In the early 4th century, all Christians were purged from the Roman army. They were obligated to leave by force. And then in the year 320, Emperor Licinius ordered all Christians to renounce their faith upon the pain of death. Forty soldiers of the 12th Legion of the Roman Army that were stationed in Armenia refused to renounce their faith. And as a result, they were stripped naked, they were paraded out into the middle of a frozen lake, and they were left to die. And to tempt these Christians, the Roman army built fires along the banks of the lake and promising there, of course, warmth and being able to thaw out. And then next to those fires, they also built warm baths, promising hot water, a luxurious thaw for anybody who can't. And of the 40 soldiers in that frozen lake, only one of them recanted and went to his warm bath. But when he did, one of the persecuting soldiers became so inspired by the testimony of the others that on the spot, he professed his faith in Christ and he took his spot on the frozen lake in place of the one who had recanted. Of the 40, 24 of them were frozen to death, and the others were subsequently put to death. What gave these Christians such courage? What enabled these Christians to stare death in the face and resolutely determine not to recant, but to continue in their profession of faith? It was knowing that death was not the end, that it was but the beginning, that death was entrance into eternal glory, that the resurrection life, which they had in part on that frozen lake, they would have in full, even as they entered into glory, that they served a risen savior who conquered death, and that united to him, they too would conquer death, and they would receive a glorious body like unto his. That's the kind of courage that was needed by the disciples, the disciples that we've met in the Gospel of Luke, as most of these disciples that we're going to meet now, and we've met them a little bit earlier as well, would go on to face martyrdom. The very disciples who initially doubted the good news of the resurrection told by those three women who had visited the empty tomb. Those very disciples would so firmly hold to the belief of the resurrection that many would go to their own deaths proclaiming it. And we meet these disciples again this morning as we turn once again to Luke chapter 24. Where now Christ's conversation on the road to Emmaus with those two disciples is now retold that story, retold to this group of doubting disciples. And these doubting disciples will take that story and they'll tell it all over the globe. And let's read it in Luke 24 verses 33 down to verse 43. And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the 11 and those who were there with them gathered together, saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. And then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them and the breaking of the bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it, and he ate it before them. This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that as we look at these verses, that we would know with certainty that he lives. and that there is no hope in life or in death without him. But in him are all things, all things living. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Once these three women that we've seen, they go to the tomb, they find it empty, they hear the news of the angel, they return back, and they tell the disciples about it, and they're all excited, and the disciples think, well, it's just a bunch of nonsense. You're telling a bunch of stories. You've had a vision. But it seems as though some of them, at the very least we know two of them, begin to disperse. We know about Cleopas and his pal, and they're going back to Emmaus. They'd waited around. Jesus had said that he would rise in three days, and so they had waited three days and nothing happened. There were no fireworks. There was no big message written in the sky. The earth hadn't shaken again. Where's Jesus? They're disappointed because Jesus didn't do what they wanted him to do. So two of these disciples begin the seven-mile walk back to Emmaus and they engage in a sad conversation about the events of the past week when Jesus suddenly joins them and the scriptures are opened as Jesus begins to explain to them how the scriptures reveal in every part both his humiliation, his suffering, and then also his exaltation, his crowning. And while they're talking, they're looking right at Jesus. but they don't know who he is. Their eyes haven't been opened yet. They don't know who he is until they invite him in and he breaks bread with them. He reveals himself as the living bread and then God opens their eyes and then they see Jesus who then vanishes from their sight. And we look at the significance of Christ's resurrection body. as just three times in just three verses, three times Luke mentions something's different about this body. He appears, he disappears. We learn from the Apostle Paul how significant this is for us because our bodies will be transformed into his, to be like his glorious body. And so now armed with a firm belief in the resurrection of Jesus, the Savior having been revealed to them, these disciples, they just can't contain the good news. And so we'll see two ideas today. First, we'll see the stories retold, and then we'll see the skeptics receive proof. We learn in verse 32 that as Jesus has spoken to these two men, their hearts had burned within them. And when the message burns within your heart, you've got to do something with it. You've got to go and tell it. You've got to go and share it. It's like holding a hot potato. You can't just hang on to it. You've got to throw it. You've got to cast it. You've got to send the message, because the message changes you as it burns within your heart, and it changes these guys. from being despondent to being joyful, from debating between themselves what in the world does this mean, to having a message of such clarity and urgency that they have to get it out. It's like the news of a new baby or a miraculous answer to prayer. They just can't keep it to themselves and neither should we. As the message of the Word of God burns within us, we must tell others. And so they do. The story is retold in verses 33 through 35. They arose the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that they got up right that minute and went back to Jerusalem. They walked seven miles back in the dark and got there at 2 a.m. or something. Luke uses that phrase the same hour several times throughout his gospel. And basically the idea here is that they didn't waste any time. It was very quick. They had to get back as quickly as possible. They may have gone back that very evening, but we may well have waited till morning. But I'll bet you one thing, it probably took them less than two hours to walk the seven miles back. They're half running, half walking. They're joyful. The discussion, the conversation that they're having on their way back to Jerusalem is a whole lot different than the discussion they were having on their way to Emmaus. They're giddy, they're probably skipping as they head back to Jerusalem. And when they get back to Jerusalem, they find the 11 disciples gathered together, and they're gathered together with some other disciples. Now, these two guys are just bursting at the seams with this glorious news, but no sooner do they barge into the room and they shout, he has risen! But the disciples who are there burst out and say, the Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. And sometimes while we still do that today, the Lord is risen, and the congregation responds. He is risen indeed. Thank you. Yes, you're listening. He is risen indeed. How do we do? Why do we do that? Because that's the very thing the disciples do in Luke 24. He is risen indeed, and he's appeared to Simon. Now, last we left Peter in verse 12. You remember what Peter was doing? He's staring at his sneakers, shoveling along and kicking stones as he goes. He doesn't know what to think of this. He's trying to make sense of the empty tomb. He saw it, but it doesn't make sense to him. We don't know exactly how or exactly when or even exactly where, but we do know that somewhere between the empty tomb that Peter sees and Peter's home, Jesus appears to Peter. And even before making himself known to all the disciples, Jesus makes himself known to the disciple who needs to see him most of all. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us that Jesus appeared to Peter. Paul doesn't give us any of the details either. So we can only imagine Peter's elation when the Jesus whom he had just denied three days earlier suddenly appears before him. And Peter may very well have been blaming himself for Christ's crucifixion. Why didn't I say something? Why didn't I do something? I had the opportunity, but I turned my back on him. I'm no better than Judas. And as he's shuffling along and staring at the ground and his head in his hands and tears in his eyes when he looks up and he sees Jesus. Wish I could have been there. And there's another conversation I would love to have heard. but it's none of my business. It's between Peter and Jesus. John would let us in on another conversation that Peter would have with Jesus when Jesus asks, do you love me? But not this one. This one's too private. It's like the conversation that Aslan has with Edmund after Edmund betrays Aslan in that Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. Aslan forgives him and then he offers him redemption and he has a conversation with Edmund and C.S. Lewis never tells us what is said in that conversation because it's too private. You know what it is? It's the confession of sin and the beauty of forgiveness. It's the kind of conversation that you have with Jesus whenever you recognize your sin and you see him. Whenever you recognize your sin and with a heart full of gratitude and amazement, you approach the resurrected Savior and you ask for forgiveness. You don't need a confessional. You don't need to go to an earthly high priest and tell all in order to receive forgiveness. As the pastor, I don't need to know the down and dirty of all of your evil deeds. You have Jesus. And maybe you need to have that conversation with him today. Because he'll listen to you. And he forgives sin. And it's nobody's business but yours and his. what that conversation is. And no doubt, no doubt Peter, as he receives the forgiveness of sins, he runs as fast as his feet can carry him to tell the other disciples that Jesus is alive. And now here they are. They're here in that room. As Peter has come and he's told him the story of how Jesus had visited him. And then Cleopas and his friend arrived from Emmaus. And what a joyful reunion. the gathered disciples begin to tell their story. And then Cleopas and his companion, in verse 35, tell them about all that had happened on their way home, and how Jesus had appeared to them, and all the things that Jesus had said to them, and then how he had made himself known to them, and the breaking of the bread. And they retell the story, and they tell it again and again, and they never stop telling it. They tell it in that room, and then they tell it all over Judea, and Jerusalem, and Samaria, and they tell it to the other most parts of the earth. And to this day, we keep telling the story. That's why we're here. We are disciples of Jesus gathered in this room together in this house to hear the story again, to hear the good news of the resurrection of Jesus. In 1866, Catherine Hanke penned a 50-page a stanza two-part poem, and she published it in a little booklet. She had traveled to South Africa, she had been a missionary nurse, but her work took a drastic turn. She had significant health issues, became bedridden for a long period of time, and during her very long, very difficult recovery, she wrote this two-part poem. And the first part was called, The Story Wanted. And it asks who Jesus was. And the second part was called, The Story Told. And from that part, William Fisher composed a tune in which fit the central theme of that second part of her poem. We sing it as, I love to tell the story. And we'll sing it in a minute. I love to tell the story. for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory I sing a new, new song, t'will be the old, old story that I have loved so long. I hope you never get tired of telling the story. Never get tired of hearing the story. We don't just tell it to a lost and dying world either. We tell it to each other. It's the reason we gather. It's the reason we fellowship. It's the reason we are a church family because of our story of what Christ has done for us. It's the reason why we rejoice evermore. It's the reason for the hope that is within us. It is the reason for the redemption that we have. The resurrection body that we will enjoy for all eternity. It's the story of what Christ has done for us and of his resurrection. Well, the story is retold and we retell it again today. But there are some who doubt. And to the skeptics, they receive proof in verses 36 through 43. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said, peace to you. Jesus knows exactly what we need, and here exactly what these men need is peace. It's the way Luke's gospel begins. It begins with the salutation from the angels and their greeting, promising peace among those with whom he's pleased. Jesus promises peace, and Jesus keeps his promises. And you know why he can give them true peace? These disciples who gathered in that room, do you know why he can give them true peace? Because he did what he did. Because he paid the price for their sin. Because he conquered death. Because he will ascend into heaven and he will intercede for them. Jesus can give them true peace because of his own work. He made it possible for them both to have peace with God, be reconciled to him in spite of their unworthiness and their unfaithfulness, and to have the peace of God, the comfort and confidence that God gives. Jesus offers peace. It's the real deal. But they're not comforted. At least not right away, because they can't believe it. Verse 37, they were startled and frightened. And the idea there is terrified. And thought they saw a spirit. Spirit doesn't sound as good as the old King James. They thought they saw a ghost. And they did, they thought they saw a ghost. So Jesus says to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts rise in your hearts? They should know better by now. They should know. And then he shows them in two ways that he truly has been resurrected from the dead. Verse 39, see my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see the spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, this is one of those, this is too good to be true things. They disbelieved for joy. This is just too good. There may, by the way, be some with whom you share the gospel who conclude that this is just too good for me. This news is too good. I don't deserve it. And that's the condition of the disciples here in that sense. This is too good. I don't believe it. And you don't want to believe it, because if you do believe it, then it's all just going to fall apart. Hearing you had a rich uncle you never heard of die and leave you $100,000, right? I don't believe that. Can't be true. Must be Venezuelan dollars. I mean, can't be that much good news. And it reminds me of the 12 disciples who, not the 12, but the disciples in Acts 12, the group who are praying for the release of Peter from prison. And they're praying, and they're praying, and they're praying that Peter would be released from prison. And then Peter shows up at the door. And you remember the response of the servant girl. She opens the door, and oh, it's Peter. And she leaves him standing there at the gate while she runs and tells the other disciples that it's Peter standing at the door. And you know what the disciples say to her? You're out of your mind. It can't be Peter. We were just praying for Peter, so it can't be Peter. Oh, you little faith. It must be an angel, and the only reason Peter eventually manages to get into the house is because he just keeps knocking. This is the condition of the disciples right now. This can't be. So Jesus continues. Well, have you anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it, and he ate it before them. Ghosts can't eat. And so Jesus is showing, I'm not a disembodied spirit. And we saw last week that Christ has a glorified body. He has a new creation body that is fit for heaven. It is fit for the age to come. And we explored the implications of that for us as believers. What does that mean for us? Because we will have a body like unto his body. A body that is imperishable. A body that is raised in glory and power. But we shouldn't get the wrong idea and somehow think that Christ's resurrection is a spiritual resurrection and he didn't have a real body, that his body remained in the grave and his soul is what arises and his disciples, they're seeing an apparition. Or they are seeing a ghost and they just don't realize it or they think they are and then they get, whatever the case may be, no. And Luke includes this for us. These are hands, and feet, and flesh, and bone, and mouth, and tongue, and stomach. This is the real deal, this is a true resurrection. This is a formerly mortal body that has put on immortality. A formerly perishable body that has put on the imperishable. And it is only because Jesus is truly resurrected in body that we can say with the Apostle Paul, the death is swallowed up in victory, thanks be to God. Because our hope is not in this life, but in the next. And because Christ's body is real, it can be seen, it can be touched, we can be sure. that the bodies that we inhabit will indeed be raised. They will come up out of the graves and it won't be some sort of ghoulish, garish, ghostly resurrection, but our flesh and bone will come to life again without the possibility that they can ever be corrupted, without the possibility that they can ever be broken, without the possibility that they will ever engage in sin. This time, it'll be glorified. And our existence in heaven then won't be a bunch of disembodied spirits that somehow hold harps, who will be flying around the throne singing songs. No, but with glorified feet, you will walk the streets of gold. And with glorified lips, you will sing God's praises. And with a glorified mind, you will wholeheartedly serve him without divided loyalties or earthly fleshly ungodly appetites to get in your way. Now we need this good news, and so do the disciples. And it's the fact that they would live again in resurrected glory that would enable most of these disciples to endure persecution even to the point of death, just like that group of soldiers standing on that lake in Armenia 300 years later. Now we might envy these two guys who go on the road to Emmaus, have this conversation with Jesus and they get to see him in the flesh and blood. and hear what he has to say to them. We might envy Peter because in all of his sinfulness, we know our sin, but Peter got to see Jesus and Peter got to meet with Jesus and talk with Jesus. Peter has every doubt stricken from his mind as he meets Jesus. We might envy these disciples to whom Jesus appears and they get to touch him and see that, no, he really is resurrected and they have every hope confirmed before their eyes and every doubt dispelled. But don't envy them because we have so much more than they did. We should go back to what Jesus tells the women at the tomb, remember what he told you, remember his word. It's as Jesus opened up the scriptures that the disciples are able to see who he is. We have the scriptures. But we don't have just those scriptures, we have the completed word of God. We don't just have the words of the prophets, we have the words of Jesus himself. And then we have the words of the disciples. We have four Gospels, we have 13 letters written by the Apostle Paul, then we've got Peter and James and Jude and John who writes in the book of Revelation. We not only have the scriptures of the Old Testament, but we've got the scriptures of the New Testament to explain them to us, to unfold them for us. We not only have the anticipation of the Messiah in the Old Testament, but we have the realization of the Messiah. in the written record of the incarnation and the life and work of Jesus and the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension revealed to us in the gospels and then we have the explanation and the application of that work given to us in the epistles and we have the consummation of that work given to us in the book of Revelation. We have a whole lot more than they did. Near the end of his life, the apostle Peter, knowing that time is short, And he says that. He knows that his time is short. He knows he's going to die. He writes to us. And he writes to us about how we can be certain about our faith. And he writes about that magnificent event, another one of those things where I'd like to have been there and seen it. But he writes about that event of the transfiguration, when he witnessed the face of Christ as it begins to shine like the sun. Not a reflected glory, but from inside, he begins to shine like the sun. When he receives honor and glory from God, when the voice from heaven comes and says, this is my beloved son, his sense of sight, his sense of hearing. But then Peter says this when he writes to us. We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. What's more reliable than your sense of sight? What's more reliable than your sense of touch? It's the infallible word of God. And we have something else. We have it before us this morning, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in which we receive the bread of life. The Lord's Supper is a sign and a seal to us. It is a sign, it represents Christ and all the benefits of the covenant to us. It is a seal, it authenticates those benefits to us. It makes them more certain and more sure. We see Christ in the supper. Our confession of faith reminds us that the Lord's Supper is given to us to be a perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself and his death, the sealing of all of his benefits unto true believers, our spiritual nourishment and growth in him. See, in the Lord's Supper, he is present with us. Not physically, those elements don't turn literally into the body and literally into the blood of Jesus, but we enjoy the Lord's presence in the supper because he lifts us up unto him. Robert Lethem put it this way, in the sacrament the Holy Spirit unites the faithful to the person of Christ as they eat and drink the signs, the physical elements of bread and wine. There's an inseparable conjunction of sign and reality as truly as we eat the bread and drink the wine, we feed on Christ by faith. We see Jesus here in a far greater way than the disciples saw him. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2, God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together in Christ, by grace you've been saved and has raised us up and has seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ. We are seated with Jesus even as we gather in this house. And that's why our larger catechism reminds us that they who worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper do therein feed upon the body and blood of Jesus, not after a corporal or carnal manner, not physically, literally in the flesh, but in a spiritual manner, yet truly and really while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death. You know what the Lord's Supper is to us? It's a gift. It's a gift of a gracious God to give us this supper, to give us this opportunity to meet with Jesus, to converse with Jesus, to walk with Jesus. And as Peter got to do, this is our opportunity to come and meet with Jesus and to confess our sins and to receive the forgiveness of our sins and then to sit and break bread with Jesus. As we approach the Lord's Supper, we hear Christ's invitation. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I think it's hard to imagine a group of people who are more frightened and frustrated and discouraged and despairing than these disciples who are gathered together in Jerusalem. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. There's a bunch of guys and gals who had risked their lives, their careers, their reputations to follow Jesus. It had been three days, where is he? They had seen him die. They may be next because they're followers of Jesus. What do they have to show for it? If he's dead, their lives have no meaning. how desperately they need Jesus, and then he appears. But here's what gets me. What's the first thing that Jesus says to them? What is the first thing he says to them? You fools, didn't I tell you I was gonna be raised? What's the matter with you guys? Don't you guys believe a word I've said? Or maybe Jesus said something like, where were you guys hiding when I was on the cross? What's the first thing Jesus says to this group of fearful, doubting disciples? Peace to you. Peace to you. And they need it. Because they're weak, and they're sinners, and they doubt. And he greets you with the same words today. No matter how anxious or frustrated or discouraged you may be, Jesus greets you with peace. And this is why most of the letters then of the New Testament start with that same greeting, even ones that were written to some pretty lousy churches. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. With God's words in our hand, we can see with even greater clarity the resurrection hope that the disciples did. And Christ's invitation to you is to come. Peace be to you. Confess your sins, cast your cares upon him, and know that whatever doubts or fears you have, if you come to Jesus Christ in humble obedience, he will never cast you out, but he will give you the rest that you need for your soul. I'll sweet the name of Jesus. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds, and drives away our fear. It makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled breast. It satisfies the hungry soul and gives the weary rest. Does your sin trouble you like it troubled Peter? Then come and meet with Jesus. Come, and he will give you rest. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that as we consider the cross and the resurrection, and as we consider the fact that we as your disciples gather together in this room and tell the same story, that we too can often be afraid and doubt and be anxious. But we come unto you and ask the Lord that you would give us rest, that you would grant us your peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.