Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. We're going to look at the penultimate study in Luke today, in Luke chapter 24, verses 36 through 49. And you should find this on page 885 in the Bible in front of you. I recall that Jesus was crucified on Friday, that was Nisan 14 in 30 AD, and he was buried in Joseph of Nicodemus' tomb before sundown on that same day. But just three days later, on the first day of the week, that is on Sunday, at early dawn, several women went to the tomb, taking spices that they had prepared in order to anoint the body of Jesus. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. In fact, two angels were there and they told the perplexed woman, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Luke in his gospel in chapter 24 actually provides four evidences for the resurrection of Jesus. The first evidence for the resurrection was the empty tomb. The second evidence was the angelic announcement. The third evidence was Jesus' appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And the fourth evidence of his resurrection was his appearance to his disciples back in Jerusalem. And that all took place on that first day, Sunday. Today, we're gonna look at that fourth evidence. And I invite you to stand as I read to you about Jesus' appearance to his disciples in Jerusalem in Luke chapter 24, verses 36 through 49. Our two amazed disciples had gone back to Jerusalem. They had told all the disciples in Jerusalem what they had seen, that they'd seen Jesus alive. And so we pick up the story in verse 36. And 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 had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold I'm sending the promise of my father upon you. but stay in the city until you are closed with power from on high." Just so far in God's inspired and inerrant Word. Our Father, we do thank you for your word. Thank you for Luke's faithful and accurate writing down of all that happened to Jesus prior to his birth, his birth, his life, his death, his burial, and now these resurrection appearances. As we look at this today, help us to understand that Jesus really is alive and that he has empowered us to tell others about him. And I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. My former pastor, Lee Eklav, said that someone dear to him once gave him a little cross that was adorned with roses, and it bore on the cross the following inscription that said, hope raises no dust. He looked at that phrase and tried his best to penetrate its mystery, but he didn't want to look stupid, so he didn't say anything. after pondering it for a little while, he just had to get to the bottom of what it meant. It had been written on a cross and so it had to mean something. When he typed, hope raises no dust into the Google search engine, he found out that the phrase was originally uttered by Paul Eluard, a French poet associated with Dadaism. When he looked up Dadaism, he found this definition. The Dada movement tried to express the negation of all current aesthetic and social values and frequently used deliberately incomprehensible artistic and literary methods. If you don't understand what that means, you're not alone. Lee then read some of Eluard's other famous quotes. Quotes like, elephants are contagious. and earth is blue like an orange. And all of this brought him back to hope raises no dust. You see, everyone believes that hope is vital to people, but most folks hope is about as vague as the Eluard quote that was painted on that little cross. But for Christians, hope is not vague. We have a hope that is historical and personal. We have a hope that stands in front of the empty tomb of the empty grave of Jesus and declares, you too can live as Jesus does. Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried on Friday. Just three days later, on Sunday morning, He was raised back to life again by His Father. And on that first day, that first Sunday, Jesus showed Himself to be alive on at least five occasions. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the other woman, to Peter, to the two disciples who were returning from Jerusalem back to Emmaus later on that same day, and then finally later that evening to the disciples back in Jerusalem again. Jesus' appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem in Luke chapter 24 verses 36 through 49 shows us how they came to recognize that Jesus was indeed alive. And so I want us to begin by looking first at the reappearance of Jesus. Now, in the previous pericope, the previous story, narrative, where Jesus appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they were walking along and went into the house with Jesus. And it was in the house that they finally recognized him. And when they did, Jesus vanished from their sight. And so they immediately turned around and headed straight back to Jerusalem, a journey of about seven miles. And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they found the eleven, and those who were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. Now I want you to notice that Luke said that the two Emmaus disciples found the eleven. Presumably, the eleven apostles, Judas Iscariot has by now committed suicide, and the eleven disciples were there, the eleven apostles were there, some other disciples as well, but presumably Thomas was so disbelieving that he left the room and wasn't there because Jesus only appeared to him eight days later when he was with the other disciples at that time. And so the two Emmaus disciples told the others what had happened on the road and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Now, the other disciples in Jerusalem must have listened to the report of the two Emmaus disciples with complete bewilderment. By now they knew that the tomb was empty, as Peter and John had gone and seen for themselves. The women had gone to the tomb and they saw that it was empty, but they also had seen Jesus alive and had reported that to the rest of the disciples. And the thing is that the disciples were not expecting Jesus to be resurrected back to life again. In those days, the Jews believed that there would be a resurrection, but they thought that resurrection would be at the end of the age, when everybody would be raised back to life again. And so they weren't expecting Him to be raised back to life, and they were having a hard time understanding what was going on. And then, As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you, Shalom. Now one can understand the shock of the disciples at seeing Jesus. As Daryl Bach notes, they do not expect Jesus to be raised, nor do they expect him to keep reappearing. As with most people, they have to be persuaded. The disciples are as skeptical as the rest of humanity. And that's very important. These weren't gullible, simple-minded fishermen. They didn't believe that this was going to happen then. And they had to be persuaded. And so I want us to notice the reassurance that was given by Jesus that he was alive. Now first notice the panic of the disciples in verse 37, that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. Unlike Jesus' appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus when he drew near and went with them, Here, Jesus suddenly appeared in the room in the midst of them all. One moment there was nothing and the next moment there was Jesus standing in front of them. So one can understand that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. My mother had a twin sister and they were identical twins. In fact, I couldn't tell them apart until I was about six years old. My aunt Caroline had a slight beauty spot just above her left eyebrow. If my mom puts some makeup on her eyebrow, I couldn't tell the two ladies apart, my aunt Caroline and my mom Emily. And when we were preschoolers, we used to live near my aunt Caroline, and my mom would often take my brother and me to visit her. And while we were walking through the town, we'd sometimes meet people who thought that mom was aunt Caroline. And so they would engage mom in conversation, and she would talk to them, and then at some point they'd say, well, who are these boys? And she'd say, oh, they're Emily's boys. And then she would go to my aunt, and then they would try to figure out who it was that she had met Apparently, the two girls did this all throughout their lives. Well, mom died suddenly of a heart attack at age 46. At that time, my brother and I were university students at the University of Cape Town. We drove through the night to go back to our home, and when we got there, we slept through the day. That evening, people, family and friends started coming in to visit. My dad had quite a large house and we were, I was in the kitchen talking to some people and suddenly there was screaming coming from the living room. And I wondered what it was and I walked out into the living room and my aunt had walked in and people didn't know that my mom had a twin sister. And so you can imagine their shock and surprise when they saw my aunt walk into the room. Friends, Jesus did not have an identical twin. There's some people who try to argue that. Nevertheless, the disciples in Jerusalem were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit, but this was no spirit that they saw. Because Jesus gave two proofs that he was no spirit. The first proof was Jesus' invitation to see his wounds and to touch him. 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 I have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Interestingly, Daryl Bach notes only this passage and John chapter 20 verse 25 suggests that Jesus was nailed to the cross. And furthermore, verse 39 is the only text that describes the resurrected body as having flesh and bones. What the disciples saw was no spirit. It was no vision. It was no phantom. They were seeing and touching the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus Christ. But there was a second proof. The second proof that Jesus really was alive and risen from the dead was He's eating a piece of broiled fish in their presence. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything yet to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Jesus really was alive. Luke demonstrated the reality of Jesus' presence in the midst of his disciples by having Jesus eat a piece of broiled fish. And Bach summarized the reality of Jesus' resurrection as follows, and he said this, the empirical evidence of Jesus' resurrection is stated briefly, Jesus appears to them, speaks with them and eats before them truly he is raised you know eight days later Jesus appeared to the disciples again and this time Thomas was with them Thomas believed then that Jesus really was alive and risen from the dead because he said my Lord and my God and after Jesus had appeared to his disciples None of the disciples ever again doubted the reality of Jesus' resurrection. In fact, historians believe that 10 of the remaining 11 apostles died a martyr's death because they were so convinced about the reality of Jesus' resurrection. The only one who did not die a martyr's death was John, the Apostle John. Apparently, he was supposedly put into a pot of boiling water, managed somehow to survive that, and then he was banished to the Isle of Patmos. But the question is this, what about you? Do you believe that on the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead? It's essential that you believe because the resurrection is part and parcel of the good news. Because God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice for sins. And the reason we know that he accepted it is because he raised him back to life again. If Jesus were not raised back to life again, we would have no assurance that our sins were forgiven. Well, finally, I want us to observe the revelation by Jesus. And Jesus began by first reviewing his past ministry. He began to teach the disciples as follows. These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Jesus' expression, the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, is the way that Jews in Jesus' day referred to what we now call the Old Testament, the scriptures that they had. The law of Moses was the first five books of Moses, what we call the Pentateuch. The prophets included the major prophets, the minor prophets, and also the historical books such as Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. And the Psalms included not only the Psalms themselves, but also the wisdom books such as Job, and Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. And Kent Hughes makes a very important observation at this point. He says, we must understand that one of the reasons Jesus taught them from Scripture was that he did not want them to rest their belief in his resurrection on their personal experience alone. Resting their faith on a miracle was not sufficient. He wanted them to ground their experience or their experience of His resurrection on the massive testimony and perspective of Scripture. I can't tell you how important that is because too many people even today want a miracle and then they believe they won't believe. Remember when one of the parables Jesus said, send somebody, somebody from the afterlife, send somebody back to my brothers, I've got five brothers, and tell them that they believe. And Jesus said, even if they go back, they won't believe. They've got the scriptures. And Jesus grounds his resurrection in the scriptures, and it's for our benefit. John the Apostle, eight days later, when he sees Jesus, of course he sees him, and he does experience the reality of the resurrection, but what Jesus says to him, you're blessed because you see me and believe, but blessed are those who do not see and believe. And friends, that's the Word of God. Everything we need for salvation is in the Word of God. Jesus' point was that all of the Old Testament is about Him. Phil Rikens said Jesus Christ is the key to understanding the Old Testament. To know the Old Testament or the Bible, actually it would be true as well, is to know Jesus. And to know Jesus, one has to know the Scripture. Luke said that then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Earlier that day, Jesus had opened the mind of the two Emmaus disciples, and they were able to recognize Jesus. And Luke noted that on two previous occasions when Jesus was actually talking about his death and resurrection, the disciples were having difficulty understanding spiritual truth. In Luke 9 45 we read that the disciples did not understand the saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about the saying. In Luke 18 verse 34 the disciples understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said. But now Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And what made the difference? Phil Riken gives the answer when he says, what these men needed, what everyone needs, is the mind-opening work of God. Christianity is rational, but understanding the gospel is not merely intellectual. It takes a work of God for anyone to know Jesus in a saving way. That's what we believe, that it is God who has to open our minds so that we can understand the gospel. When I was being interviewed to serve as the pastor at my previous church, which is in a university town, I noted that the church was filled with educated people. In fact, the adult Sunday school class of 20 adults had 12 of them with either doctorates or they were doctoral candidates. And I was asked how I would preach the gospel to intellectual academics. And my response was that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. The gospel is so simple that even a child can understand and embrace the gospel. Because believing the gospel is not a matter of intellectual ability. Instead, it is a matter of spiritual illumination which is given by God to anyone who is humble enough to ask for it. So never think that you need to have a certain intellectual ability to understand the gospel. Simply and humbly ask God to open your mind so that you can understand the Scriptures. Jesus then continued, and he said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer on the third day, rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Daryl Bach says that Luke introduces the basic content of the Scripture teaching on God's plan, that is God's plan of redemption, summarized in three infinitives. And actually this is Luke's version of the Great Commission which occurs in all of the Gospels and also in the Book of Acts. Well, with respect to God's plan of redemption, first thing is God's plan of redemption is that the Christ should suffer. Jesus had frequently noted throughout his ministry that he had to suffer. Jesus now reiterated the importance of his suffering as part of God's plan of redemption. He had to suffer and die to pay the penalty for our sin. Second, God's plan of redemption is that the Christ should, on the third day, rise from the dead. And again, throughout His ministry, Jesus had indicated on a number of occasions that not only would He rise from the dead, but that He would rise on the third day. And Jesus' resurrection is an essential part of the good news of salvation. God had accepted His sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins by raising Him from the dead. And then third, God's plan of redemption is that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus paid the penalty for sin, and now sinners who repent of their sin and turn to God in faith will receive forgiveness of their sins. This is good news, not only for us who repent and believe and receive forgiveness for our sins, but it is also good news that is to be proclaimed to all nations. beginning from Jerusalem. So if you have repented of your sins and received forgiveness of your sins, then you, you are commissioned by Jesus to tell others how they too can receive forgiveness for their sins. And the question is, are you telling them about it? And then the second thing I want us to note is that Jesus previews their future ministry. In verses 48 and 49, he says, you witnesses of these things. Behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Jesus told his disciples that they had seen him alive again. And so they were witnesses of these things. Furthermore, he was going to send the promise of his father upon them, which was the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Therefore, they were to stay in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high, which is another way of saying that they will wait until the Holy Spirit empowered them, which happened 50 days later on the day of Pentecost. Now the Holy Spirit has come to all believers. All believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit and we're all empowered by Him to tell others the good news of the gospel. And so we have a very good reason to tell others about Jesus. Not only is Jesus alive, but He has changed us and we are now empowered by the Holy Spirit to live for Him and to tell others about Jesus. believe that Jesus is alive. There are many convincing proofs that he is alive. The tomb is empty. The angels made an announcement. Several disciples saw it. Five on that first day. A total of 10 different resurrection appearances in the 40 days that Jesus was on earth. Jesus is alive. And the fact that He is resurrected back to life again is proof that the Father has accepted His sacrifice to pay the penalty for sin. That's good news. Once we believe that, then we're transformed. And we believe that Jesus is alive. And we are called by God to tell others this good news so that they too can embrace Jesus and find life for themselves. May God help each one of us to do that. Let's pray. Father, I do thank you for raising Jesus back to life again. Thank you for this marvelous narrative of Jesus' appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem. Jesus gave yet another evidence of his resurrection to them when they saw him and touched him and watched him eat fish. Jesus charged his disciples to believe the word of God that is all about him. And you've given us your word to teach us about the person and work of your son, Jesus Christ, whom you sent to seek and to save the lost. And Jesus also charged his disciples to tell others about his person and work. O God, may we obey the great commission that Jesus gave to us in the Gospel of Luke. Empower us to tell others that the Christ had to suffer and die to pay the penalty for sins, that you raised him on the third day from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is found only in him. And for all of this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.