Sermon Tone Analysis

I’m reminded of a story which I included at the close of the book that I wrote on the church.

A London Times reporter was interviewing people who were helping to build the great cathedral in London.

The architecture was Sir Christopher Wren, a very famous architect and the name of the cathedral, and it still stands of course, is St. Paul’s.

And the London Times reporter was going along, checking with various workmen just to keep up with the progress of the construction.

And he came to one man and he said to him, “What are you doing?”

He says, “I’m putting this rock in the slot.

Isn’t it obvious?”

He came to a second man doing the very same thing and he said, “What are you doing, sir?”

He said, “I’m earning a day’s living.”

He came to a third man doing identically the same thing, he said, “What are you doing, sir?”

He said, “Why, I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul’s Cathedral.”

I guess it all depends on your perspective, doesn’t it?

And I wonder sometimes if Christians really understand what they’re doing.

For some Christians it’s just kind of like sticking a rock in a slot, it’s just kind of filling time.

For other Christians I think it’s just kind of, “Well I’m trying to earn my reward so that when I get to heaven, you know, I get a halfway decent place.”

But I wonder if we really understand that theChristian life is all about helping the Lord Jesus Christ to finish the work that He began.

v. 3 By the way is the only place that tells us that the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension was precisely 40 days.

The number 40 seems to have special significance in Scripture:

The rains fell for 40 days and 40 nights before Noah’s flood ().

Moses spent 40 days in God’s presence on Mt.

Sinai ().

The 12 spies spent 40 days exploring the land of Canaan ().

A Generation wandered in the wilderness 40 years ().

Jonah warned Nineveh of coming judgment in 40 days ().

Jesus was tempted the wilderness for 40 days ()

Jesus appeared to the disciples for 40 days after his resurrection ().

The New Bible Dictionary suggests the following meaning for the number forty:

Forty is associated with almost each new development in the history of God’s mighty acts, especially of salvation, e.g. the Flood, redemption from Egypt, Elijah and the prophetic era, the advent of Christ and the birth of the church.

You might say it this way: When you see the number forty, pay attention because it usually means that God is about to do something significant in the world.

Christ was tempted for 40 days at the beginning of his ministry and appeared to the disciples for 40 days at the end of his ministry.

And so we come to the last days of Jesus Christ on the earth.

For 33 years He has made the earth his home.

Now the time draws near to leave.

We’re beyond the cross, past the suffering, the torture, the mocking, and even beyond the resurrection.

We’re in that mysterious forty day period that we’d like to know more about.

About one hundred years ago two men who were skeptics, who had lectured against the Bible, decided they would issue a volume about the impossibility of the claims of Christianity.

One was Lord Littleton, a member of the House of Lords, well known in England.

The other was Dr. Nathanael West, a well-known scholar and writer.

They decided to do this but they also considered themselves honest men.

They said, “Before we issue a treatise on the impossibility of the claims of Christ in the Bible, we will give the Bible a hearing.

We will read the Bible, we will study the four Gospels,” and they did.

Each man by himself in his own study took the New Testament, and read the four Gospels and studied them.

Both men were finally saved, both were led to Christ, and left a record and testimony that stirred all England.

Luke offers three proofs that Jesus rose from the dead.

First, he says that Jesus appeared to them.

The Greek word for “appeared” is ophthalmia—which means the eye or the eyeball.

(We get the modern word Ophthalmology—the study of the eye and the treatment of eye diseases–from this Greek word).

In modern terminology, Luke is telling us that the disciples “eyeballed” Jesus.

They looked him over in great detail, examined his wounds, and satisfied themselves that it was the same Jesus they had known and loved.

Second, Jesus spoke with them.

He talked with them about the kingdom of God and prepared them for his departure.

Third, he ate with them.

tells us that when he appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem, they were frightened and thought he was a ghost.

He invited them to examine his wounds and see for themselves that he was real.

What happens next has always seemed a bit humorous to me.

How do you prove to someone that you have come back from the dead?

If you ever find yourself in that situation, here’s a tip.

Ask people to give you something to eat.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘‘Do you have anything here to eat?”

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence ().

A ghost can do many things, but no ghost can eat a Big Mac.

By eating with them, Jesus proved beyond question that he was alive.

(2) ENUNCIATED BY GOD

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is,

(a) AFFIRMED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:

David predicted it: He said, “For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy one to see corruption.” () Isaiah predicted it, for he said, “For He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.”

() Job predicted it, he said

“I know that my redeemer liveth.”

() So this great historical fact of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus is (a) and it is,

(b) CONFIRMED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:

Listen to the testimony of Matthew: “The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again.”

() Listen to the testimony of Mark, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.”

() What about Luke? “The Son of Man must suffer many things …. and be slain and be raised the third day.”

(9:22) And John says, “Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

He spake of the temple of His body.”

(2:19-21) Do you see that Christ predicted His resurrection in an unmistakeable and straightforward manner?

No wonder our Lord’s foes remembered such promises as these.

The marvel is that His friends forgot them.

So the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is (1) (2)

(3) SUBSTANTIATED BY FACT

Do you see what Luke says?

“He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs,” (1:3) This word is a medical word, its also a word from the field of logic.

It means demonstrable evidences, undeniable evidences.

You see, for a whole 40 day period of time after His resurrection the Lord Jesus walked on this earth demonstrating to His disciples that He was absolutely alive and He did it with evidences that cannot be denied.

Some years ago in England there was a young lawyer by the name of Frank Morrison.

He was an unbeliever.

For years he had promised himself that one day he would write a book to disprove the resurrection finally, and forever.

At last he got the time.

He was an honest man and did the work and study.

He intended of course to omit any suspicion of the miraculous and utterly discount the resurrection.

But when he came to study the facts with care, he had to change his mind.

Indeed after accepting Christ as his Savior he wrote entitled “Who moved the Stone?”

A book which sets forward the resurrection as substantiated by fact.

You see, “He showed Himself alive …. by many infallible proofs.”

What are these proofs?

(a) THE VACATED TOMB:

Luke speaking of the women says, “And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.”

(24:3) My …. the stone was rolled away not to let the Savior out but to let the women and the disciples in.

Now the body of Christ was there when the tomb was sealed.