Convincing the First Easter Skeptics

Well, good morning. I want to welcome all of you to our service this morning. Thank you for choosing to worship with us. This morning and what a wonderful day it is as we celebrate the fact that on this particular Sunday of the year that Christ was raised from the dead and we celebrate that event on this Sunday, but that actually serves to explain why we call every Sunday the Lord's day because this day of the week, a Sunday, was the day that Christ was miraculously raised from the dead with explosive life.

And, and power. And so thank you for being with us today to help us to celebrate this event. what, in, in fact, let me have you turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, with the time that I have with you, we're gonna be spending some time in Luke 24, reading and pondering the resurrection narrative that we find at the end.

of Luke's Gospel, and if you want to give a title to The message this morning, it would be convincing the first Easter skeptics, convincing the first Easter skeptics, and it might surprise you to find out who those skeptics are that needed the persuasion. Easter represents for so many of us, so many positive things. It represents an explosion of life. a resurrection of hope and faith and joy and believing trust in the Lord.

It's associated, Easter is associated with so many positive and wonderful things having to do with faith and belief that it may surprise you to, to consider this fact that on the first Easter, about 2000 years ago, Most of Christ's closest followers spent most of that first Easter disbelieving. The fact of Christ's resurrection from the dead. If they were here today, they'd say that first Easter, we blew it. We, we, we wasted the whole day.

We spent most of that first Easter not believing that Jesus was actually raised from the dead. And it wasn't until the very end of the day that God brought us to a place of radical belief in this phenomenal event. In fact, in our narrative this morning in Luke 24, we actually We see so many positive things in this chapter, but there's a lot of negativity as well and doubt and unbelief. Here's what Christ's closest followers thought of the resurrection as the narrative unfolds.

In verse 11, they thought it was nonsense. Verse 11, they would not. Believe it, verse 25. They were slow of heart to believe.

Verse 38, there were doubts that were arising and springing up in their hearts. And in verse 41, in the face of incredible evidence that will amaze you as we go through the narrative this morning, they still could not believe. And it wasn't until the end of the day that they were brought to a place of faith. And the fact that God and inspired scripture is so honest and open, the fact that these early followers of Jesus were so honest and open about their doubts throughout that Easter day is wonderfully instructive for us.

In fact, if you're here today, And you have your own doubts about whether Christ was really physically and bodily raised from the dead, I think you can find yourself in this chapter. In fact, let me, let me give you just a few things to ponder very quickly before we get into the text of Luke 24. If you have doubts about whether Jesus was raised from the dead, you're not sure what you think about that and what to do with those doubts, let me just give you three quick challenges.

Number 1, realize how important the issue of Christ's resurrection really is.

I would encourage you that if, if you're trying to figure out whether Christianity is true or not, start here. Start with the question, was Jesus Christ raised from the dead? There's no more important question that you're going to ask and answer in your life. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is actually essential to one's eternal salvation.

In Romans chapter 10, verse 9, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You must believe in this event in order to experience salvation. So start here with the question, was Jesus in fact raised from the dead? That's how critical this question is.

Everything Even having to do with our faith hangs upon this event of Christ being raised from the dead. And it changes everything for us as believers. It actually changes everything for everybody around the world. That's how important this issue is.

Timothy Keller, in his book, The Reason for God, says this, he says, if Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said. If he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any? of what he said. The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like Jesus' teaching, but whether or not he rose from the dead.

That's the issue, and that's the question that you need to settle. Richard Dawkins, who's actually never been quoted from this pulpit, the passionate preacher of atheism in his book The God Delusion, is asking himself this very question. He says in the book, Did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Did he himself come alive again three days after being crucified?

Now he offers his own answer to that question. but at least he pays the issue, the compliment of viewing it as an important question that's worthy of being asked, and he would encourage people, you need to ask that question. And find an answer to that question. So if you have doubts and you're not sure what you think about whether Jesus was raised from the dead, first of all, just realize how important this issue is.

Secondly, if you have your doubts about whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead, and I say this in a somewhat good natured way, don't be a snob about it, OK? And I'll explain what by that. CS Lewis a number of years ago talked about a phenomenon called chronological snobbery. OK, chronological snobbery.

And essentially, chronological snobbery is this, it's someone nowadays in the modern era, who thinks this way, like, we moderns are skeptical, we are careful, we're prudent, we're intellectually honest and, and disciplined, we're slow to believe fantastic. Claims, and we require a lot of evidence. However, the ancient peoples like the early followers of Jesus, they were shallow, they were naive, and they easily believed, they readily believe fantastic claims. CS Lewis says, if you think that way, And think that somehow you're more sophisticated intellectually than people were in ancient times and you're more intellectually honest than they were, you're a chronological snob.

And I would encourage you not to do that. The narrative of Luke 24 is going to show us the early followers of Jesus being very exacting and demanding in terms of the evidence that is required. They required an enormous amount of evidence. And we're going to see that even with Jesus standing in front of them, and they're seeing him a few feet away, and they're actually touching and handling him.

The text says they still could not believe. that this actually happened. So they were very demanding as much as we are today. And the third and final challenge is if you have your doubts, I would encourage you to give the eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection a chance to tell you what persuaded them.

Wouldn't you want to know that? Like I'm not sure what I think about whether Jesus was raised from the dead or not, but as a part of my research in answering this fundamental question, I will at least include in my research going to the Bible and, and I'm interested to know what the eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection. said about what it was that persuaded them. Even from a human standpoint, it's something to be curious about.

Here's people that on that first Easter believed that the idea of him being raised from the dead was nonsense. They would not believe it. They were slow of hard to believe. There were doubts in their hearts.

They still could not believe. You see all of that language, and yet by the end of the day they're at a place of radical faith and belief. What persuaded them? Open your Bible, I would encourage you and read.

The gospel accounts and let these early followers of Jesus share with you what it was that persuaded them and that's exactly what's happening in Luke chapter 24, literally through the length of the entire chapter. Here's what we're going to do this morning as we go through and just enjoy the narrative is we're going to observe 5 evidences, 5 evidences that had the cumulative effect of convincing Christ's closest followers that he was in fact raised from the dead. And not one of these by themselves persuaded them, but all five of them together left them by the end of the day in a place of saying, OK, we believe that God has in fact raised Jesus from the dead.

OK, so let's start in verse 1.

And we'll observe the first evidence that they want to share with us that persuaded them that Christ was raised from the dead, or at least that began them on the journey of believing this fact. And that first piece of evidence was an empty tomb, an empty tomb. As the narrative opens in chapter 24, verse 1, there are women that are coming to the tomb, and it says in verse 1, but on the first day of the week at early dawn, they, the women who will be named later, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

Now the fact that they're bringing spices indicates that they were coming, not because they were expecting the resurrection of Jesus.

All right, when Christ was crucified on Friday, their thought was not, Oh, this is Good Friday. And let's keep our schedule clear for Sunday because that's when he'll be raised. They're not thinking that. They're coming to the tomb with spices for the purpose of anointing the corpse of Jesus for what they think is going to be a long interment in the tomb.

And this is their last opportunity to honor Him by at least anointing his body for a very long burial. Verse 2, and they found when they got to the site where the tomb was, we know from other gospel accounts that they were fretting on their way. They're thinking, Who's going to remove the stone for us so that we can anoint the body of Jesus? They didn't think about that little detail.

But now they're walking and they're they're wondering, but to their great surprise and happiness, verse 2, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And their first thought is, this is great. Now, we don't have to worry about that. We can go into the tomb, we can anoint the body of Jesus.

And this will work out really well. Look at this. So they come into the tomb, verse 3. But when they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

They go in there. They didn't see him. They didn't see his body. We know from later verses that what they would have seen is the linen wrappings lying in the tomb, but no body inside the linen wrappings.

Verse 4, what is their response? They were perplexed about this. They didn't say, Oh, this is the resurrection. That's all the evidence we need.

No, they're perplexed. Literally, the Greek word means they were without a way. In other words, they were without a way of understanding. Why the tomb would be empty, there was they had no train of thought that they could travel on that would lead them to a satisfying destination in terms of understanding why in the world the tomb is empty.

So they're now in a state of confusion. And perplexity. So God shows them the empty tomb, and thus they're beginning the journey of faith. But right now at this point of the journey they're in a state of perplexity.

So God provides for them a second piece of evidence to take them further in their journey of faith, and that is angelic messengers announcing Christ's resurrection. OK. God sends angelic messengers to the site where the tomb was to announce to these ladies why the tomb was empty. Now would that help you?

If you go to an empty tomb, and Jesus' body isn't there, would it help you for God to send angelic beings saying, hey, here's why it's empty. Christ has risen. That would help me. I'd be, I'd be happy about that.

and that's what God does, verse 4. And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. dazzling clothing. We know from later in this chapter and from the other gospel accounts, these are angelic beings.

And it's interesting that in the gospel accounts, Comment is made in each of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, about the clothes that the angels were wearing. The angels appear to women, and in the years that followed, when the women tell people about what had happened and the angels appeared, they would always comment on the fact that of what the angels were wearing. They commented on their clothing and look at this. They were wearing dazzling clothing.

This is the Greek word that means lightning. They were wearing lightning clothing. So these angels are wearing some serious bling, OK, and lightning, not just white clothing, as the other gospel accounts say, but something that's white, but more than white. It is lightning clothing, verse 5, and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces literally in the Greek text into the ground.

So the women fall to the ground, and they go as low as they can, and they're actually literally pressing their faces into the soil, going as low as they can. And as they're doing that, the men or the angels said to them, Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. The angels say, Why are you here at the cemetery looking for the one who is presently living?

He's not here and there's a reason he's not here, and that's because he's risen from the dead. So now the ladies have an empty tomb, and on top of that they have angelic beings in lightening clothing explaining to them why Christ is not in the tomb and the fact that he has indeed been raised from the dead. That's the second piece of evidence. And then there's a third piece of evidence that these women are confronted with that furthers them on their journey of faith, and that is Christ's own predictions of his suffering and resurrection.

Christ's own predictions of his suffering and His resurrection. Look at Luke 24:6 as the angels continue talking. Listen to what they say. They say to the women, Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee.

Saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of men and be crucified, and the 3rd day rise again, and they, the women, remembered his words, the angelic beings, as the women are bowing with their faces into the soil, quivering with fear, the angels are like, Do you remember? He's not here. He's risen. Don't you ladies remember that he was in when he was in Galilee, weeks before.

He made his way down to Jerusalem. He was repeatedly telling you that he was going to Jerusalem, he was gonna suffer many things. He was gonna get crucified. And then after his crucifixion, after his death, he would be raised from the dead.

And he even told you it would happen on the 3rd day after his death. Don't you remember this? And by the way, if you read the Gospel accounts, you see that Jesus kept on telling, His disciples before he died that he was going to die and be raised on the 3rd day, but the problem was that's not what they wanted to hear. And because they didn't want to hear about Jesus dying, whenever he talked about dying, they tuned him out.

You ever done that? I think we do that to God all the time actually as we read the Bible. Whatever we don't want to hear, it's easy to just tune that out and not hear God say that. They so did not want to hear of Jesus dying that whenever he talked that way, they just tuned him out.

But now the angels are like, Ladies, do you remember how he kept on saying this would happen? He would suffer, be crucified, and die and be raised from the dead on the 3rd day. And the women, as they're bowing with their faces in the soil, they're like, That's right. That's right.

And so they're remembering. And so now they have an empty tomb, angelic messengers announcing the fact that Christ is raised, and they have on top of that, now the resurfaced memories of the fact that Christ repeatedly said that he would suffer, die, and be raised. So it seems like based on the gospel accounts that the women are much quicker in their faith than the men are. The women, it's like this is all we need.

And so they with excitement and enthusiasm get up and they go find the 11 disciples and the others that were gathered with them. Look at what they do in verse 9. And they returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. Who are these women now?

They were Mary Magdalene and Joanna. And Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. So they go to the men. that are gathered together, and they're like, you're not going to believe what happened.

We went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. The stone was rolled away. We went in, we couldn't find the body of Jesus. And then there were angelic beings there and the angelic beings told us that Christ was alive and that he had risen from the dead.

And the angels reminded us of how when Jesus was in Galilee heading toward Jerusalem, he kept on saying he would suffer and be crucified and die and be raised on the 3rd day. And so they're sharing this with the men. And how do the men respond? They say, Well, we've got an empty tomb, angelic messengers, and the memory of Christ's own predictions about His suffering and resurrection.

That's all we need. We believe. No, that's not how they respond. Verse 11, but these words, these words appear to them as nonsense.

And they would not believe. This is a stubborn refusal to believe the word nonsense is the Greek word that speaks of the ravings of a crazy person. So they're not just saying you're mistaken, they're saying you're crazy. And you've lost your mind and what you're saying is the ravings of someone who has gone crazy with grief, and it says, and they would not believe them, and the tense of this is that they were persistently refusing to believe them, meaning that the women would have observed, Wait a minute, they're not believing us.

And so they're re-explaining, saying, No, wait a minute, listen, this actually happened, and then another lady saying, Yes, it did. I was there, and, and the 11. And the others were persistently refusing to believe the testimony. Of these women.

Well, no doubt the women would have given up in frustration, and I'm, I'm sure they were wild-eyed and out of breath, right? And in a state of shock over what they had experienced, I'm sure that maybe made the disciples, it fed into their notion that maybe they were crazy and speaking nonsense, but they would have said all this to the 11 and the others, and eventually when they weren't being heeded, they would have gone on to share it with other people. And after they left the room, Peter, a typical man, verse 12, starts thinking, we probably ought to check this out because there may be something to this.

verse 12, so Peter got up and ran to the tomb, and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went away to his home marveling at what had happened.

So he goes to the tomb and sure enough, the stones rolled away, the linen wrappings are here. There's no body. There's no Jesus either. I don't know what to make of this.

So he went on home amazed at this development, but still not believing that Christ had been raised. We know from later in the narrative that Peter would have not been the only one who went to the tomb and found out that the tomb was indeed empty. Others of the 11. And others would have gone as well.

Peter is one of them. So we've got an empty tomb, angelic messengers announcing Christ has been raised, Christ's own predictions of his suffering and resurrection that they're now remembering. but there's now a 4th piece of evidence that God offers to them to bring them further in their journey of actually believing that Christ was raised from the dead, and that is Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ's suffering and resurrection. Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ's suffering and His resurrection.

Look at how this unfolds beginning in verse 13. And behold, two of them speaking of two of the disciples or those who were with the 11, 2 of these close followers of Jesus were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was west of the city of Jerusalem and by the way, it was about, it was a downhill journey for the most part, about 7 miles from Jerusalem, so they would have been in Jerusalem long enough to hear the report of the women. We know that from what they're going to say in just a moment.

But eventually they would have realized there's nothing that's going to happen here in Jerusalem, so we're going home to Emmaus.

So they began this largely downhill trek 7 miles to Emmaus, and as they're walking, verse 14, they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. And while they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them. So he just starts walking with them. says in verse 16, their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

They didn't recognize that this is Jesus. Verse 17, as he joins up with them, it says, and he said to them, What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still looking sad. They have an empty tomb, angelic messengers announcing Christ has been raised, the memory that Christ repeatedly said, I'm going to suffer, be crucified, and rise on the third day, and yet they're standing here looking sad.

And one of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of these things which have happened here in these days? And I love this verse 19. And Jesus said to them, What? What, what, what things?

Verse 19, and they said to him, the things about Jesus, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word and the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. Look at this verse 21, but we were hoping, past tense. We're not hoping anymore. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to deliver or redeem Israel.

But right now, we don't believe and we're not hoping in him anymore. Indeed, besides all this, it is the 3rd day since these things happen. Look at this verse 22. But also they say to Jesus, not knowing it's Jesus, Some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body.

They came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. By the way, notice their language. There's only one fact that they acknowledge to be true about the experience of the women, and that is that they found the tomb empty. They believe that.

Look at their look at their wording. That when they, the women were at the tomb early in the morning, they did not find his body, and they came saying, That they had seen a vision of the angels. They didn't. They're not saying to Jesus there were women at the tomb.

It was empty, and they also saw angels. They're not accepting that as fact. They're saying they found that it was empty. We believe that, but they came to us saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

Verse 24, here's why they accept the fact that the tomb was empty. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but him they did not see. And that's the end of the story. And that's why they're standing there looking sad.

And that's why they were hoping that Jesus would deliver Israel, but they're not hoping in him anymore. And so Jesus looks at them and they still don't know that it's Jesus. And he speaks to them, verse 25, and Jesus said to them, Oh foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken. What a great conversation starter.

You're a stranger, you meet up with these two guys and ask them what they're talking about, and as soon as they're done explaining it, you, you rebuke them. You are foolish and you are slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Look at this. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?

Then, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning Himself and all the scriptures. This is amazing. I would love to have been there, by the way. Imagine walking with these two guys for 7 miles while Jesus is conducting a Bible study with you.

And he's just going through the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi and explaining all these things in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures concerning himself and just opening your eyes to all the ways that the Hebrew scriptures speak of Jesus Christ. And no doubt as he walked this through with them, he took them to Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 to 267. which predicted the exact year that the Messiah would enter into Jerusalem and how that in Zechariah 9:9 he would enter riding upon a donkey and how the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures prophesized that the Messiah would actually come to suffer and to die and in suffering he would bear the sins of many and in dying, Isaiah 53, he would be.

Offering himself as a guilt offering, so that sinners can have forgiveness and atonement, and how on the other side of that dying Isaiah 53, God would prolong the days of the one who had died.

That's the resurrection. And so he just walks them all the way through the Old Testament scriptures, explaining why it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and necessary for him to rise from the dead. See, I think part of the reason that these disciples could not understand the resurrection is because they had no understanding of the suffering. They're devastated.

They have no theology in which to understand the suffering of the Messiah. It's a total contradiction of everything that they believed. But Jesus is now expanding their mind to understand the sufferings and the resurrection of the Messiah. I'm struck by the fact that Jesus didn't respond to them by saying, Hey guys, it's me.

He doesn't just appear to them yet, because had he done that, they, they didn't have the categories in their brain to even know what to do with the appearance of Jesus. They wouldn't have known what to make of it. So first of all, he does some heart level work and taking them through the scriptures of the things concerning himself, helping them to understand his suffering. And the fact that the Messiah would be raised.

And after having done that spadework in their hearts, he is now ready to reveal Himself to them. And this is the 5th piece of evidence that God provides for these early followers of Jesus that bring them to a point of faith and belief in the resurrection of Jesus. And that is 3 personal appearances. Of the resurrected Christ.

Look at how this unfolds. This is so human. And we find ourselves in this story in so many ways. Verse 28, so they're walking 7 miles, and as they approached the village where they were going, Jesus acted as though he were going farther.

But they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening. So now we know it's later in the day, towards 6 o'clock, and the day is now nearly over, they say. And so Jesus is like, OK, I'll come and stay with you for the night. So he went in to stay with them.

Now, what happens next is very interesting. Typically, back in this day, if you made a long journey like this, your first thought when you get into the house is, let's eat something, and you would have pulled out bread and something to drink. And back in this day, if you were a guest in someone's home, you let the host serve the food, break the bread, and bless the food, and then serve it to you. Jesus, however, does not do that.

he takes control of the situation because now he's ready to reveal himself to them. Look at this in verse 30. And when he had reclined at the table, that's their table and their home as a guest, when he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and he blessed it and breaking it, he began giving it to them. Imagine having a guest in your home.

And they sit down at the table and they just start serving everyone and they're like, OK, let's pray, and they take control of the blessing and saying grace and they're monitoring everything and that's what Jesus does. He's the host. To their surprise, And something about Jesus blessing the bread, and they had heard him do that before, breaking the bread. They had seen him do that before, giving the bread to them.

They had had that happen before, and as he's handing the bread to them, they're no doubt observing his hands that bear some wounds that are striking and unusual. And on top of that, God does a miracle of opening their eyes to see who this one is. It says in verse 31, then their eyes were open, and they recognized him. They're like, suddenly, wait a minute, this is Jesus.

So he had given them the bread, maybe they had just taken a mouthful of bread, taken a bite out of the bread. And right at that point, it's like, this is Jesus. And with a mouth full of bread, they're like, oh my goodness. This is Jesus who's been walking with us, and explaining the scriptures to us.

This is Jesus right in front of us. And the moment they recognized him, look at this, he vanished from their sight. He's gone. And, imagine that happening to you, and now these two disciples.

are staring at each other with their jaws. Hanging open, a mouthful of bread, like. Can you believe this? This was Jesus.

And they're like, now we understand verse 32, and they said to one another, we're not our hearts on fire. We're not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road and while he was explaining the scriptures to us. And look what they do next verse 33, and they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. Guys, they just did a 7 mile hike down to Emmaus, largely downhill.

And they get up now that they know that Jesus is alive, and that was him. They get up that very hour, and they begin a 7 mile trek back to Jerusalem, largely uphill, but they don't care. They don't mind. And I guarantee you they didn't walk.

They're like, we got to get back to Jerusalem, and we got to announce this. We got to tell Jesus' disciples and the others that he has in fact made an appearance. And so they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. And when they got to Jerusalem, they found gathered together the 11 and those who were with them.

And they no doubt burst into the room. And they start to say, you guys are not going to believe what happened to us. But before they can speak, The 11 and the others with them, say, you're not going to believe what happened to us. And so the 11 and the others say to these two disciples, the Lord has really risen, and he's appeared to Simon, Simon Peter, and then the two disciples respond by saying, Well, you're not going to believe what happened to us, verse 35, and they began to relate their experiences on the road, and how Jesus was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

So they start telling him we were walking to Emmaus and someone started traveling with us and it was Jesus and we didn't know it and we told him what was going on because he asked us what we were talking about and then he rebuked us and And then he began to open up the Old Testament scriptures to us of why it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die and be raised from the dead on the 3rd day, and he just walks from Genesis to Malachi. And no doubt these two disciples are like walking them through some of the stuff that Jesus has shared with them.

And as they're doing so, the minds of the 11 and the others gathered there are being expanded, categories are being created now to ready them for Christ now to make an appearance to all of them together. And that's exactly what Jesus does in verse 36.

It says, and while they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst. Just boom, he's there. he didn't knock at the door. he didn't announce from outside, this is Jesus, I've been resurrected.

I'll give you a minute to collect yourself and then you can let me in. No, they're, they're, they're all talking and huddled together. And suddenly, as if he had been there all along, Jesus is just there. And he says peace to you, which was their way of saying hi.

It just He appears and hello. Peace be to you, and they experience anything but peace. In response, it says in verse 37, but they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. Nowadays, even in quote unquote Christian circles, there's people who say we believe in the resurrection of Christ, but not his body.

It wasn't a physical resurrection. It was a spiritual resurrection. The disciples, if they could hear that today, they would go, that was our theory. We actually thought that that was our first theory.

When we began to understand that some resurrection taken place. Our first theory was that it was something of a spiritual resurrection. Because when we saw him for the first time, we thought we were seeing a spirit. And no doubt, look at this verse 38, there's still a ton of doubts.

And Jesus said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your heart? See, they're still not at a place of faith in believing this. He's now right in front of them, a few feet away from them.

And there's doubts just springing up and ricocheting throughout their hearts. And Jesus says, why are you doubting? Look at this verse 39. See my hands and my feet, so that they would be able to see the wounds and know that this is the one who was crucified.

See my hands and see my feet that it is I myself. In fact, let's do better than that. Touch me. And he would walk over to them, touch me.

I want you to touch me and see that 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. So imagine the scene there, they all have these doubts. They're not sure what to think, and Jesus is saying, Look at my hands, look at my feet.

In fact, touch me. And so they're like, they're touching his hands. They're thrusting their hand into his side. They're touching his feet, probably.

touching his face and his hair, and they're handling him. decades later, the apostle John in First John chapter one says what we have seen with our eyes, what we've touched with our hands, what our hands have handled concerning the word of life. John never forgot this occasion where he actually handled Jesus after his resurrection. And so this crowd of the 11 and the others gathered there, they're touching him to verify that this is in fact a physical bodily resurrection.

So think about it, guys. We've got an empty tomb, angelic messengers in lighting clothing announcing that Christ has been raised, Christ's multiple predictions of the fact that He would suffer, be crucified, and rise from the dead on the 3rd day. Old Testament prophecies that prophesy of the sufferings of the Messiah and the resurrection to follow. And now Jesus Christ appearing to the two disciples, to Simon Peter, and now to all of them, they're looking at him just a few feet away, and they're actually handling Him.

How did these ancient people respond to that? Did they believe at that point? Amazingly, look at verse 41, and while they still could not believe. Because of their joy and amazement.

In the face of all of this evidence, they still could not believe, and the language here is utterly fascinating to me. While they still could not believe it because of their joy, what does that mean? They couldn't believe because of their joy. They couldn't believe because of their amazement.

What does that mean? Here's what it means. They're now starting to believe, and explosions of emotion and joy are now coursing through their being, the feelings they're feeling are absolutely incredible. And that scares them.

And they're like, wow, these emotions of joy are so strong. But we dare not allow our emotions to govern our intellect. We dare not just believe this is true, simply because it makes us joyful. You see how intellectually honest they're actually being.

And they could not believe because of their amazement, meaning they, they had so many questions. He's right here, we see him, we're touching him and handling him and feeling him. And it seems like he's physically, bodily raised from the dead. But how can that be?

And there's so many questions. that we have that are left unanswered. And in the absence of figuring that out and having those questions answered, we dare not let ourselves believe. They're very reluctant to believe.

And so imagine Jesus, he, they're, they're touching him and handling him, and he still observes, they still don't get it. They don't believe. They don't believe. And so Jesus is like, what do I need to do here?

I know. I know. Look at this verse 41, and while they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? Verse 42, and they gave him a piece of broiled fish.

Some manuscripts add and honey from a honeycomb, but at the very least it was broiled fish. And he took it and ate it in front of them. So Imagine the scene. They're all huddled around Jesus.

They bring him some broiled fish. He breaks off a piece. He puts it in his mouth. And he chews it, and normally it's not polite to stare at someone when they're eating and chewing their food, but everyone in the room is like watching him put it in his mouth and he's chewing it.

And then he swallows and he watches Adam's apple and they're like, Oh my goodness, that's, he's actually eating this. This is not a spirit, and there was broiled fish here on this plate and now there's not any anymore. It's gone. It's inside of his, his body and something about seeing Jesus eating this fish brought them to a place of finality.

It put their doubts to rest, and they came at the end of this first Easter to a place of saying, OK. OK. We believe that Christ was physically and bodily raised from the dead. What a beautiful story.

What does this chapter mean to us? Let me just mention a few things real quickly in closing. What what we learned from Luke 24 is this, that it means that if you have doubts, the early followers of Jesus would actually understand. If you came to them and just said, I don't know about this thing about Jesus being raised from the dead, physically, bodily, they would say, well, we get that, we get that.

We, we had those same doubts. A passage like this teaches us that we can be honest about our doubts. If someone's not a Christian and they come to me expressing their doubts, I'm not offended by that. we have this even in scripture of even the followers of Jesus having serious doubts about whether Christ was raised or not.

So this passage teaches us that we can be honest about our doubts, that we might have regarding Christian belief. However, what Luke 24 also teaches us is that God has Answered those doubts. And that Christ Jesus has in fact been physically raised from the dead. God sees our doubts.

He understands our doubts, and He saw and understood the doubts of Christ's closest followers, and God went to tremendous lengths to bring them to a place of believing that Christ had in fact been Raised from the dead. And in the text of Scripture, listen, God knows all of your doubts, and he addresses those doubts in the text of the Bible. I would encourage you that if you're, you're not a Christian, but you're investigating Christianity, open up the Bible, open up these gospel narratives and just read, read and let God, who knows you and who understands your doubts like no one else, let him speak to those doubts.

And show you what is true of Jesus, especially Regarding the question of was Jesus raised from the dead or not, a final thing that I think I want to pull out of Luke 24 in terms of what this chapter means is that it means that you have a savior in Jesus Christ if you want one.

You have a Savior in Jesus. Jesus sits down with the disciples after they're at a place of faith, believing that he's raised from the dead. And he says in Luke 24:46, Thus it is written that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead, the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. What he's teaching there is that the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead, It changes everything for everyone.

Including everyone in this room, he says, My resurrection from the dead is good news for all the nations, not just for the Jews, but wherever someone is on the planet, whatever nationality, whatever ethnicity, the fact that I died for their sins and was raised from the dead, this affects everyone of every nation. This is good news for everyone of every nationality and ethnicity. And because I died, and because I was raised from the dead, there is now forgiveness of sins to those who repent.

He says that in verse 47.

If you're here today and you've never received the forgiveness of your sins through Jesus Christ and Him alone. The message of verse 47 is you need to repent in order to receive forgiveness from this resurrected one. You say, what does it mean to repent? What means to change your mind?

It means to repent of your sin. It means to say, I don't want to live with sin as my master anymore. I want this Jesus, who conquered death and sin to be my master. It also means that you repent of your righteousness.

It means that all those good things that you've done that you're banking on to endear you to God when you stand before Him at the judgment, the fact that you gave this to this charity and maybe saved this person's life and helped out this person and all the good deeds you've done that you like to review in your mind when you think about standing before God on Judgment Day. Did that the teaching of the Bible is that you need to repent of those acts of righteousness? You need to repent of your dependence upon your goodness and your good works to be what earns your way into heaven.

It also means that you repent of your unbelief.

If you've been living your life up to this point, not believing in Jesus, you've been avoiding Him either by plunging into sin and living your own way, or by trying to be a good person and being good enough to where you don't need Jesus. Either way, you need to repent of your unbelief. The fact that Christ died and the fact that He was raised from the dead means that He's the sovereign Lord of the universe and you will answer to Him one day and God calls you to pay homage to His Son and to believe in Him, to see your bankruptcy, the bankruptcy of your own righteousness, and to come to Jesus and say, I repent of my sins.

I want you to be my master, not sin.

And all of my righteousness that I used to think was pretty impressive. I'm not impressed with that righteousness anymore. I see your righteousness, Jesus, and I say, that's the righteousness that I want to be dressed in when I stand before God. And I repent of my unbelief.

And today, I call upon you for salvation. And I believe in you. If you've never done that, I would encourage you. I would beg of you to do that today, even where you're seated.

Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning. I take a moment to, to pray for those of us that know the Lord, we learned so much from this. Our faith is strengthened by this narrative. We also learned that we can be honest about our doubts that sometimes persist on many levels.

No one understands our doubts more than God and no one speaks to those so effectively as God and His word. We need to be in the Bible, reading and letting our God who knows us inside and out, speak to us. And address our doubts and our fears and our anxieties. If you're here today and you've never put your trust in Christ and repented and Asked him to be your Lord and Savior.

You could do that right where you're seated. Please do that. After the service, I'm gonna be upfront. I would, I would consider it an honor to be able to just pray with you and talk with you.

So feel free to come up and talk to me afterwards at our information booth, after our service, there's literature, there's Bibles, if you want a copy of the Bible and other literature that might be of help to you. We're here to serve you. Thank you for being here. Let us serve you today and lead you into a relationship with God.

We're going to take up an offering in just a moment. We would encourage you to give as the Lord leads you to give. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, for the beauty, and for the clarity of your word.

Thank you for speaking to us today, Lord. We receive your message and we say to you that we trust in You. Receive our offerings that we give and do much with these funds that we give for the glory of Jesus. We give ourselves to you in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.