Take your Bibles again to the book of Luke and Luke chapter 24. We've already read the chapter, and so we won't repeat that for the sake of time. I want to focus this morning on Luke 24, and really the first 36 verses. I would love to go through the entire thing, but it would just take too long, and so we won't. You know, for those disciples in the previous week must have seemed like a whirlwind, all the things that had happened, all the events unfolding. The triumphant entry of Jesus, the son of David, into Jerusalem, his clearing of the temple, his debates with rulers and Pharisees and Sadducees, the steadily increasing antagonism of the rulers, and then the Passover feast. And Jesus washing their feet, that must have been an amazing moment for them to experience. He instituted the new covenant feast of the Lord's Supper, followed by Judas's bizarre leaving in the middle of the supper, going away and betraying the Lord Jesus. a darkened walk through the streets of Jerusalem toward the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus' heart-rending cries in prayer over a short way removed from the disciples. Their frightened abandoning of Jesus as the soldiers had come, Jesus arriving with a great company of soldiers to arrest Jesus. They fled into the night as he was bound and led away. They would have heard the sad news of Peter's repeated and shameful denials, and they had expected something so much more. This wasn't the way they thought it was all going to unfold and work out. Perhaps they were expecting a triumphant revelation of Jesus' identity to the Jews, a crushing military defeat of the Romans, his crowning and ruling and reigning in Jerusalem with them alongside with one seated to his right and one to his left. But instead, there was an arrest, multiple trials, a brutal scourging, and the unimaginable end of Jesus hanging on a cross, hands that once healed and touched and cleansed, now nailed to a cross beam. A voice that once spoke loving, kind, gentle words to his people, now hanging silent in death. Jesus dying on a cross. And now here they are, returning, slinking back to the upper room. You know, embarrassed faces. When we've all done something wrong, when we come face to face, we all sort of, you know, kind of avoid each other's gaze. And perhaps those embarrassed faces of the 11 are looking at the floor as they sort of come and sidle into the room together. Disappointment, sadness, discouragement, defeat. Their master, their teacher, their leader, their friend was dead. I can't imagine what that must have been like for them. I was in the room when dear Helen Greig passed into the presence of the Lord. And that moment as the weeping and the crying and the speaking to her was, it just paused. And there was a moment of almost absolute silence. And then the tears began to flow a whole lot more. Sadness. Their friend was dead. What now? What next? What's going to happen? No doubt they're somewhat afraid of the Jews and the leaders and the Romans. Perhaps a little follow-up reprisal as they would come and search out the disciples and take them away and crucify them too. So there's no doubt a fear there as well. What's going to happen? They're disappointed and they're sad and they're discouraged. And we know that disappointment affects us all. A job promotion we wanted but didn't get. A new purchase that did not satisfy as expected. A relationship that did not end as expected. Marriages that fail. Partnerships, business partnerships ending in lawsuits. A church hires a new pastor, discover after a few months he's just as flawed and screwy as the old pastor and the new pastor discovers that the new church is just as sinful as he is and the previous church. Not speaking about this one or anything like that. But there's disappointment. Things haven't turned out the way we expected. Finances that repeatedly run out before payday, hopes dashed through lies and cheating and misfortune, even sometimes faith in God that has not ended the way we expected it should. Disappointment rising as our expectations are unmet. In these moments, what's the answer? What do we do? For some of us, we turn to drugs and alcohol, medications, isolation even, but these solutions only serve to create deeper, bigger problems. No, for them and for us today, we all need to hear the truth. That's really the only thing that can really encourage a heart, can lift disappointment and remove it, is to hear the truth. What encourages a weary soul more than hearing the absolute unshakable truth? Even if that truth is a difficult truth to swallow, it is the best truth because it's what reality is. It removes discouragement and disappointment. No, for them and for us today, we all need to hear the truth, to be encouraged, to have our focus raised from self, away from self and back towards the living God. We need the gentle, careful ministry of the word. First, to be reminded of Jesus' resurrection, according to scripture, just as he promised, the true, perfect, eternal resurrection of his body and spirit. And secondly, we need to hear the call of God to remember the words of Jesus, to believe the words of scripture, to understand the words of scripture, to go and make known, to proclaim repentance for the remission of sins beginning, in their case, in Jerusalem, but in our case, beginning in our own homes, in our own neighborhoods. Well, as we look at our text, we can see a bit of a structure there. And the structure sort of revolves around different groups of disciples, and they're coming into contact with Jesus. The devoted women at the tomb who are told of Jesus' resurrection, who are reminded of Jesus' words. In verses 13 to 35, we have the disappointed disciples on the road who are called to believe scripture's words, who are shown and see and recognize that Jesus has been raised again. In verses 36 to 43, there's the doubting 11 in the upper room who see the very real body and spirit of the resurrected Jesus. They're called to obey Jesus' commands and they're given understanding of Jesus' scriptures, his words. And then verses 44 to 49, there's the understanding 11 are commissioned to take their understanding, to take what they believe and know about Jesus from the scripture and proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins beginning in Jerusalem. And then the last two verses of the book, this is so cool. The last two verses of the book, what do we find? The disciples are in the temple and they're praising God for Messiah has come. And the last two verses work as perfect bookend with the very beginning scene. Because in the very beginning of the book of Luke, what do we find? Zechariah is in the temple and he's praying for the coming of the Messiah. And the book ends with the disciples in the temple praising God because Messiah has come. And so this message from God's word for us for today is this, that number one, we remember. Number two, we believe the truth of Jesus in scripture and be encouraged because Jesus is alive. Jesus is risen and Jesus is coming again. This is not the end of the story. This is in the grand scheme of eternity. It's a tiny blip on the timeline. So first of all, we're called to remember the words of Jesus. And we see that in chapter 24, verses 1 to 12. The women are coming to the tomb of Jesus. They're clearly very devoted to their Lord Jesus. They've risen early in the morning. They've spent money to gather spices and specially prepare them. And what their plan is to go to the tomb and take the body of Jesus. And it wasn't like embalming. They would just pack the spices around the cavities and places in his body so that as those spices sort of blended in, it would try and remove some of that foul odor of decomposition. They love the Lord. And you can imagine as they walk, one of the joys of being a pastor is conducting funerals. And when everybody comes together for a funeral, there's not loud talking and back and forth. Everybody comes in and there's a quiet hush. and there's a respectful quiet and a silence as we sit and everybody goes outside and we just speak in quiet voices. You don't have to raise your voice or use a mic at a funeral, it's just quiet. You go to the graveside and it's quiet. And you can see these women as they're walking through the very, very early break of dawn. And they're heading out towards a tomb and there's quiet and there's a hush. And you can see them as they're hurrying along. They're still greatly grieved with sadness and disappointment because their master, their teacher, their friend is gone. They're devoted to Jesus. They're coming early in the morning to anoint his body with spices. They're willing to contribute costly spices for Jesus. They clearly love the Lord Jesus. And here the problem sort of starts to rise up because sometimes our love and our devotion becomes more about our doing for Christ than about knowing and obeying his words. They'd forgotten what Jesus had told them 11 plus times in the Gospels. When we love Jesus but forget his words, we can easily fall into the trap of doing much, even the wrong things, albeit from good motives. Busyness can easily become a substitute for informed obedience. We're so busy doing all we can. And coming from a confessed workaholic, I know what that's like. It's easy to fill the day with busyness. Is there the one thing the Lord really wants? My time and undivided attention toward him. They arrive and they're surprised. The stone has been rolled away. The stone should still be where they left it. I mean, if you roll the stone away as the body starts to decompose, the terrible smell that would be coming out of that place. And no doubt as they got closer, there's no smell. And they stoop and they walk into the empty grave and they're absolutely surprised. The stone is rolled away. They're perplexed because the grave is now empty. And then all of a sudden they're perplexed and their surprise turns to terror as they realize these two men in shining white clothes are standing or possibly sitting there, one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus once lay. And there's shock and horror. And then we see the angels' gentle rebuke because they are surely angels. In Luke 24, verses five to seven, the men said to them, why do you seek the living one among the dead? He's not here, but he is risen. Remember how he spoke to you while still in Galilee saying, the son of man must be delivered over to sinful man and be crucified and rise again on the third day. Why seek the living among the dead? You know what phrase just rocked through my mind over and over again all through the week as I was preparing this? That one phrase. Why do you seek the living among the dead? The very last place that men should seek for Jesus is among the dead. The unbelieving world sees Jesus as merely one of the greats. military great, or a political great, or an academic great, a learned scholar or writer, an artistic great like Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo, a religious great, some great figure in history. But all of those men, for all the things that they accomplished, great men of the past, they have all, one and all, died. The graves are full of bones, and that's all that remains. We were walking, I mentioned before, walking through Westminster Abbey, and there's grave after grave after grave after grave after grave after grave. And finally, I looked ahead and I said, who is that? You know, there's a grave there with banners and trumpets and columns and crowns and angel wings and shields and the guy's got some great pose all carved in stone. And Heather looked at me and she said it was some guy that did something really important sometime in history and someone thought he should be remembered and she shrugged and we kept walking. Forgotten. Those graves are full. You don't go seeking for a living person in the cemetery, you seek for the living among the living, correct? Why do you seek Jesus among the dead? If you're looking for life, don't go looking for amongst the dead men of the old to find life. You won't find it there, for Jesus is not there. He is not numbered amongst the dead. Jesus is not among the ancient greats. Jesus is infinitely superior to all mankind. He is the son of the living God as Simon Peter quoted back to Jesus. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. He is the author of life. Peter preached on Pentecost morning in Acts 3.15, you put to death the prince or the author of life, the one whom God raised from the dead. Jesus is the sustainer of life. In Hebrews 1 and verse 3, he upholds all things by the word of his power. Jesus in him is life. That's what John wrote. You could see almost the angel kind of, what are you doing here? Why are you seeking Jesus amongst the dead? But you also see the grace of God in that moment, don't you? because God left those two angels there to give them this great news, because he knew in forgetting the words of Jesus, he knew in forgetting what was really going on, they would come looking for him. In the last place they saw him, which the women watched as they lowered his body into that tomb, wrapped in a linen cloth, his face tied up with a linen handkerchief. That's where they saw him. That's where they figured he would be. And God, in amazing grace, sends the two angels to tell them, you've come to the wrong place. He's gone. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. In John 14, verse 6, Jesus is Job's redeemer. He said, I know that my redeemer lives. He was sure of that. You say, well, that was before he was incarnate. Yeah, absolutely, but he's still alive today. We don't serve and worship a dead figure in history, we worship and we serve a living Lord Jesus Christ, amen? Amen. The problem is they've not remembered Jesus' words. A love and a zeal for God without knowledge is what they're acting on. And brothers and sisters, how often have we forgotten his words? Disappointment and discouragement come, it will come, even as we forget his words to us. How often does our forgetting and our ignorance of scripture lead to errors in our life, our faith, our worship, even our preaching? How often does it lead to devotion without understanding? How often does it lead to misplaced time and expense and effort? His people, his dear ladies, for all their love and devotion to the Lord, they'd forgotten his words. And so the angels remind them he's risen, remember? But listen, he's not risen like all the other ones in the Bible that were raised. The widow of Zarephath, her son, the widow of Nain, her son, Jairus' daughter, Martha and Mary's brother, Lazarus. Those all rose again, but they all grew older and died again. But this one, our Lord Jesus Christ, was raised never to die again. He now possesses the perfect resurrection body and brothers and sisters in Christ as we watch our bodies getting older. We were laughing the night, Heather and I, about how you hit 50 and sort of things start to, you know, it's like the hard drive gets a little scrambled and bits and pieces start to go in wrong directions and wrong ways and things don't work the way that they're supposed to. The ones that are all smiling sweetly know that they're over 50 and they know what I'm talking about. But you know what our hope is? Our hope is one day we will have a body like Jesus' body. Isn't that great? Yeah, I'm hoping for slightly taller and a little skinnier. Who are we kidding? But that's what our hope is. That's what our hope is. And so the angels remind them, remember, he's risen. And this morning, brothers and sisters, I just can't help but take a little bit of a detour on my message and talk about the truth of his resurrection, because the truth of Jesus' resurrection is the perfect antidote to a discouraged, disappointed, and saddened heart. Are you here this morning and you have discouragements? If you don't, you're probably one amongst a whole lot to do. We all have them. We all have disappointments and discouragements. We all know sadness, but listen, his resurrection is a great hope that we have. Listen, his resurrection is proof that he is indeed the son of God. The Bible says in Acts 13, verse 33, that God has fulfilled his promise to our children that he raised Jesus as it's written in the second Psalm, you are my son. And Peter connects Jesus as the son of God with his resurrection. Paul writes, Romans 1 and verse 4, speaking of Jesus, He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead. It absolutely proved who He was. His resurrection is proof that He is sinless. The soul that sinneth shall surely die. And the Bible makes absolute clear witness and revelation to us that Jesus never sinned. He had no sin nature. He could not sin. And so how was it possible that he hung on a cross and he finished the work and commended his spirit to God and they took his body down cold and still and lifeless, very much dead. Oh, he just swooned. He just kind of fainted a little bit. Trust me, if a Roman takes a spear point and pushes it under your ribs up into your heart and pulls it out again, whether he was fainting or not, he would very quickly be dead. He was dead. Absolutely. So how is it possible? And the reality is the wonderful truth of the gospel is that Jesus took our sin upon himself as we saw on Friday morning and the thief on the cross and the thieves there and why Jesus was dying. He took our sin upon himself. He died in our place. He died the death that we deserved. But the death had no hold. It could not hold Jesus in the grave. Why? Because there's no sin. And where there's no sin, there's no death. And so he had to rise again. His death, sorry, his resurrection is proof that he is sinless. And by the way, his resurrection is necessary for our justification. Paul writes in Romans 4 and verse 25, he was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. Because our sin has been fully dealt with, because he has no sin of his own, he rose again. And the wonderful truth is, His righteousness can be imputed and implied to you and me as we trust in Jesus. We give him our sin, he bears the penalty for it, it's wiped away, and he in response gives us his righteousness. And God looks at us as that righteousness is imputed to us, and he makes a declaration that's right. If you believe in Jesus Christ, God declares you right. He was raised for our justification. If he had stayed in the tomb, then he would not have been sinless. If he had stayed in the tomb, he would not have been declared surely the son of God. If he stayed in the tomb, there'd be absolutely no hope for us. But he rose again. His resurrection, the Bible tells us, is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. If Christ, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you're still in your sins. If Jesus is still dead in the tomb, close your Bible, turn off the lights, let's go home. This is all pointless. We may as well go and do what everybody else is doing and go out and get party, eat, drink, get drunk because tomorrow we'll die and it won't make any difference. Part of the reason why the world we live in has no hope is because they've lost sight of the reality, the absolute reality that God truly is, that there is salvation, there is hope for us. There is a hope of forgiveness of sins. His resurrection is the hope of our resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 19, we're born again to a living hope through his resurrection. The verse that the kids quoted this morning, 1 Peter 1 and verse 3, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope. How? through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We're born again to a living hope as Jesus was raised. I mentioned earlier in prayer, we who believe in Jesus have died with him and we have been raised to walk in a newness of life as he was raised. How do you live this Christian life? Because Jesus is alive. Jesus is raised from the dead. were to strive to know his resurrection power in his life. Paul wrote in Philippians 3.10, that I may know him. He literally said, I give up everything, it makes me something. All the things that I value in life, I count them as rubbish, literally human dung in comparison to the surpassing excellency of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, that I may know him and not just know him, but know the power of his resurrection. We live this Christian life in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The Bible says, Paul wrote, Ephesians 1, verses 19 and 20, he prays that we might know what is the surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead. How do you live this Christian life? because I practice diligent reading and I study hard and I do all these things. No. They're a helper, absolutely. You won't last long in this Christian life if you're not in the word and in prayer. You won't last long in this Christian life if you leave off the gathering together of God's people to worship. You won't survive. But the way you make it one millisecond forward in this Christian life is because the power of God is at work towards you to give you the strength to live. Hey, that's hope, brothers and sisters. Isn't that great news? We don't walk one step that God doesn't give us the power and strength to walk. You gotta remember this also, the resurrection is nowhere described in scripture. It's one of those very precious things that God keeps entirely for himself. There was no disciple journalist sitting there with a notebook and a pen, watching the body, ready to write down exactly what happened so we would have a record of it. There is no record of how Jesus rose. What we have is undeniable proofs that he did indeed rise and that he appeared to so many. His resurrection happened by God's surpassing power. We just read Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. His resurrection was and still is doubted by so many. His resurrection was proved by his appearances. We go to 1 Corinthians 15, verses five to eight. And what do you see? To the women at the tomb, to Peter, to the 11, to James, to 500 at one time, and some years later to Paul the Apostle. There is no way in first century ancient Near East that they could have faked that. It's impossible. And besides all that, how many of those disciples knowing full well that they were preaching a lie when somebody put a sword to their heads or threatened them with a cross would carry on. They'd cave in like a cheap suit. No, they all died. You realize that 11, sorry, 10 of the 11 disciples remaining died a violent death. Paul would be the 12th, yeah, that died a violent death for their testimony for Christ. So remember and rejoice, beloved. He's not here. He is alive. The antidote for every discouraged, disappointed heart is this. Jesus is alive for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is alive for the justification that we have by faith in him. He is alive giving us hope and he is alive giving us power to live this life. So my call to you this morning is lift your gaze. Look up and see Jesus. Be encouraged, be strengthened in the truth of Jesus. Remember Jesus words. And that's the next point. The angels reminder, having forgotten Jesus word, he now reminds him that the son of man must be delivered. These are Jesus words. He must be delivered. He must be crucified and he must rise again. Jesus is the only one in human history to accurately predict the following, his betrayal by one disciple, Judas, his triple denial by another disciple, Peter, his deliverance into the hands of the Jews and the Romans, his being killed and crucified by the Romans, and his being raised back to life. You could take the first four and say, well, some guys have gotten pretty close with that. None of them have stood there and said in three days, I'll rise again. None of them, and none could. But Jesus alone, being who he is, could make that prediction. His 11 predictions are recorded in three of the four Gospels. On the note sheet, I gave you them all there, and listen, you can look them up if you want. Everything Jesus predicted happened with 100% accuracy, identifying him as God's anointed prophet. He can be listened to, he can be trusted, his words are worth remembering, amen? Absolutely. To go back and look at what Jesus said is an encouragement to our hearts and our souls, but it's not just looking and reading and knowing, it's acting upon what they knew. And these poor women, God bless them for their love and devotion to the Lord, went to the tomb because they wanted to show their love for Jesus, but they'd forgotten his words, and so they wasted time and they wasted effort, really. The problem for them and for us, beloved, is we too quickly forget Jesus' words. We forget Jesus' words and we seek Jesus in all the wrong places and all the wrong ways. We forget Jesus' words and that brings disappointment and discouragement and sadness. We need a constant reminder of Jesus' life and his words from scripture in our own reading and our own study, from fellowship with other believers, in public ministry, from scripture. Listen, you won't survive this Christian life if you put away the reading of God's word and the fellowship of God's people. Never mind sitting under the sound of the preaching of the Word of God. We need constant reminder of Jesus' words. He came, He died, and for them, the great news was He rose again. And for us, the greater news is that He's coming again. It's not the end of the story yet. We need constant reminder of Jesus' life and words. We need to be constantly reminded to make the gospel known because this story wasn't just given to us. All these different stories that are in Luke 24, they have to do with the disciples and their discouragement, their failures, being given the truth of the word of God and in preparation for what's next to go out and proclaim and make known the gospel news wherever they went. Brothers and sisters in Christ, there's a world outside these doors that doesn't know Jesus. One of the great joys we have as a people coming together is to go out and to take the good news of Jesus with us. As John prayed in our prayer room earlier this morning, that our lives would be a sermon preached everywhere we go. And so, having heard all of this, the ladies remember. Yes, we remember now what he said. And you can imagine their joy. It doesn't describe it in Luke 24, but the book of Matthew chapter 28 in verse eight says, they rejoiced at the news and they returned and they reported. And you can imagine them on the way into the city, the tomb, they're all quiet and going to a funeral. On the way back, they're leaping and they're praying, they're talking excitedly. I have a feeling they just dropped the spices on the ground and booted it back to the city. full of joy and they get there and the disciples just ignore them. They didn't hear what Jesus said. They didn't hear what the women said. But Jesus is not done. So first, we remember Jesus' words, and then secondly, we must believe the words of scripture. The Bible describes in the next section, 13 to 35, how the disciples depart, departing from the Jerusalem and the other disciples, perhaps heading in the direction of Galilee. They're disappointed because their expectations for Messiah had been dashed. They're sad because of the loss of their master and teacher and friend. They're discussing the things that had happened. Notice they do it away from Jerusalem in the ears of the Jews, and I don't blame them. They got away first and then began to talk. Discussing the events of Jesus' betrayal and deliverance and crucifixion. They're discussing the reports of the women that Jesus had risen, but they did not believe it. Their recognition is that this is the third day. They're seeing the truth in the words, but they're not seeing the significance of it. They're not seeing Jesus yet. And as they're walking along and talking, Jesus comes alongside them and begins to travel along with them. And there's a point here. Listen, as God-fearers speak together, what does the Bible tell us in Malachi 3.16? That the Lord, sorry, those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord gave attention. As he comes alongside, he's hearing what they're saying and he begins to join them in their conversation to draw out what they're saying and to find out what's going on. It's a great encouragement, brothers, that we get together in twos and threes and talk about the Lord Jesus, because the Bible promises where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them. Yes, I know that that verse has been taken and said, well, it only applies to church discipline. That may be true. But you know what I also know? Where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst. It says it clearly. And so I have the hope when we get together as small groups of ones and twos, sorry, twos and threes and fours, and we talk about the things of God, God is there in the midst. And as these two are walking along and talking, Jesus comes alongside and joins them. But the Bible also tells us they're prevented from seeing Jesus. The Bible says in Mark 16 and verse 12 that he came and he was there in a different form. They didn't recognize him. Their eyes were veiled. Matthew Henry makes this great quote. He says that their eyes were veiled so their attention would be focused on his words, not his body walking along beside them. And Jesus inquires what's going on. I love the compassion of the Lord. He stands there and quietly asks him, what are you talking about? And Cleopas, they stop, and they're standing there, and they're looking sad, and you can just see Cleopas kind of looking at him. He assumes that Jesus is the only one living near Jerusalem or visiting Jerusalem that hasn't heard of all the things that are going on. And Cleopas answers, and he gives Jesus a description of Jesus himself. He was Jesus from Nazareth. They knew about his life. He was a prophet. They had heard his excellent preaching, his parables given, his stories told, his calling of men and women to repent and believe the gospel. His teaching, Cleopas said, was confirmed by miracles and signs and wonders. God gave the stamp of approval to his words by the miracles he performed. His life was lived before God and man. It's the idea of God's approval. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 tells us that God attested. He displayed Jesus to all the people as a man approved unto God. He was delivered by the Jews, the Romans, and he was crucified. And Cleopas goes on that he was their hope of redeeming Israel. It had been three days. He describes the women and their stories. And perhaps, perhaps for Cleopas, their expectation was a public, glorious resurrection. Their understanding was so close, but yet so far. The necessity of his crucifixion had not been grasped. They're not believing the scripture that explained his sufferings. And brothers and sisters, again, how often do we err in life and faith and ministry because we do not believe the scriptures? We read the text of scripture, we see what it says, and we decide that we know better. And we act according to our own wisdom and our own thinking. And so Jesus begins to teach them. In Luke 24, 25 to 27, he said, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. O foolish and slow of heart to believe. I don't think he said, ah, you fools. I think he said it gently. I think his intention was weak and slow to believe. And the antidote to a weakened faith is the truth of Scripture. He explained to them the necessity of his suffering and entering into his glory. Jesus fills in their lack of understanding. His suffering was necessary. Ought not the Messiah or the Christ to have suffered and then to enter his glory? He ought to have suffered. Messiah is in fact proven by his sufferings. It's inherent in the Old Testament promises of a Messiah to come. In Genesis 3.15, when God makes that first pronouncement of the gospel, he talks about him as his heel being bruised. There's suffering involved. Genesis 22 verse 8, we looked at it about a week and a half ago, Abraham and Isaac walking up the mountain road to go and offer him there on top of the mountain, and Isaac looks at his dad and says, behold the fire and the knife and the wood, where's the lamb? For the burnt offering. For the burnt offering. Suffering was associated with that lamb. Exodus 12 and 13, they sacrifice a lamb on Passover night so that as God passes through the land to exercise judgment and take the life of every firstborn, a lamb must be killed in order for Israel to escape the suffering. Daniel 9 verses 24 and 27, the Messiah was promised to be cut off to make the atonement for iniquity. Messiah is connected to suffering all through the Old Testament. In Psalm 22, we have the sufferings of Christ on the cross as David describes his own situation and uses words that Jesus will himself use all those years later. I love the way Psalm 22, 23, and 24, they're all linked together. You know why? You have the cross in Psalm 22, you have the crook, the shepherd's crook in Psalm 23, and in Psalm 24, you have the crown. the glory and the crown of Christ the King in Psalm 24. Listen, Jesus' suffering was necessary in order to enter his glory because, as Matthew Henry beautifully describes it, the way to Christ's crown of glory was through the cross and shame. What they expected was Messiah to come in and wipe out the Romans and reestablish the kingdom of Israel and rule over all the peoples in their area and have a great kingdom once again that had in the times of David. But Jesus says, no, no, no, you don't understand. You don't believe the scriptures or what they teach. It was necessary for Jesus, the son of God to suffer and then to enter into his glory. Because you see, beloved, there is a lesson for them there that had to do with what was coming next. The way to Christ's crown of glory was through the cross and shame, and the way to our crown of glory is also through a cross. What did Jesus say? If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The way of this Christian life, beloved, is through the cross. And as these disciples were preparing to go out, or Jesus was preparing them, he was making absolutely clear to them, they need to remember his words, they need to believe the Old Testament scriptures, and they need to understand the connection between the cross and the crown. And beloved, that same truth is true for us today. The way to our crowning glory at the moment the end when we will be given crowns and we will have the joy of taking our crowns off and laying them down at Jesus feet is it's through a cross. The call of this Christian life is a call to suffer. It's understanding the necessity of his suffering for the crown and hope was starting to replace disappointment. understanding the necessity of our suffering for the crown. Disappointment, discouragement are resolved as we remember the words of Jesus, as we believe the words of scripture, the preparation for proclaiming the gospel to all nations is made as we remember and we believe Jesus' words. Are you here this morning and you're struggling with discouragement? Remember Jesus' words. You're here this morning, you're remembering, sorry, you're discouraged, you're disappointed, you're saddened for one reason or another. My call to you, just like the call to those men and women back then, is to turn your eyes off your own circumstances and fasten them on Christ and look and see and remember Jesus' words. A few weeks ago, In my reading program, I try and read across the scriptures as much as I can. I realized there was a desperate need in my life to be in the Gospels all the time, to be reading Jesus' story and Jesus' words and the cross story over and over and over again. So part of my reading program now is just to read through the Gospels as one part of my reading program every day, to constantly be remembering and thinking and soaking up what Jesus said and Jesus did. And then Jesus, in that great passage, he says, in verse 27, then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures. And even Matthew Henry says, oh, to have a copy of those sermon notes, wouldn't that be great? They would say a little later, our hearts burned within us as he spoke to us on the way. And Jesus takes and he explains and expounds the truth concerning himself in all the scriptures. The hour is late. The disciples arrive in the village and they head off towards the house where they're going to stay. And Jesus makes as if he's going to keep walking. He does not want to be intrude, rude and intrude. And so they stop and they invite him to come. That must have been a wonderful moment as they sat down around the table and all of a sudden the eyes, what's stopping them from seeing Jesus is beginning to clear. As Jesus takes the role of the master and the head of the table, he reaches over into the bowl, he picks up a round, ordinary, common, raised loaf of bread and he breaks it in half and he hands it out to them. after he'd given thanks for it. And I wonder, I don't know if I think of this, it's maybe a childish thinking, but I wonder as he took the bread and he rolled over his arms and he put his hands up like that, all of a sudden they could see in the base of his wrist that jagged scar. And their eyes were open and they saw who he was. As we come together, beloved, and we fellowship around the Lord Jesus Christ, that's when we see him. When we open the scriptures and we read the scriptures and we spend time meditating and thinking and praying over the scriptures, that's when we see Jesus. If we think about the words he spoke and we remember the words and we believe what he said, we take it simply as true. Too much time and effort has been spent trying to prove that the Bible doesn't say what it says. We would be so much better if we would just take what the Bible says and believe it as true and live on the basis of it. But before I stop, and I promise I am almost done, we have hope this morning, beloved, because Jesus is risen. But I wanna go back to those three things we mentioned earlier in the sermon. We have forgiveness because Jesus is risen. If you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you've never trusted in Christ, you've never begun to trust in Christ and repent of your sin, you do not have forgiveness from God. And you are like that thief on the cross who abused Jesus, and even though rebuked by his friend, did not turn to Jesus in faith, and he died without any hope whatsoever. If you not believe in Jesus Christ, if you are not trusting him for your salvation, there is no forgiveness for you. But the great news is you're still here. God brought you here this morning. He brought you to here to hear a message that there's forgiveness for you. I was listening on the way in. John Bunyan wrote a book called The Jerusalem Sinner Saved. He talks about how Jesus told the disciples, go and preach the gospel and begin in Jerusalem. And he sort of puts, he kind of fills in with, in a kind of a dramatic way, as Peter is preaching in a different manner, hearing the gospel message down below him, preaching on Pentecost morning, and the Jerusalem people there, and some of those are there in the congregation, listening to him, and they're the ones that clamored and shouted for his death. And one of them cries out in Bunyan's presentation, I raised my voice for his crucifixion. Is there mercy for me? And Bunyan says, there's mercy for you. God calls you to believe the gospel and repent of sin. There's mercy for you. From the back of the crowd, one of the Jewish temple guards cried out, yeah, but I was there. I'm the one who bound his hands. I'm the one who took my fist and beat him in the side. Is there mercy for me? And Peter says, yeah, there's mercy for you because God said to make the gospel known, to proclaim repentance of sin for the forgiveness of sins. And one says, I was just there watching. And my voice rose up in abuse and mocking. I jeered at Jesus. Is there mercy for me? And Bunyan's presentation says, yes, there's mercy for you. My dear friends sitting here this morning, if you don't know Jesus Christ, I want you to know on the authority of scripture, there is mercy for you. There is forgiveness available for you. this resurrection Sunday morning that we celebrate once a year. Today for you can be the day of salvation. Today for you can be the day when you trust in Jesus and know what it is to be absolutely forgiven, to walk out of this room four feet off the ground because the weight of your sin is no longer there. Your conscience is cleansed and you know for a certainty you have a hope in heaven. But I wanna tell you the other side of the story too. If you reject and you refuse and you walk out, there's not hope. You say there'll never be another chance for me to believe? No, I can't say that. But you'll walk out knowing that you are not right with God. You'll walk out of here knowing that if you die before you go home, there's no hope for you. That's not very nice news to share in Resurrection Sunday morning, Nelson. No, it's not. The good news is so much greater because the bad news is bad. And the good news is so much sweeter knowing there is forgiveness, there is justification because Jesus has died. If you trust in Jesus as your Savior, the Father in heaven stamps across your account justified, declared righteous. And when you see God, he will welcome you as a long lost son. I don't think it's quite like that, but the scene that you have as the repentant son comes home and his father sees him yet a long way off. And the father jumped off the porch and ran to meet him and threw his arms around him and hugged him and kissed him and gave him a ring for his finger and a robe for his back and shoes for his feet and showed everybody around him that he was forgiven and welcomed home. My friend, that can be yours. We have forgiveness, we have justification, and we have hope. Whatever discouragement and disappointment we will encounter in this life, and we will encounter them, we have a hope that rises up so much greater and stronger, the hope of eternal life. Amen? Would you stand with me? We're gonna close in prayer, and then we'll be done. Our gracious God and heavenly father, we come before you again and oh God, we give you thanks. We would raise our voices in praise to you and to the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is alive. Our redemption has been accomplished. Father, we give thanks. We praise you, oh God, for the hope that we have as believers in Jesus Christ. But Father, my heart breaks for those in this room, standing here and listening to my voice. And Father, I plead with you that your voice would have been speaking to their hearts, that they would hear the true message from you, that without faith in Christ and repentance, there is no forgiveness, there is no hope, there is no justification. but as we trust in Christ and believe the gospel, there is indeed forgiveness of sins. There is indeed the surety that our accounts are stamped as righteous before you. There is a hope of eternal life. Father, we give thanks for the great hope that Resurrection Sunday gives us. Jesus is alive. What a great hope. Father, I pray this morning that you would take these stammering thoughts and words, and Father, use them for your glory. Father, I pray that they would be the fruit of sinners saved this day. And Lord, we give thanks for our time together, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.