Walking with the Risen Christ
Notes
Transcript
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Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
The Resurrection is Hard to Believe
The Resurrection is Hard to Believe
The resurrection is one of people’s main objections to Christianity.
How many of you have seen someone rise from the dead? Someone you know died and was buried and then you saw them alive again after that? (Only in the movies on TV)
If you find it hard to believe that someone who died and was buried could come back to life again, you’re not alone; the disciples of Jesus also had a hard time believing it.
The Women going to the tomb had a hard time believing
While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
And they remembered his words,
The Apostles who heard the women’s report had a hard time believing it
Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,
but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Other disciples who heard the report had a hard time believing
and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning,
and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
His disciples even had a hard time believing when they saw him with their own eyes
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
Is it hard for you to believe? If so, you’re not alone.
Why is it hard to believe?
Why is it hard to believe?
-it goes against our experience (we’ve never seen it happen) so it seems illogical
-it is a supernatural event (not humanly possible)
-this is a truth that must be spiritually understood and received
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Our eyes are naturally blind and unable to see and believe what is true
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
If the very people hearing Jesus’s words did not understand it, how much harder is it for us today?
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
God must open our spiritual eyes and minds to the truths of Jesus Christ and His Word.
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
So if you don’t believe this, or you find it hard to believe, pray right now that God would do this for you: that He would open your eyes and give you spiritual sight to know and believe that this is true. It is true, whether you see it or not; so pray for spiritual sight if you find it hard to believe.
How does God open our spiritual eyes to the truth of Jesus’s death and resurrection?
How does God open our spiritual eyes to the truth of Jesus’s death and resurrection?
-through the Scriptures (especially the OT)
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Faith is spiritual sight, and it comes about through hearing God’s Word about Christ (the gospel).
-this is necessary for both our initial faith in Christ and our ongoing faith in him, which is why God’s Word must play an active role in our lives.
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
What are some of the Scriptures (OT) that Jesus used to explain these truths to his disciples?
Luke doesn’t tell us here, but in Acts he reports some of the sermons of the Apostles and other disciples who preached the death and resurrection of Christ from the Old Testament.
Peter preached from Psalm 16
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
(Peter also quotes Psalm 110 later on in his sermon)
In Acts 4 the Apostles use Psalm 2 in their prayer to refer to Jesus as the Messiah
In Acts 8, Philip preaches Christ from Isaiah 53
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
What is the good news about Jesus that Philip explained from Isaiah 53?
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
The Good News about Jesus:
The Good News about Jesus:
Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus died for our sins.
1. Jesus died for our sins. (He died in the place of sinners, taking the punishment that we deserve, forgiving our sins, taking away our guilt and shame, giving us his righteousness and eternal life)
“stricken for the transgression of my people” (v. 8)
“his soul made an offering for guilt” (v. 10)
“he shall bear their iniquities” (v. 11)
“he bore the sin of many” (v. 12)
God planned this.
God planned this.
2. God planned this — God was the only one who could atone for our sins.
“It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (v. 10)
After he died, he lives again.
After he died, he lives again.
3. Even after he died for our sins, he is alive and receiving honors from God the Father
When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring (v. 10)
he shall prolong his days (v. 10)
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death… (v. 12)
The Gospel is right there in Isaiah 53.
Is your heart burning?
Is your heart burning?
They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Believe!
Pray for God to open your eyes to see the glory of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Let your heart burn with love and joy as you walk with the Risen Christ and hear his voice and see him in his Word.
Pray
Communion Service
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
As we partake of the Lord’s Supper, may God help our experience to be like these first disciples of Jesus. May God open our eyes to recognize Christ.
I invite all of you who are believers in Jesus Christ, who have trusted in him as the only Lord and Savior, who believe that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again on the third day—I invite you to partake with us and enjoy communion with God and each other as we gather around the Lord’s Table to eat and drink and remember who Christ is and what he has done for us.
If you are not a believer, I ask you to abstain. The Bible says that those who eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord unworthily are eating and drinking judgment on themselves — so don’t do that.
But if you’re a believer (even if you just started trusting him today), please join us.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.