves off. And there he gives a fuller account of Jesus' ascension. And he gives us an epilogue to the whole story of the gospel. He says here in chapter 1 of Acts, the first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen, To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs. This wasn't just a one-time appearance. By appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. So his preaching to his people went on. And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. ... Well we just read this at the end of Luke's Gospel. ...Which he said, You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they'd come together, they're asking him, Lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel? He said, it's not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And look at this in verse 10. As they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, who was there? Two men in dazzling clothing stood beside Him. And they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This Jesus. who's been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you've watched him go. And so they went back to Jerusalem and they waited. The eleven. They chose another apostle by lot. Verse 14 of Acts chapter 1, They were of one mind, continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers, who apparently now believed. Because John chapter 7, they were unbelieving. In chapter 2 of the book of Acts, in his account of the day ten days after Jesus departed, Luke provided the epilogue. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. And there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, they all came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. And Peter, who had just weeks before denied our Lord, and now had been told he would be his witness, said this, Acts 2.22, and here's his testimony. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know. This man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross, by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it is impossible for him to be held in its power. And then in verse 32, here are the words, This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. The apostles continued to testify of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Over the next 35 years, all but John were themselves killed because they wouldn't recant their testimony. Several of them recorded their testimonies or spoke to others who wrote down what they had said. And the New Testament itself is a testimony of eyewitnesses, of the majesty and the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what Luke has shown us is the eternal Son of God came in human flesh, in fulfillment of all that God had promised in the Old Testament, was born of a woman in Bethlehem, and died and rose again to save us. That's what this gospel's about. And we are blessed to have had these things written down for us, that we may know them and believe them and be saved. Well, let's take a moment and take these words of our Lord as overwhelming as they can be into our minds and hearts. And then let each of us examine himself, and then we'll gather at his table. Oh Lord, what an amazing, amazing account. What an amazing history. The many facets of The work that you've done in your Son are too big for us to begin to fully grasp. But Lord, let us never lose sight of the atonement that was accomplished by his death. And the victory over death that he won by his resurrection. Thank you for these witnesses, Lord. Thank you for your Son. And Lord, we pray that, like the apostles, You would give us of Your power that we might, too, be effective witnesses of Your glory and Your grace. In Christ's name, Amen.