Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead
First B Jackson
2022-04-17

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

----
Hey. Hey. Good morning. I was watching that countdown and kinda saying, it's not time. It's not time.

And then I missed it. Dog gone. Would you stand up? He is risen.

He risen.

Alright. You all know what to say. That first service sometimes worries me. Would you? He lives.

We're gonna sing this hymn number three sixty eight and would you sing it? If you if you know it and you mean it, sing it loud, alright? Sing it out. This is a great resurrection morning. I'm glad y'all are here and I'm glad to be here.

He lives.

With me and talks with me a long life's narrow way. He lives. He lives. Salvation to him.

Amen. That's an experiential knowledge of Jesus as the savior, the Christ. We're gonna sing Christ arose, hymn number three fifty seven. Y'all can have a seat. Few announcements this morning.

Not many actually. Monday nights at First B with Pastor Carl is meal, music, and a message every Monday night. Meal, music, and message happening tomorrow. He's in James three. James three is that portion about controlling the tongue actually.

So it's barn burner. Yeah. Tomorrow night, that'll be the message part but we'll have a meal. Hot dog bar is what I hear tomorrow night and music. It'll be the band from the first service playing together and a lot of resurrection songs probably tomorrow night too.

So that's happening. Meal music and a message on Monday night. Awana, because kids matter to God. There are a lot of volunteers that come in to be teachers and listeners and they help to pour scripture into the minds of these kids to reach the hearts of the next generation. It's a great great time.

It's a fun time. There's a game circle on the floor right here. It's not a helicopter landing pad. This is this is right here for tomorrow night. And we'll gather in this room first.

The kids will and then they'll spread out all over the whole church. That's tomorrow at six. We have prayer group every Wednesday in the church office at 07:30AM. It's early but worthwhile. It's a good time.

So if you'd like to get together and pray for missionaries and other requests that have come to the church, that's in the church office right down that hall. If you'd like a directory, they are hanging next to the front doors. I assume there's still some out there. Oh, we ran out. Oh, that all right, Ingrid got the last one.

We'll print more. All right, we will print more. Church directories are usually available. And if you'll contact the church office, we'll print one just for you. So that'll work.

Missed that one, so I'm not even gonna advertise it again. I do wanna mention this. So baptism. This morning oh, what a great day for a baptism. I got a text on Thursday from a dad, Sam Lunz, who's been a coach here for a while, teacher here at the classical school.

And his daughter Fox wanted to be baptized. And she was fairly insistent that it be on Easter. Now that's Thursday. So Sam almost apologetically said, hey, my daughter, we've talked about baptism. I've talked to her about it before.

And he said, she really has her heart set on getting baptized on Sunday, Easter Sunday. And I said, well great, I'm ready to do that. It's wonderful. And he said, are you sure? It's kind of a full service.

There are a lot of people. I said, yes, this is the time, man. So when she came in, they came in to talk with me on Friday, I think it was. And when we were talking about it, I said, why Easter? That's one of the first questions I asked her.

I already knew that she had put her faith in Christ. But why Easter? And she said, because that's when Jesus showed he conquered the grave. That's heavy truth from an eight year old, you know. But she had it.

She knew it. And she was able to answer all the questions. One of the things that she said too when I said, what's your favorite verse? I remember somebody asking me that when I was a little kid. Mrs.

Annie Bennett is who it was. I've got some folks here that grew up with me. Miss Bennett asked, what's your favorite verse? And I thought, aren't they all good? Right?

They're all good. And I get a chance to go through them and and kind of proclaim that they're all good. But she introduced me to John three sixteen and said, and this is a lot of people's favorite verse and there's a reason for that. So when I asked Fox what her favorite verses were, she said, John three sixteen, yeah, for sure. Like she not skipping over it.

That one's a given. But she said, Matthew twenty eight twenty, the end of it says, and surely I'm with you always even to the very end of the age. Isn't that great? So so good. So anyway, I wanted to share that with this service because she got baptized in the first day.

And hey, there's water in the pool. If you haven't been baptized and you want to be, let us know before the service is over and we'll get you done today. I think that that's the last announcement that I have. Do you all have any that I'm missing? If not, let's continue in song.

And we're gonna sing Because He Lives, hymn number three fifty eight. If you have a hymnal or wanna grab one, they're up front with you.

God sent his son. How about just the ladies on the second verse? Alright.

Join him there at the chorus, fellas. All on the last.

Worth the living just because he lives.

Sing hallelujah. It's hymn number one eighty nine. Just a praise to God. Kind of a simple chorus. I think that we're we're gonna sing all the we'll sing whatever comes up on that wall but I think it's all the verses.

Will will

him. Y'all can have a seat now. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. And this is the worship through giving time we call the offering time. There are plates that will pass by and we understand if you're popping in and you're a visitor, don't feel obligated by this but we want to give an so to

And

of, God. So Lord God Almighty, would you, impress upon us, Lord, by whatever means necessary what it is that you would have us to do with that which we believe. We know that believing is what makes for being who we are in Christ. And so belief is what it's about, Lord. I pray that as we trust in you that you'd fill us with all hope and joy in believing and that we would trust in you more and more, that we would gain the confidence to defend the hope that is in us, and that we would advance your gospel in our own personal individual relationships.

But Lord, that it wouldn't stop just there. That collectively, we can be carrying the gospel and your word to the very uttermost parts. Show us your way, Lord. The same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead is available in the Holy Spirit today to direct us and to give us the strength we need to advance your good gospel. May we be constantly about your business, doing your will and your way as willing and obedient subjects of the sovereign king of heaven.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Sorry for the distraction of those words. This thing just went kinda nuts during the middle of that. I looked up here to see if the words were along with the music, and they were not.

And so I thought maybe I can figure that out. Maybe I can do that. I've just seen Jesus. I tell you, he's alive. Ain't that a great great message?

We're gonna see that some of the ladies that went to the tomb this morning. We'll be talking about that. But what a testimony, personal experience. In my own life, that song, my aunt Laura used to sing it around Easter time every year, and there's no way I could have possibly made it through it and certainly couldn't sing that high. But it's very, very pretty.

So Easter of twenty twenty two, here we are. Easter of twenty twenty two. It's a continuing narrative. Now, of you know I have been going through Matthew, Mark, and Luke together, altogether in a harmony of the gospels style. I'm gonna stick with Luke this time.

Luke, actually volume one and volume two, Luke, the gospel of Luke, and Acts, the acts of the apostles. Those are the two books. The life of Jesus and the life of the early church, the continuing body of Christ. That's what we'll talk about today. And it is just a great story.

Now I there is about 10 pounds of Easter candy to put in this five pound bag right here we've got in front of us. I'm gonna try to get through it. If y'all will listen fast, I'll talk fast. Okay? On the first day of the week, that's Sunday.

First day of the week. At early dawn, they went to the tomb. They. Who is they? They went to the tomb taking the spices that they had prepared.

Well, I remember from chapter 23 that it was some women. The women who had come with him from Galilee. These are folks, disciples, female disciples that had come with him from Galilee and followed him down to Jerusalem for the Passover. And then things took an unexpected turn for these women. I want you to put yourself in their position if you would.

And know that they had come down expecting a Passover celebration, but they had also seen Jesus' miracles, and they had heard his teaching and heard his word. And this in Luke 23, after the crucifixion it says, the women who'd come with him from Galilee followed and saw that the tomb and how his body was laid. They were mourning his death. Their master, their lord, their rabbi, their friend, they're mourning his death, and in deep grief, they followed to where they put him in a borrowed tomb. Joseph of Arimathea's tomb.

And then it says, They returned and they prepared spices and ointments. That was on Friday afternoon evening that they did that. Good Friday. Oh, my goodness. What a horrific scene for these ladies.

They returned home and they, as befuddled as they were and amazed at what had happened, and now they're preparing spices and ointments embalming for the dead body of their friend and rabbi. Oh, man. And on the Sabbath, they rested because that's what they do. Friday night at sundown till Saturday at sundown, they rested according to the commandment. And they, on the first day of the week, took those spices they prepared a couple days ago, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

Amen. But confusing. Right? If you go and you go to someone's funeral and you see that headstone laying there, and then you went back and you were to see headstone not laying there, laying aside upside down somewhere else, that would be very confusing, distressing, upsetting even. But when they went into the tomb, they walked in.

It was a cave style tomb. They walked in and they did not find the book body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were perplexed about this, I think that's an understatement, don't you? I mean, they were perplexed, completely confused. But while they were perplexed about this, behold, I love a good behold.

Maybe that's just the preacher in me, but when when something says behold, it means pay close attention to this. Lo, behold, behold. Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. Dazzling apparel. It says two men.

I mean, it says angels later on. It says angels in other gospel. But I want you to remember that angels are messengers from God. We often think of them like this, and it could certainly have been this. Luke's text from eyewitness accounts says there were two men standing there with them.

An angel is anyone who carries the message of God. A messenger is what angel means. And so, in that sense, I pray my best that I am carrying a message this morning. So, in that sense, I'm an angel this morning, carrying a message to you. This is an old woodcutting print or an engraving print of the two with their message for these ladies.

And it says, and as they were frightened, they were perplexed. They were frightened, confused. They're prepared to do a job. They had made arrangements to honor their friend and rabbi. And as they were frightened and they bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?

What a great question. I know what you came to do, but you're seeking someone who is no longer dead. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee.

Now, that's interesting too. He had been telling his disciples over and over and over. We see multiple instances in other places in scripture, and these men, these messengers, angels said to these ladies, Remember, he told you this. Do you remember when he said that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise? Don't you remember that?

He said that, And they remembered his words. His words. Jesus' words. And his words were what? The son of man.

That's his favorite self designation. He calls himself that all the time. He calls himself that. And in Daniel, the son of man is a very prominent figure. In Ezekiel, the son of man is a very prominent figure.

The prophets that were looking forward to Christ had prophesied his coming. And the son of man, he said to them, must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. Those are his words. Matthew said it this way. Back a ways in Jesus' ministry.

From that time, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary. There's a component where this must come to pass. Everything that was prophesied about him had to come to pass. It was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things. From who?

From whom? The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes. Wow. The religious people. That's horrible.

He had to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. And returning from the tomb this is the ladies. I've highlighted them in bright green here. And from the tomb, they, these ladies, told all of these things. Now, the content of what the angels had told them was he is not dead.

He is living. And it was necessary that this happened, and they began to explain things and saying, you remember when Jesus told you this? Plural you, by the way. Probably not just the ladies, but all of his disciples he had shared several times. And returning from the tomb, they, these ladies, told all of these things to the 11 and to all of the rest.

11 because 12 minus Judas is 11. Okay? Returning from the tomb, they told these to the 11 and to all of the rest. So they carry the message that of their own experience. Okay?

They are witnesses. Would you say they're witnesses? They're just telling what happened. We went there carrying spices to do a job, and we were met by these two. This is what they told us.

He's not dead. He's alive. Now, at this point, they had not seen Jesus. These ladies had not, and this is who they were. They it was now it was Mary Magdalene.

Wow. What a relationship. From whom seven demons had gone out, it says in another place. And Joanna. Joanna was mentioned a few chapters back.

We studied this a while back, but she was one of the people that gave generously to Jesus' itinerant ministry. And Mary, the mother of James, and the other women. So Mary, the mother of James is probably one of James one of the James' that was Jesus' disciple. Mary, mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Now, Luke has set out to write an orderly account.

He says this in the first four verses. In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative, he knew that there were other stories about Jesus already in existence, but he was a very fastidious historian, and he wanted to get a really accurate record laid out, easy to understand, to write an orderly account. He trusted eyewitnesses and ministers of the word who had delivered them to him. And it seemed good, he said, following all things closely for some time past. I have been studying, I've been compiling, I'm putting them in order, and I'm writing this orderly account from you.

Oh, most excellent Theophilus, That you may have certainty concerning things you've been taught. I want for that same thing to go forward. The Bible can be trusted. Old and New Testaments. And we'll see that a lot in the in the scripture today.

How did the guys receive the news? So the guys that were there. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James. And they all went and they told these things to the apostles. All that these messengers had told them, but what?

These words seemed to them like an idle tale and they did not believe them. Does that have the ring of truth about it? Bunch of guys not listening to a late a few ladies. But Peter rose, and he ran to the tomb. John says he ran to the tomb.

He also says he outran Peter, but hey. Peter acted on the news. So I'm sure he was confused. I'm sure he was ashamed. He had denied Jesus just a few nights ago.

Right? And he had not thought about anything but, I would imagine, in that time. And he's just completely overcome. But when he hears an inkling of the news oh, think about this too. This is first service didn't even get this part.

You know, when Peter said, I'll never deny you. I'll never deny you. Jesus spoke to him and said, Peter, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you. He didn't say I'm gonna stop him. He's sifting you, but God's using it for his purpose too.

Satan's asked to sift you like wheat After you have been strengthened, take care of your brothers. Okay? Peter, when he heard the news, he starts processing everything. And he rises and runs to the tomb and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves. And he went home marveling at what had happened.

Now he still had not, at this point, as far as we know, seen Jesus. But that's what happened. He heard the witnesses, and he processed the testimony, and he went into action based on what they had said. Now, all of that was prologue. This is the part I really wanted to tell.

Okay? This is where we really start. This is the part of the story I really wanted to discuss. That very day, so Sunday, resurrection day, unbeknownst to them at this point, that very day, two of them, and I highlighted them in orange, these are two. It could be two guys, or it could be a guy and a gal.

We know one of them is a male because he's named later and called he. But two of them were walking, going to a village. Just the grammar of it, you can't tell. It's nonspecific about whether it's two guys or a guy and a gal. Some people say it was a married couple.

Could be. Don't know. But there are two disciples. Two of them. They're going to a village named Emmaus, and it's about seven miles from Jerusalem.

Now the scripture about seven miles seems like, what? About seven miles. That seems odd to call it that. But in Greek, actually says 60 stadia. And a stadia is 607 feet or about a 185 meters.

And if you take six zero seven feet and you multiply it by 60, because it's 60 stadia, you get 36,420 feet if you do the math, carry the one, divide by 5,280, because that's how many feet there are in a mile, it is 6.89772727 miles. I'm trying to get you to know your Bible can be trusted. Yes, there are translation issues. But if it says about seven miles, it's about seven miles. It gives you an idea of the frame, the scope.

It's about seven miles from Jerusalem to where they were walking. And if you wanted to know, okay, well, how's that how far is that in the land of Israel, this whole Palestine area or Israel area today and the surrounding areas, that red star is Jerusalem, green star is Emmaus. So, a little closer look. There it is. It is north that's West, but Northwest.

West Northwest over there from Jerusalem. Just a little bit north and a little bit west from Jerusalem is Emmaus. And if you were to look at things, if you wanna just scale it out from right here at First Baptist Church, right here, 90 West Kelly in Jackson, Wyoming, the Red Star, to the Green Star, we'll call that the stagecoach bar in Wilson. Okay? Don't act like you don't know where it is.

There's there is

about six it's almost seven miles. It's a little bit less than seven miles. So that's the same distance from Jerusalem to Emmaus. So if you're walking from here to there, you got a little time, especially after the most destroying weekend. You know, going in with a celebration of Passover and thinking, wow, we're we're considering all the ways that God has delivered our people.

And then, your rabbi is killed publicly on the road outside of the town, right there outside the gate so that everybody that goes in and everybody that comes out will see him hanging up. You've been following this guy for three years. Wow. And they were talking. This guy and maybe girl guy and the other guy, we don't know, they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened.

You know, I bet they were. As they're walking, probably home, they're definitely headed home to Emmaus, and they're walking from here to there. And as they're walking, they're just talking about everything that had come to pass. And I imagine, after having been a pastor for these last ten years plus, ten years or so, when somebody's loved one dies, it is such a hard slog for such a long while. And when it happens, and they just don't think of everything all at once, they're overwhelmed with emotion.

You can call it PTSD. They're trying to replay the past and come up with a different present. And they're listening and paying attention to one another, but then they're coming up with new ways that it's upsetting. Are you with me? Are you with them on the road?

They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. Man, we thought he was the one that was gonna redeem all of Israel, you know? And then he's just gone. One of the most upsetting things for widows, widowers, or someone who's lost a child is to say, I am going through the deepest grief of my life, and I feel like I can't even get out of my own way. Everybody else in town is just going about their life as normal.

They were talking about everything that had happened. While they were talking and while they were discussing together, this is good, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. You know, the Bible says wherever two or three are gathered in my name I know it's in a different context, but if we get together as believers in Jesus, as those who've trusted in him as our rabbi, as our teacher, and we get together and we just talk about things, even upsetting things, even disappointing things, and we talk together and he'll join us in that. He promised he would. I'll be with you like Fox.

Her verse says, surely I'm with you to the very end of the age. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near to them and went with them. But Luke says, their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Now, we see in the other gospels that, you know, disciples out in the boat see Jesus on the beach and don't immediately recognize him. We see that Mary is talking to him like he might be the gardener that might have moved Jesus' body.

We don't understand exactly why it is that they don't recognize him. Have you all ever seen this show? Undercover boss. Really? Have you ever seen So the the premise is that the CEO of the company will get a job as a lower level employee.

And this is the CEO of whatever company, and that's what he dressed up like. And he went in to learn more about his business and how things were going in a different, know, not the front office, but the loading dock on the ground. How's it going? This is the CEO of a company and she dressed up and took a lower level administrative job just to see how things were going in the office instead of the front office. Oh, that's celebrity edition.

That's Deion Sanders. Apparently, he's got some company going on and he wanted to check out his employees. But the premise is that the guy who's in charge goes in and he's just checking things out to get a real perspective on what's going on rather than if you call and say, hey, the boss is going to be here today, everybody clean up and act right. You get a different story. You don't see what's going on.

All we get is, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. In Luke, it seems to be supernatural that this was intentional that they were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, so this is Jesus speaking to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. What is this conversation you're holding with each other as you walk? What is it that you're discussing right now?

And they stood still looking sad. Oh my goodness. We're having a hard time processing it together and we know all that goes into the past few years. Where do I even begin? Where do I even start?

And it says they stood still. Everything else is moving. They're walking. They're walking together. They're walking together.

They're walking together. I use this one a lot in weddings because walking together is important, right? And they stood still and they were looking sad. And then one of them named Cleopus, that's the guy, at least that's one of the guys. And one of them named Cleopas, eyewitness, Luke has taken testimony from witnesses and he's writing it down in an orderly account.

Cleopas answered and said, man, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know these things? You remember when they come to Jerusalem for the Passover? It's so full. It's like summertime in Jackson. Like, there's not enough places for people to lay down their heads.

So they usually retreat outside of the city and go up on the hillside. They find a place to either camp out or they find a place to spend the night with somebody that they know, that Jesus spent the night with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. We know that several times. This time, he raises Lazarus from the dead. Wow.

Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? They're between the two talking about what just came to pass. And Jesus, I love this, says, what things? Jesus is playing dumb. He wants them to explain what the way they understand it.

Isn't that good? He gives them a chance. This is almost like the Socratic method, right? He's asking questions, they're answering the questions, and he's gonna work with them on the way they answer the questions. And consider this, how about that?

Jesus is playing dumb. Concerning Jesus of Nazareth. They said to him, well, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, he was a man who was a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people. Amen. Amen.

He was a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people. They were witnesses. They were telling their experience, what they knew of him. And listen to that, they said was right here because he died. He was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people.

I still believe that's true. I was confused by the death thing, but this was true. And And how our own chief priests and rulers, our own leaders, our own religious leaders delivered him up to be condemned to death, they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. He was the one we were looking forward to, and now our hopes are dashed, and they're really dashed because besides all this, it's now the third day since these things happened.

That was a tradition too among the Jews of the time. And Luke's a physician, so he would have known this. If you're paying attention to somebody and they're in a very low state and their breathing has slowed and their heartbeat has slowed and it looks like they're dead, they still watched them for a while to make sure. But three days, come on, they're dead. It's three days since these things happened, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Moreover, beyond that, they're saying to Jesus that they don't recognize. Moreover, some of the women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning. And when they didn't find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. I I don't know what to do with that.

I'm barely getting over the grief, not even getting over the grief. And then all of a sudden, I find out that these ladies are saying that he's alive. And some of those who are with us went to the tomb, so that's Peter and John at least, maybe more. And they found it to be just as the women had said, stone rolled away, empty tomb, linen cloths laying right where he was, but him they did not see. And he said to them, this is Jesus now, undercover boss saying, oh, come on.

Foolish ones. Slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. I've tried to tell you this stuff before. You just weren't ready for it. Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Now, I say all that the prophets have spoken because everybody wants to believe some of the stuff that the prophets have spoken. Right? They wanna believe that our good guys are going to win, and we're gonna be on top of all those Roman bad guys. And he's gonna vanquish them, and we're gonna be set and pretty at that point. But there's more to what the prophets say about Jesus.

They say he's gonna suffer and die. They say that we as his followers will also suffer. Some of us will die. Foolish ones are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary?

Must happen. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Was it not necessary? Considering this and considering that, actually it goes on. It says, and beginning with Moses and with all of the prophets.

So Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. We've got the prophets after that. We've got some historical books in there too. And he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, all of the old testament he shared, the law and the prophets. He shared everything there that was concerning himself, and that's what it's concerning.

It's looking forward to Jesus. This is a painting called the road to Emmaus, David Bonnell in 2,011. I just found this one on the Internet. I don't know the artist. He has a lot of paintings about especially about the passion of Christ.

And I just liked it, so I put it up there. He has another one. Same same scene, but a little further after sundown. They're walking westward, northwestward out towards Emmaus from Jerusalem, and they're walking away from a dark cloud and into a clear sky. That's good.

I like that. He's paying attention to his Bible. So they this is that two disciples on the road to Emmaus and Jesus drew near to the village to which they were going. And he, Jesus, acted as if he were going further. Still playing dumb.

Oh, no. I'll just come on. You know, I don't know if it is that way here, but in the South, you're supposed to say no twice. You know? They ask you three times, they really mean it.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going, and he acted as if he were going farther. It's alright. I'll just keep on walking. But they urged him strongly saying, stay with us. Stay with us for it is toward evening.

The day is now far spent. There's been a lot going on. And as grieved as they were, they were acting out the love that Christ had shown them these last three years. They were and you know Christ had even said to them, whatsoever you do to the least of these, a stranger along the road, you've done it to me. And they urged him strongly, stay with us.

Just stay. It's toward evening day as far as spent. They just said, come on in and have supper. So he went in to stay with them because he invited them in. That's what Jesus does.

If you invite them in, he'll come in. When he was at the table with them, he took bread and he blessed it and he broke it. Now, he's already shared. It says everything about him. Can you imagine the sermon on the road to Emmaus?

Only seven miles. And he has preached everything from the books of Moses and everything from the prophets that was pointing towards him. And then when he sat down with them at their table, he took bread and blessed it and broke it and he gave it to them and their eyes were opened. And they recognized him. Now he had said in the upper room at that last supper when he broke the bread, he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

Can you imagine the realization that he meant that all of the sudden? That he goes, when he broke the bread and they realized, oh, I get it. His body was broken for us. That blood that was shed was shed on our behalf. This guy with a perfect record is offering the opportunity for anyone who would believe to share that perfect record.

He took the death on the cross that we deserved, and he shared it with anyone whosoever would believe. Their eyes were opened. They recognized him. This is a painting too by Caravaggio. This one's actually not just 2,011.

This one is Supper at Emmaus from sixteen o one. Caravaggio is known for Actually, they named a whole movement of art after him. Caravagism is named after him because it's chiaroscuro, which is darkness. Everything around is really dark, but there's light that just jumps out of the darkness. And if you look at this, what's the brightest thing?

The table? Maybe Jesus' face. He's right in the center of the painting, and he is sharing with them about himself. And it says, he's just broken the bread, and you see one guy going, what? And the other one's like this.

They're paying attention to what's going on, and Jesus is sharing it with them. Caravaggio, 16 o one. And Jesus' face right there has a kind of clean shaven face. He doesn't have his beard in this painting. If you look at other Caravaggio paintings, there's another one that was painted the next year, but it's about the taking of the Christ.

So this is from Thursday night, Maundy Thursday, where he's already had the upper room discourse and he's out in the garden and Judas comes to betray him with a kiss. And you can look at that face. Still the brightest thing right there. Jesus Caravaggio actually paints too. That's the armor from his time.

We always look at scripture from our own time. It's just what we do. But what's jumping out of the darkness? It's the face of Christ, the anguish of Christ, having been betrayed. There he is.

If you look at the two of those together, there's some people that have a problem actually with why didn't they recognize him? Well, in Luke it flatly says that they were kept from recognizing him. It's supernatural, you can just lean on that. But if you think about this, I come in and claim to shave this morning. I usually have a beard.

I had a beard last Sunday. And I come in and people say, Oh, barely recognized you. I know that that's not true. I'm six'six white guy. It's hard to miss.

But they will say that, Oh, I have a suit coat on. They'll say, Oh, yeah, you're dressed up today. I barely recognized you. Consider this. On Friday night, Thursday night, he's he's in trial all night, and Friday, the beatings.

He's bloodied and just beaten to a pulp. And even though it says all the disciples scattered, there's word around, right, of how it's gone. And it goes from an anguished face to one that would be barely, if at all, recognizable, Swollen, beaten, and bruised. Then on Sunday, here's this clean shaven face according to Caravaggio with no evidence of what happened Friday night. There was evidence of what happened Friday night.

He's got to show them. Their eyes were open. They recognized him. And this, it says, and he vanished from their sight. Poof.

I actually, he might have gotten up and left, but it says he vanished from their sight. I have to take it that that's what happened. I take it what is that's what's happened because it's kind of the way it's gonna be described that he enters into another room with a locked door. But this is interesting. They said to each other, these are those two disciples on the road to Emmaus and anybody else who was there at their house, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?

While he opened to us the scriptures? God's will and his word are there for you. And paying attention to him, humbly paying attention to him, it'll make your heart burn within you. You can have an experience with God for paying attention to his word, especially inviting him in to explain it to you. They rose that very same hour.

Now they had just invited Jesus into the house because the day was spent, and they sat down at supper, and they said, we can't just sit on this news. We gotta go tell somebody. Because what? They're witnesses. They're gonna tell of their experience.

They rose that same hour. They returned to Jerusalem. They found the 11, and those who were with them gathered together, huddled up, and they were saying, the Lord has risen indeed. We heard what the women said this morning. They're right.

He has risen indeed and he's appeared to Simon. Now, we're not told that story. We're not told that story in Luke that he appeared to Simon. We haven't heard from that. But it's happened.

We can testify to it as witnesses. And then they told what had happened on the road because that was their experience, and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Yep. He told the story just like Luke recorded it. And as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them.

Isn't it interesting that when you get together to talk about Jesus, he shows up? They were talking about these things, and Jesus himself stood among them. I could put a poof slide in there too. And said to them, peace to you. I'm giving you peace like only I can give, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

I know what you think about death, and I'm telling you by showing you that what you believed heretofore is not true. Peace be to you. But they were startled, they were frightened, and they thought they saw a spirit. It had been a rough weekend. He said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Look at this. See my hands. See my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see.

For a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see that I do. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and he showed them his feet. And while they were disbelieving still, while they still disbelieve for joy, Disbelieve for joy. They're confused, but they're a happy kind of confused. That's that's a different kind of confused than they had been just a little bit before.

While they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you got anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and he ate it right there before them. Can you imagine? And then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. Now, the angels had reminded the ladies of these words.

Jesus had reminded the guys on the road to Emmaus, and now he's saying it to the bigger assembled group, the 11 and the others. Here he says, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. Just think about it and remember it. You didn't believe me, but I'm telling you it's true. That everything that was written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.

I carried it out, and then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Amen. And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, that it was necessary that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. He was explaining that all of the events that had happened, though they were bewildering, were necessary. And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all of the nations, all of the ethne, all of the families of the earth.

That repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. Beginning from Jerusalem. This is where it starts. For the Jew first and then to the Greek. Right?

That's the way it spreads. Repentance. If you don't know what repentance is, it actually means a change of mind, but J. I. Packer's version of this is really helpful.

Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin. You might not know it all, But if you know anything about yourself that you know falls short of the mark, repentance is turning from as much as you know of your own sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. There is a higher power who can restore you to sanity. Right? Turning from it.

Giving as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of God. And as our knowledge grows at these three points, so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged. If you keep on going forward with Jesus, it'll be a finer and finer tooth comb, and he'll transform and change your life and remove those areas where you fall short. Beginning from Jerusalem. So this is starting with a small group, but he says that I'm gonna build my church.

You are the continuing body of Christ here on earth, and the gates of hell are not gonna prevail against it. This is the plan. Obedient, humble servants of God going forward from here. You are witnesses of these things. Just tell what you know by your own experience.

You're witnesses of these things. And behold, I love a good behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you, the Holy Spirit. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then he led them out as far as Bethany. That's a couple of miles up over the Mount Of Olives.

He stands up at the top of Mount Of Olives and lifted up his hands and he blessed them. Do y'all binge watch shows? Do any of y'all watch shows? These serials that keep on coming. You can see an episode and right at the end, five minutes before it's over, there's a new wrinkle introduced and you go, oh, I gotta watch the next one.

That's an old trick. Luke did that right here. He gives you a little bit about the ascension of God and it's enough for us to paint paintings about. Mean, it's enough for us to understand and know what's going on. But in Acts, he gives a more thorough understanding.

That's the way those things work out. He led them out as far as Bethany, lifted up his hands, and he blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he parted from them, and he was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God. The end.

That's a break in the reading into the book of Luke. Well, that's volume one. Volume two is continuing the acts of the apostles. And so, think about this timid band that on Friday night, all of them had scattered. John was still there while Jesus was able to give over care for Mary, his mother.

Mary and John were still there. But it says all the rest of them scattered. Now, considering that what they saw post resurrection changed their lives so completely that they all continued to walk out being witnesses for Christ till their eventual martyrdom. All of them. Except John, you wanna go with except John.

I think living till 95 and being stuck in out on that island would have been pretty rough. But they all died serving him. They all died still believing, still serving, still witnessing for him. First part of the book of acts, and I'll close. Only going a little ways into it.

But in the first book of Theophilus volume one, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. Now he's got plenty more that he's got in his plan. This is the beginning. From the life of Jesus, we're gonna talk about the life of the body of Christ, the continuing body of Christ on our earth, the church. Jesus began to do and teach until the day that he was taken up.

And after he'd given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them. If you wanna go also first Corinthians 15. If I had not preached this message this morning, I would have preached from first Corinthians 15, the importance of the resurrection. He presented himself alive to them after suffering by many proofs and appearing to them during forty days and speaking to them about the kingdom of God. He equipped these guys to go out and change the world.

And while staying with them, he ordered them, do not depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard it from me. I've already told you this in the upper room discourse, but I'll remind you again. Wait until you are imbued with power from on high. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. He's forecasting the day of Pentecost.

So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Isn't that something? That is one of the most interesting and persistent questions in human experience. They wanna know when we're gonna get to get them. They wanna know when you're gonna be victorious over these Romans.

They just saw a man resurrected from the dead. It was not the way that they had seen it, but you know what? If you're immortal, that's gonna come in handy whipping the Romans. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? I I got a text last night that somebody said, do you think we're gonna see the rapture in your lifetime?

I'm like, no man knows the answer. I don't know. But I said, I'll answer the last slide in in the presentation tomorrow. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to him, It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

That's above your pay grade. You don't need to know that. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses. Be the witnesses. Oh, so good.

Just tell your experience. Listen to Jesus. Invite him into your home. Pay attention to the messengers, and act on it. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Jackson, Wyoming's a long way from Jerusalem, you know, but it's here. And we're extending that message as far as we can. And when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up in a cloud took him out of their sight. Sounds just like the very last part of Luke. And while they were gazing up into heaven as he went, behold two men.

Oh, those two men showed back up and stood by them in white robes, dazzling apparel. Here's a picture. This is actually John Singleton Copley's Jesus' Ascension into Heaven 1775. I like this I like this painting a lot. It's a lot to like about it, but look at Jesus.

He's like, alright. I'm out of here. That is a carefree move right there. Yep. Up we're up we go.

And then the guys are all standing there looking up, and the two men, angels, messengers, are standing there next to them and there they have a message and then it's this. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? Now to the ladies they'd said, why do you look for the living among the dead? And now they're looking up into heaven dumbfounded. Is it you stand looking up into heaven?

This Jesus this Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, he'll come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven. It's not yours to know the time. But don't worry. Just be about his business. Be witnessing.

Wait here till power from on high, and then go forth. Thomas walked to India. Wow. They covered this up. They actually huddled in Jerusalem probably too long.

The martyrdom of Stephen spread them out when they had to run. But Jesus knew. I think that's the last slide. Christ the Lord is risen today. Would you all stand, and we'll sing Christ the Lord is risen today?

And I have one more kind of a benediction slide just from the text that I wanna go and expound. One more word and then bless him to go.

Christ the Lord is risen today. Hallelujah. Sons of men and angels say, hallelujah. Raise your joints and triumphs high. Hallelujah.

Sing ye have sanded reply. Amen.

And the last slide is kinda Easter eggy. It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. It says we're gonna go through hard times. It says we're gonna see amazing things. But it's not for us to know when.

After we have suffered for a little while, he'll raise us up. You know, it's got a lot to say about that. But it does say this as a certainty. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. Witnesses.

Not judges and not lawyers. Okay? Witness just has to tell what he's saying. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and even to the very ends of earth. In Jesus' name, I pray, Lord, that we would know that surely you are with us till the end of the age that you would give us, Lord, a apology, a defense for the hope that is in us, that we'd be able to live out a life that is witnessing to the truth of your resurrection and power.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.