The Lord is Risen Indeed

If you have a copy of God’s Word, please turn to Luke 24, the 24th chapter of Luke. So we’re getting very close to the end now. We have now sought to cover as far as verse 32, and we pick up with verse 33, the scene of the two on the road to Emmaus and their response to what has occurred. And so we’re going to, with the Lord’s help, look at verses 33 through 43. Luke 24 is Luke endeavoring to help Theophilus understand what has taken place, giving details to encourage him, to instruct his faith, and enable him to grasp details perhaps that he wasn’t aware of. He has done his homework, so to speak. The time when it was written, there were still many who were alive and could testify to having seen the risen Christ, so their reports can be affirmed. Anyone who wants to question it may do so. They may find those who were there and testify as eyewitnesses of what occurred. But Luke compresses what happened on that day and gives us some details that the other Gospels do not.

And so, we’ll read from verse 33, Luke 24, verse 33. “And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before them.”

We’ll end the reading at verse 43. As always, what we have read is the eternal word of the eternal God. We’re not just to read it. We’re not just to understand it. We are to receive it, believe it, and let it be the order of our lives. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray. Lord, help us. We anticipate a day when we will see more of the glory of the Lamb, when one day we will join with all the saints who have gone before and those yet to be gathered. And with that innumerable multitude, in the presence of the One who is the light of the very place where we gather, we will sing praises to Him, for He was slain for us. We bless Thee for the blood-shedding of our Lord Jesus, for the victory of Calvary, for the historicity of the empty tomb, for the knowledge we have of that victory. We thank Thee for the witness of the Spirit, who testifies to us, assures us of the sufficiency of Christ, who teaches our hearts to lean more heavily upon Him, to abandon all hope and self-righteousness, and to see in Christ the full and complete divine answer for sinners.

Tonight, Lord, confirm again in the hearts of Thy people the assurance they can have of the sufficiency of Christ, of what He has accomplished for them. For those that may be doubting, and wavering, and struggling, and those that may not believe at all, we pray that the Spirit of God would take the Word. Lord, the preacher can’t do it. The preacher can’t change the heart. The preacher can’t bring life where it does not exist. The preacher can’t convince. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to take the Word of the living God and do that work of convicting and convincing, and the effectual call that God alone must issue, drawing sinners into the arms of Christ.

We pray for the transformative power of the Word, that the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, would be unleashed upon every one of our hearts, that we would receive the engrafted Word with meekness that is able to save our souls, and that everyone here would hear aright and respond aright to the glory of God alone. So give the Holy Ghost in power now, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is really, in some ways, in many ways, the cornerstone of the Christian faith. We are told it is made clear to us that if He is not risen, our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins. All the prophecies, all the hope, all the preaching and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ have no meaning, no power, no significance unless He rises from the dead, as He said He would. And we’re now in this section that is detailing for us this fact, giving us some insight into the reality of Christ having risen from the dead and His communication with His people for their encouragement and blessing. This event is not something simply for us to look at and consider, “Well, He rose from the dead.” It is to strengthen our faith. It is to help us and guide us.

And as I was reflecting upon this passage afresh, it struck me that even in what we considered already, and the narrative of the two on the road to Emmaus, there are certain words used there that keep coming up that had an effect upon me as I was considering them again in light of tonight. If you look at, for example, verse 15, where it speaks of those two, where they are communing, “And it came to pass that while they communed together.” And then there’s another word here that says “reasoned” as well in verse 15. And then you have in verse 27, you have mention of the “expounding,” where Christ expounded unto them all the Scriptures. And then in verse 31, “their eyes were opened and they knew Him.” And I was thinking about how these words, we have communing, reasoning, expounding, and opening. Communing, reasoning, expounding, and opening.

I thought about how that illustrates so much of what the life of the church is, the mission of the church, the blessing of being part of the church, a sense of communing. Now, I know in their context, there’s this, the intercourse of these two disciples, and there’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of darkness, a lack, as it were, of light and understanding, but there’s still the communing between believers. That intercourse between the people of God. Then there’s the reasoning as well, using their minds, trying to understand, endeavoring to know. And then there’s the opening that must happen where Christ comes to open and expound, the opening of their eyes and the expounding of the truth. And it’s so much of the life of the church. Like, if we could say this was happening in the church, there’s communion, there’s reasoning, there is the expounding and the opening.

Indeed, it tells us something of what must take place, that it’s not just enough for us to talk and commune, it’s not just enough for us to reason, and it’s not just enough for us to expound. There needs to be the divine Holy Spirit aspect where He opens onto the church the sweetness of these things that we are to consider. And so, as we talk, it’s not just conversation, the Holy Spirit takes that communion and makes it something that it could not be when it’s solely down to men. And the same is true of our reasoning. We can apply all our mind. We can understand, for example, the words on the page and yet miss so much truth unless the Holy Spirit comes and upholds our reasoning and blesses it with a true comprehension. And the same then with expounding, with all of the expounding of the Word. Unless the Spirit of God is at work, that expounding will not have its impact. And so, that comes back then to the last part, the opening. The opening up, their eyes were opened and they knew Him. That is what the church needs. That is revival. That is revival, at least if we’re not talking about in the national or the huge area in the sense of God coming and awakening an area, but it can be personal revival. It could be the revival of a church to have these things where the Spirit of God comes in power and all of a sudden things are opening. This blessing of His presence and His nearness, where we know Him.

This is not the prayer of the Apostle Paul, “that I may know Him.” This is the man who’d been walking with Christ for years, spent his life dedicated to the cause, and yet his cry, his prayer, Philippians 3, is that he might know this Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is your aim, this is your goal. This is your prayer, this should be your desire, to know Christ, to really know Christ. Are you living in such a way that your life is undergirded by this continual longing to know Him? It’s not just prayer. It’s prayer as a means to know Him. It’s not just reading the Scripture. It’s reading the Scripture as a means to know Him. It’s not just even gathering so that our assembly is a social club. It is coming together that we may know Him. These things ought to be in our minds. We need to be reminded.

So Luke gives us this event, encouraging us as to the blessing of Jesus drawing near to reveal Himself, expounding in all the Scriptures Himself, teaching us that the Old Testament—remember, remember what He had in hand was the Old Testament Scriptures. And He can take the Old Testament Scriptures and teach in the New Covenant era. There are some churches you go to, and there’s seldom any consideration of Old Testament Scriptures. Why is that? It shouldn’t be. We should be in the New Testament, but we should also go to the Old and learn how to see Christ in the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, seeing Him from Genesis through Revelation.

What we come to then tonight in verses 33 through 43, as these two disciples have had this experience of their eyes being opened, knowing Him, realizing what’s going on, looking back and saying, He talked with us. He opened to us the Scriptures. And verse 33 then continues, “They rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven, and so on and so forth. They rushed back.” Now, remember, it’s late. They had already appealed to Jesus, “Don’t continue your journey.” He made as if He would go on. They appealed to Him, “It’s too late in the day, come and join with us.” Well, they’ve sat, they’ve broken bread together. All that time has passed. And so by now, it has to be late in the day, if not into the early part of the night. We don’t know exactly the time. It’s certainly late in the day. I’m making this journey that, as I said last time, is about seven miles. So you’re talking at a regular pace, about a two-hour journey. I imagine the return journey was more brisk, given the kind of spirit of what is going on and the context. But nonetheless, this seven-mile journey was going to take some time, and they moved back there because of the urgency to share what has happened.

And our Lord Jesus then comes again, and in this passage, He calms the fears of His people and reveals Himself more and more. So tonight, I’ve titled the message simply, “The Lord is Risen Indeed.” The Lord is risen indeed. And we’ll see the resurrection proclaimed to others, the resurrection personally experienced, and the resurrection proved by dining.

So the resurrection proclaimed to others. Verse 33 and following: “They rose up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed’… and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread.” So, a couple of things here. First, you see their testimony must be shared. These two that come back, their testimony must be shared. That’s what verse 33 shows. They rose up the same hour. There’s a sense of this encounter with Jesus forcing them, compelling them to act. They can’t wait until the next day. They must respond immediately, though it’s late in the day. They cannot contain the joy of their discovery. They go the same hour. It emphasizes the immediacy, doesn’t it? They rose up the same hour. There’s no delay. They must share it. Are they tired? Probably. A lot has happened the past few days. And they’ve made that journey, they’ve had that discussion, they’ve had the wearying effect of their sorrow and frustration. They’ve had the intensity of all that has happened, but they are being buoyed along with this excitement.

It’s a wonderful thing how the body can be buoyed by excitement. Where the weariness and the tiredness don’t seem to be felt just because of the sheer joy of something that is going on. This can happen to believers. It can happen to believers where they are so filled with a sense of appreciation, so filled with a sense of the reality of their faith, that the hours don’t seem to matter, the energy just seems to keep going on. Grant, I grant you, I was 19 at the time, but nonetheless, when I was first converted, it was like heaven. There was no night there. It was just, things kept going on. We had, you know, all the meetings that we went to at the church, but regularly there were young people coming back to my mom’s home with my sister and I, praying into the small hours of the morning. And I start at work at 6 a.m., so it was rough. I was usually getting up somewhat rushed in the morning and running to get clocked in on time at 6 a.m. But that was a cycle for a long time. You’re just being buoyed along constantly. This energy of the joy of being saved, your sins are forgiven, and it must be shared. Just being moved into this sense of being compelled, “I must tell what has happened, what I have learned, what God has taught me.”

Now you can maybe look back in your own life and remember a time when it was like that. The sense of joy and excitement. Maybe if you’ve grown up in the church, sometimes that can be more difficult to experience, but if you’ve come from the world, if you’ve come from nothing, if you’ve come from dysfunction, and sin, and corruption, and wickedness, and all sorts of vile things, and then God saves you, and you realize it’s all forgiven, it’s all in Christ, He’s done it all, I am accepted in Him. Something seems to just carry you, and you just want to tell everyone about it. And that’s a wonderful thing to experience. It helps affirm in your own soul what it is God has done for you. And with the mouth, then, confession is made, and you enter into it and try to share that joy.

Well, this is something of what happened. These people weren’t converted, but the freshness of what had happened, I mean, going from the devastation to the elation of what they have discovered. He’s not dead, after all. He’s alive. And it’s better than if He had never died. They were wanting Him not to die, right? And it was tragic to consider that He had died. But it was even better now that He had died and conquered death. He’s alive. How can this be? Is He not indeed God’s promised Messiah?

So they go with, despite the weariness, and even perhaps an element of danger traveling in the darkness, the urgency moves them to go along. Oh, that God would set our souls on fire. Really, set our souls on fire. To ask God, set me on fire, give me a sense of this zeal. Move my heart, get my emotions in line with what I believe is true. I believe the gospel. I believe you’re justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. Move my emotions, oh God, so I understand that in a way that I feel what my head knows to be true. I’m forgiven.

So the testimony must be shared. Their testimony is confirmed. When they get there, what do they discover? These people are saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.” And so there is this fresh experience of, “We’re not alone. He has appeared to someone else.” And they told what things were done in the way and how He was known of them in the breaking of bread. So the eleven disciples are there, and they’re all rejoicing as well, entering into the joy of that. And so the testimony gets confirmed. They’re not alone. It’s not an illusion. They’re arriving there to tell news, and that news is coming at them as they arrive. It’s wonderful.

I don’t know if you’ve ever met someone who, the last time you knew them or talked with them, neither of you were saved. So they were unconverted, and you were unconverted, and then you don’t see each other for a long time, and then you meet one another, and you’re both saved. It’s an amazing thing because you’re wanting to share, and they’re wanting to share what the Lord has done for you. Or something of that is happening here. These people are bubbling over. Their hearts have been swollen with a sense of joy at what the Lord has done for them. So we can see in that something that we want to model, something that, look, is recorded in order for Theophilus to not just know about the joy of these disciples, but there is implied in this, this is the right response. That when a man discovers that Jesus died and rose again, there is this excitement, and it should be shared. So they have this zeal that is imparted to them both, both parties, and they tell what happened. They recount it all. They try to explain, they try to put them there—verse 35, “What things were done on the way. Here we were, we were walking, this stranger comes and talks, and we’re like, with Him? All this time? And then He begins to open the word. And then, in the breaking of bread, our eyes are opened. And all the time, it was Him.”

So the resurrection proclaimed to others. Secondly, the resurrection personally experienced. Personally experienced, verse 36. “And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them.” Yeah, He sees when we talk of Him, when we delight in Him, often He’s not far away. It would be a wonderful thing if in this congregation there was more of that, nothing false, nothing done by man, but just the Lord working in which we are rejoicing in Him, and there’s a sense of Him coming near and standing in our midst.

And what does He say? “Peace be unto you.” But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, “Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. So first, we see here Christ’s peace pronounced. His peace pronounced in verses 36 and 37. He comes, says peace, shalom. He communes with them a message of peace and consolation. It’s not just a casual greeting, it is packed with significance. Now, when the Jews would have, and still to this day, use the word “shalom,” it is a well-wish. It’s a longing. They want that peace of God to be the experience and portion of those that they’re speaking to. But all it is for you or for me or for any man to simply say, shalom, is a desire. We can’t guarantee it. We can’t make it real. But with the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace Himself, when He speaks, shalom. When He says, shalom, not only can He desire it, He can command it.

Beloved, this is what we need in our times of distress. The words of others that come to us, endeavoring to give a sense of consolation, are nothing like the Word of God. Nothing like hearing from the Lord when He speaks peace to His people. When He blesses us with peace within our souls, this is what the Lord desires and can command for them. It’s an invitation and a desire that He can fulfill. And yet, they’re startled. They’re terrified. There’s a sense of shock here. And so they’re not fully, again, understanding. They suppose that they had seen a spirit. Again, the sense of confusion. It’s been a long day. There’s been a lot of emotion. And again, their hearts and their minds are running in the wrong direction. They heard the testimonies, but they’re not reconciling in their minds that this is the same One right there in their midst. But He is coming to pronounce peace to them, and He’s going to bring it to pass. This is what the Lord did. He accomplished His redemptive work, not that simply people might maybe have His peace, but that His people will have His peace. He is assuring it for them.

In the Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 52, the answer there asks, “How was Christ exalted in His resurrection?” The answer given is, “Christ was exalted in His resurrection in that, having vanquished death and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead, He did, as a public person, the head of His church, for the justification, quickening, and grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.”

How is He exalted in His resurrection? Note the four things that the resurrection of Christ assures to the believing sinner. It assures them justification—that He faced death, suffered, came under condemnation, bore the wrath of God on our behalf, endured all of that, and came through death, rising from the dead, so that our justification, all the promise of being justified, all the assurance of our sins being forgiven, is not simply in looking to the cross for confidence. It’s in seeing, after the cross, that He defeated death. And the assurance then of justification becomes real.

So He’s exalted in His resurrection by this fact, this experience and knowledge He can communicate of justification. Also, quickening in grace—enlivening in grace. Enlivening by His grace His people. Moving in their hearts the right to quicken that which is dead by nature. To enlighten the minds of those who cannot comprehend without God’s help. He comes and works there to that end, support against enemies—knowing His help, defending and protecting them—and assuring them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

How do you know you will rise from the dead? It is in looking at the risen Christ. The real body of the Son of God, the body He walked in Galilee and preached and conducted His ministry and carried out His miracles, that body that was crucified, kept from corruption in the grave, was raised from the dead. And we see it, and we declare, therein is the power of God, and that same power will raise up His people at the last day. So that body of yours—you, right?—you’re not just, let’s not fall into some Gnostic ideas where it’s just about the spirit, it’s just about the soul. No, your body and your spirit, which are God’s. Jesus Christ purchased the right to own body and soul. And He looks at it, and He saves it. And yes, if we die before He tarries, then the body will corrupt in the ground, but even there it is His. And on that day, He will call from the graves the dead, and they will rise at His command. Just as when Jesus called to the very body of Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth,” and nothing could stop it. Lazarus’ body was compelled to rise from the dead. Life was imparted by His Word. In this, we see what is laid up for you and for me. If we believe, if we believe, rising to life, oh yes, we will all—all bodies here will rise again. Some to eternal life, some to everlasting destruction. The difference is whether you are in Christ or not.

So Christ’s peace is pronounced here. He wants them to know. And so He’s going to continue, Christ’s passion presented. Not only is His peace pronounced, but His passion is presented. Verse 38: “And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” When He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet.

Why are you troubled? He’s not desirous to keep you in this place of trouble. Isn’t it amazing how many people go through life in a constant state of trouble, in a perpetual experience of anxiety? And I think sometimes they almost want to stay there. And we present here in the gospel our Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to put away that concern, those anxieties. It is one of the most remarkable things to see the power of God’s grace in the life of believers, seeing them walk through valleys, difficult seasons with this unnatural peace. This is what He wants for His people. So to help them, what does He show them? Himself. Himself. The wounds. The wounds of the Son of God incarnate. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.” The One you thought was dead and gone, and all your hopes were crushed. It is the same Jesus. Handle me and see. It’s not a spirit. See, He’s addressing their fears. Suppose that they had seen a spirit. And He knows that. He knows what they’re concerned about. He knows their fear. “Look, look, it’s not a spirit. Handle me.”

The Lord shows His wounds. He’s confirming His identity, isn’t He? Think of it. Heaven is going to be this multitude of people, and there is not going to be any doubt whatsoever because of the glory and the wounds of Jesus Christ. There will be a revealed glory and there will be the evidence of what He suffered for us. And we will praise Him, praise Him for what He has accomplished. It’s just to have our minds set upon those wounds. There is a practice here; there is a discipline here. When you think of the Lord alleviating concerns, He is essentially taking them to His finished work, isn’t He? This is where we go over and over again. Get to the finished work. Get to a work complete. Get your mind fixed on that which God has done. It is finished. The work is complete. God is satisfied. Dwelling upon that strengthens us, helps us. When you come to pray, where should your mind be? Your mind should be on the cross work of Christ, considering what He has accomplished, coming to God by means of the cross, thinking that there is my approach, there is my access. I come bearing my sin, but there is the answer for them all. Every sin, what is its answer? The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Here you are, feeling your doubt and concern and your fears and your sin and your burdens, struggling to pray, your mind so focused upon the trials, and the difficulties, and the impossibilities. And I say, He shows you His wounds. Behold Him! Behold Him! By faith, touch and feel and receive. You have as much right into the presence of God as Jesus Christ Himself because you come in Him and through Him. His righteousness is your righteousness. The sufficiency of His work is such that as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed your transgressions. They are gone. They are gone! And He presents Himself, “I am the answer.” Settle it now. Here is your approach to God. Be not afraid. Be not troubled. Let not these thoughts arise in your hearts. What thoughts arise in your hearts? What does the Lord see arise in your hearts? Verse 38: “Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” What does He see in you? Is it constant questioning of a sovereign purpose? Is it constant worry and concern over what might be or what might not be? Put your mind on Him. Put your heart upon Him. Make space for it, Christian. Make space to allow your mind to dwell on that which strengthens the soul. Make space for it. We don’t make space for it. Our disciplines in this area are wanting in so much of our day. You must make space to dwell upon it. You must give time. Time is something that God has given, and you are to exercise a part of the time given mindfully considering Him.

“It is I myself.” That’s what we want here. The preacher hidden behind the cross, so to speak. The Lord comes by and sits right beside you and says, “It is I, myself.” That One who comforted you years ago, that One who came alongside through previous difficulties, comes by again and He says, “I’m the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” He mentions His flesh and bones, dispelling any notion that He is some apparition, spirit, or ghost. The resurrection is physical. He’s truly raised. That body on the cross was raised. It gives us such comfort. So He shows it. He reveals it to them. And thirdly, the resurrection proved by dining. Look at verse 41: “While they yet believed not for joy and wondered, He said unto them, ‘Have ye here any meat?’ And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And He took it and did eat before them.”

So there is this joyful amazement that they have, verse 41. There’s this joy that overwhelms them. It’s like overcoming them is the sense of it. It becomes difficult for them to believe. It’s strange, the expression here, but it’s like the joy overcomes. It’s like that’s the dominant thing. It’s not just believing. The joy is just filling their hearts and so overwhelming them. So there’s a sense of tension overcoming them. And our Lord then steps in and says, “Have ye here any meat?” Why is He doing this? Why is He doing this? Because He doesn’t want them just to stay in that place of joy, which was a real experience and was based on something real, but He wants to confirm it further. He wants to take them another step, which brings us then to the gracious assurance, not just this joyful amazement, but gracious assurance.

They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb, and He took it and did eat before them. Why? To further reassure. He said that He is not a spirit. That is proved, that is confirmed by His eating with them. He’s participating in the meal. And this seems like nothing—it’s verses you wonder, “Why is Luke recording this?” Because, because it is validating the reality of the resurrection. The physicality of the risen Christ. It is confirming that He was there in their presence as He was before He died. And He did these things before, of course. He ate with them. He was often eating with His people, dining with His people, drawing them around Him to eat. Even the multitudes had the privilege on two occasions of dining with Him: the 5,000, the 4,000. They sat there in His presence, enjoying eating in the presence of the Lord Jesus. And here it is again.

And it goes to show what we said last time: In the ordinary things, the Lord reveals Himself. In the ordinary things. We’re so looking for something that is extraordinary, and the Lord Jesus can be experienced, can be known in ordinary things. As I indicated from quoting the catechism, the seeing of this body shows something of what is laid out for you and for me. These bodies of ours will be raised. They will participate in many of the similar experiences of this life, yet without sin. We’ll have tangible realities through all eternity. There are many mysteries there, but wonderful things also to consider. He proves it by dining. It’s an amazing thing, you think, well, how is the Lord going to add further confirmation to the fact that He is raised? Some, again, another voice from the Father from heaven? No, He’s just going to eat with them. Wonderful.

So what is all of this? What’s the significance of all of this? What is Luke desirous to accomplish by noting these details? Again, is it just history for the sake of history? Or is there something here He wants to land? Let me leave three things with you before we close here, or as we close.

First, Jesus is who He claimed to be. Jesus is who He claimed to be. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God. He died, men and women. Everybody saw it. Malthusius confirmed it, of His enemies and of His acquaintances. He died. There is no evidence, there is no support for Islamic ideas of swoon theories and so on. He died. And so we are encouraged to consider then that this one who said He was going to die and said He was going to rise again from the dead accomplished that very thing. And there’s no possible way of standing in a neutral place where saying He did those things and it not affect your life. It must affect your life. You either deny the resurrection or you accept it as fact and then start considering, “What does it mean that a man lived and died and rose again from the dead in the manner that Jesus did?”

Now, you might say, “Well, it doesn’t mean much.” Maybe it doesn’t mean much except He said lots of things. And in those things He commanded obedience. He called for men to submit to His authority. He expected people to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him. Now, if He just said those things, you can assess them and wonder, “Do I really want to follow this person?” But when He dies and rises again, having prophesied of that very thing, and then you start thinking back, “Okay, He died and rose again. That’s amazing. That’s an amazing event.” But you have to start thinking about the other things He said. Strive to enter into the straight gate. The warnings of judgment and destruction for those who will not believe. The heartfelt cries for, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He’s calling men to Himself. “If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink.” These appeals must be considered in light of this event. All the details, everything leading up to this that Theophilus has before him, it’s all just facts and details and interesting pieces of information, profound expressions of wisdom and so on, but he can’t ignore it until he realizes He died and rose again. Now, if he is a reasonable man at all, if his faculty of thinking and thought and consideration and so on is functioning at all, he will consider, “What does this mean for me?” And that is the same for you. Luke’s point here, detailing all of this, is so all that he has said now becomes not just history, it becomes the gospel—that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If you believe on Him, you’ll never perish. You’re to calibrate your entire life by those claims. Claims made by One who died and rose again.

Jesus is who He claimed to be. God’s judgment is real. The resurrection affirms again further truth concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul is preaching in Acts 17, he declares things that are revealed in John’s gospel as well, but I read from Acts 17:31, “He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

How do we know? How do we know the One that God’s appointed to judge? Because He died and rose again. You will stand on that day before a man, the God-man, and give account. And He will declare what eternity holds for you. If you’ve trusted in Him, believed in Him, confessed your sins and depended, put your soul entirely in Him, then you’re His, you belong to Him. Praise God. If you reject Him, if you find another way, if you try to climb up another way, you will perish. And also, the offer of salvation is genuine.

Jesus is who He claimed to be. God’s judgment is real. The offer of salvation is genuine. The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus’ death is what God has appointed for the atonement of sin. Many men die. Many men die in religious causes. Many men die for all sorts of reasons, having lived various lives of honor or dishonor. But the distinct difference of our Lord Jesus Christ is that His death, and He’s claiming to be the One by whom God will address the problem of sin, all of that gets confirmed when He rises. And you see, here is God’s answer. The resurrection confirms the efficacy of the death. The resurrection confirms the sufficiency of the death. The resurrection confirms the exaltation of the person. So when God promises forgiveness, when God says that He will forgive and pardon and receive, you look to Jesus Christ and you see, “This is how I can be sure of it.”

So, are you saved? Everyone here knows enough concerning the details, the facts of the life and death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And many of you, it’s not just information—it has been received by true evangelical faith. You’ve taken it into your heart, you’re leaning upon it for all the salvation of your soul. You endeavor daily to live by it, to have it as the guard and guide of your life. You long to please Him, to honor Him, to love Him more, to seek Him, to enjoy His people, share Him with others. But some of you, that’s not true. The head knowledge is there, but is the heart knowledge? Has it moved to the heart? Is it in the heart? Does it govern the affections? Is it the rule of your life? Who is Jesus to you? How you answer that makes all the difference in your eternity. And if tonight you want to know the power of His work in you, the life of His resurrection in you, raising you to life, enabling you to live godly, giving you desires to honor the living God, enjoying His presence, delighting in His Word, if you want that, you can have it, not by effort of your own, not by trying harder, not by giving yourself to forms of penance, but by believing, believing, just believing. I see Him. He is enough. Look what God has done. He sent His Son to die. He rose again from the dead. He’s enough. We’re going to get to the reception of heaven of Him, further confirming His glory and His honor.

So I say to you, will you confess your sin? Because this is the problem. All of this is about sin. It’s not just making you feel better. It’s not just a way to elevate man’s existence in this world and promote human flourishing. It is fundamentally addressing the problem of sin that separates you from God, and God has given an answer in His Son. You believe in Him, you trust in Him, you’ll be saved. Whatever age, whatever background, whatever experience, whatever past, you will be saved if you turn to Him. If you don’t, you’ll perish. May the Lord bless His Word. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Are you confident in your salvation? Have you turned to Jesus Christ? Boys and girls, are you saved? Are you saved? Maybe there are some things that still haven’t clicked, things you still wonder about. Talk to mom, talk to dad, come and talk to me, talk to someone that you know will help you, will open the Bible for you, and will try to answer your questions. You can be saved. Maybe some older person here, for whatever reason, you have delayed and delayed and delayed, and you’ve been finding yourself struggling with this for some time. Maybe your fear is that everyone already thinks I am a Christian. If I get saved, then that’s embarrassing. Better be embarrassed in life than damned after death.

Lord, bless Thy Word. Please console Thy people by giving to us the Holy Spirit and drawing our attention every day to the finished work of our Lord Jesus. I need it, Lord. Help me to preach the gospel to myself. Help me to rest in all that our Lord Jesus has done. Even as we minister and preach the gospel, may we do it drawing from, stepping out of meditation in the finished work of Christ. And those here not saved, we ask in our Savior’s name, to strive with them, to trouble them, and to bring them through. We pray that there will be a true stepping out of death and into life by a full and unreserved trust in the Lord Jesus. So bless us and thank You for each one here. Thank You for the week that is before us. May we know more of Thy presence and power. Favor us now. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God now and evermore. Amen.