Latest / HBCWestminster / 5.1.22 Luke 24:33-49 Pastor Danny Gardner

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5.1.22 Luke 24:33-49 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, Luke 24 and verse 33, if you have that open in your Bibles and are able to stand in honor of God's word, I would ask you to do that now as I read our text. We'll pray and begin. 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.
• 0:30
  As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? 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?
• 1:01
  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 and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
• 1:30
  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. Pray with me. Father God, we bless you. We thank you for worship, Lord, because music often puts words to our faith. It expresses our gratitude. It even prepares our minds to receive your implanted word. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for being our Savior, our Shepherd, our ever-present help in time of need.
• 1:59
  And Holy Spirit, we ask that you would illuminate your scriptures to us. May we yield to your leading and to your guidance, to your authority, to your interpretation, and even to your application of your holy word. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, certainly the Lord was about to do something new and unexpected as he began appearing to his followers.
• 2:26
  His words began penetrating even the hearts of those who had already followed him to Jerusalem, those who already believed him to be a prophet and a miracle worker. But now, because of that holy heartburn we discussed last week, now that explanation of the scriptures that he offered caused in them a renewed sense of belief. They believed him now to be their Savior and the Redeemer.
• 2:51
  We ended last Sunday with a challenge to me to be a good preacher. I said last Sunday, I hope there never comes a day when we have to budget a staff position whose sole job it is to keep you all awake during the sermons. We also ended last Sunday with a challenge to you to be good listeners, that each of us should commit to receive the implanted word, that it would dwell richly in us, that our hearts would be fertile ground for the seed of the gospel.
• 3:20
  We would ask the Lord to grant us, as the word is preached, that same type of holy heartburn. May we as a church hear the word rightly divided and leave changed. Amen? Amen. Well, as parents, we often have to field some difficult questions.
• 3:41
  As our kids grow older, eventually to mature into adults, we begin to realize how many things in our past we may have to confess to our sons and daughters that we did or participated in, things that we would rather they avoid. We begin to get questions as our sons and daughters grow, like this one, Dad, have you ever been arrested? Well, I've been detained. Is that the same thing? Dad?
• 4:14
  You ever been held at gunpoint? Yes. Dad, you ever had a warrant out for your arrest? Yes. Dad, have you ever been tased? No, no, I've never been tased. However, I was having lunch with a very good friend this week who carries a badge who offered to remedy that for me if I wanted. He's like, Danny, we can set you up right now. No, I'm good.
• 4:48
  You know, all of these questions actually pale, and no matter how difficult those questions are, all of those questions pale in comparison to this one. You don't really believe that Jesus rose from the dead, do you? You say, well, yeah, I do. Then the next question that often follows is this one. Doesn't that make you crazy? You ever stop and think, church, for a moment about how crazy we are?
• 5:24
  or at least how crazy we must appear, we believe that a man died and rose from the grave. That's bonkers, right? I mean, at least it must appear to be so. According to those who are outside the faith, those who have never bent the knee to the Lord Jesus, those who don't have his Holy Spirit illuminating the scriptures for us to understand its truths, we must seem absolutely nuts.
• 5:55
  I mean, we gather once or twice a week. We close our eyes and raise our hands and sing. That's not a normal thing in our culture. We sing, we would say, to a person who must appear to them to be thin air. We close our eyes. We bow our heads. We hold hands with one another before we eat. You know, nothing you've ever done in your life is as crazy as believing that a man raised from the dead.
• 6:26
  Every Easter we say He is risen. The congregation echoes, He is risen indeed. A crazy statement. I said last week that the gospel without a living Jesus is lifeless. A gospel without a living Jesus is really no gospel at all. The resurrection of Christ is essential to the gospel message, church. It is foundational to our faith. Jesus is the cornerstone of the church. His resurrection is the capstone of our doctrine.
• 6:58
  We are here because he rose. And catch this, church, make sure to pay attention for just a minute. If all else were equal, if everything else that Jesus had said were the same, he preached all the same words, he said all the same sermons, if he had performed all the same miracles, if he died the exact same death and was buried and yet did not rise, you just take out that one little piece, then none of us would be here right now.
• 7:30
  If Jesus didn't rise, then we really would be crazy, right? Because we worship him and sing to him as if he's alive. The Apostle Paul had to deal with this question at the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15. He was asked that question, what if Jesus didn't rise from the dead? And he said it this way, if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
• 8:00
  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. If in Christ we hope in this life only, if this is it, we are of all people to be pitied. Did you catch what he's saying? We are the most pitiful people on earth. We are to be pitied if Jesus is still in the dirt.
• 8:27
  The reality is, church, we are not just a people who hold to conservative values. We're not just a people who attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We're not just a people who live by the golden rule. We are not a social club. We're not a rec center. The church is not a sewing circle where we gather together with a few friends once a week, we discuss the latest gossip, and then we go home. The church.
• 8:55
  is a body of people who believe in, indeed, who have been fully convinced of the gospel message and who, in turn, desire to serve and to worship a crucified and resurrected Lord. That's who we are. Amen? That's who we are. We are convinced that a man, a perfect, sinless God-man, died and rose from the dead. And it is our goal now to serve and to worship Him with our lives. And all of that, all of that belief,
• 9:23
  is based not on wishful thinking or delusion or weak-mindedness or a desire just to believe in fairy tales. We're just the people who like fairy tales. That's not us. That belief is based upon fact, upon evidence which proves conclusively that Christ really did rise from the dead. I mentioned on Easter a few brief supports for the resurrection, primarily...
• 9:48
  That if the resurrection story, as recorded in the scriptures, really had been doctored, as most skeptics believe, that it's just a compilation of manipulated documents written and produced by men, if that were the case, then the events described in the scriptures would have been written very differently. The fact that the gospel writers record such a strange sequence of events actually leads the reader to draw the most logical conclusion.
• 10:18
  which is that the biblical record really is true. You can imagine for a moment the emotional roller coaster that those two disciples on the Emmaus Road had been on. We discussed this last Sunday as Cleopas and his unnamed friend were traveling home, disheartened, discouraged, confused, from Jerusalem back to Emmaus. They had first, being fully convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, actually followed him to Jerusalem for the Passover. They hailed him as king.
• 10:51
  They sang songs. They waved palm branches as Jesus rode a donkey in the manner which all kings did up to the city. They would have been elated. They'd been waiting for hundreds of years for this very day. And then when Jesus took possession of the temple, he walked up there and made a whip and started beating people and flipping over tables.
• 11:13
  driving out the money changers, putting a halt to the corrupt schemes of the temple authorities, Cleopas and his buddy would have been fully convinced that Jesus was just getting warmed up. But then only a few days later, Jesus was dead and buried. And then they were fully convinced that he must not have been the long-awaited Messiah, that he would not be the Redeemer of Israel. And they left Jerusalem confused and probably even feeling abandoned.
• 11:45
  And as they were walking home that same evening, Sunday evening, what we know as Resurrection Sunday, they're walking home, making that seven or so mile trek home. They were discussing amongst themselves the things that they had seen and witnessed. And who should show up? Jesus himself. Jesus begins walking along. And do you remember this from last Sunday? He begins playing dumb. What are you guys talking about? Well, all of the things that have just happened in Jerusalem. What things?
• 12:17
  Are you the only one? Are you the only person? They literally ask, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know what's been going on? No, why don't you enlighten me? About Jesus of Nazareth. I mean, he was a prophet and a mighty miracle worker, and we thought he was going to be the redeemer of Israel, but I guess not because he was dead, and now it's been three days, and a bunch of our friends, all the ladies go to his tomb to care for his body, but they all came back and said the tomb is empty, and they think maybe he rose from the dead, and we can't figure it out. We're just walking home.
• 12:48
  And Jesus, it says, opened their minds and opened the scriptures so that they would see, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. All of that, all of the Old Testament, he says, it's all about me. It's all been pointing forward to this very day. And right in front of them, he breaks into their conversation and then fully convinces them again that he really had risen.
• 13:16
  Now you'll recall if you've been with us for the last two and a half years or so as we have studied the gospel of Luke, and I don't presume that you'll remember a sermon from two and a half years ago. I don't presume that anybody remembers from one Sunday to the next anything that I say. But we did at one point study Luke chapter 1. And the gospelist records in Luke chapter 1 in verse 3 his purpose for writing the text. He says in Luke chapter 1, I write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. I love that name.
• 13:46
  It literally means God lover. Most excellent God lover that you may have certainty concerning the things which you have been taught. Luke penned his gospel to convince those who had been taught about Christ's claims of the truth of Christ's claims. His gospel was to be used as a history text compelling his readers to believe. And now here the gospel account ends with irrefutable evidence for the truth of the resurrection in order to convince us yet.
• 14:17
  And so let me just begin by asking you, church, have you been fully convinced? If so, if you really are convinced that Jesus, the God-man, died, that he was buried, and you really are convinced that he rose from the dead, then does your life reflect that truth? How would, if you really did believe?
• 14:46
  that Jesus rose from the dead as proof that his death can forgive sins, then how differently would your life be lived being convinced? You notice we find the answer to that in Cleopas and his friends' response. In verse 33, 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. There it is, the very first, he has risen indeed in church history.
• 15:15
  And he has appeared to Simon. And they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Notice the text says they rose that very hour. It would have been very late in the day as they had discussed on the way back home. And Jesus began to preach. Remember, their intention even was to stay at some inn, maybe halfway.
• 15:37
  back home, and they convince Jesus to stay with them. He offers them bread. As soon as they take the bread, they recognize him, and boom, he vanished from their midst. And that very hour, we assume maybe 9 or 10 p.m., and they weren't even in the city anymore, they decide to go back to Jerusalem. The news they had could not wait. They had encountered the resurrected Christ, and their first thought was to share that news with others.
• 16:10
  Well, church, what about you? Have you encountered the resurrected Christ? And if so, are you actively sharing that news with others? You know, I get asked occasionally why our church doesn't often do formal altar calls in the church services. We do them occasionally, but we don't do them every Sunday, as is some church's tradition. Why not altar calls where I'm calling people forward to receive Christ every Sunday?
• 16:40
  The reason is that although all people of any background of belief are really welcome in our worship services, and if you're here this morning and you don't know the Lord, you have not yet been fully convinced, then we are so glad that you're here. You're welcome here. But the worship services themselves are not primarily for unbelievers. Let me say it very clearly, that if you're here this morning and you don't know the Lord, we're so glad that you're here. You're welcome with us.
• 17:11
  But the church, by definition, is a gathering of who? Believers. That's who it's for. Those who have been convinced, and I've reminded us of this truth frequently, that it is not my job to share the gospel with your neighbors. Right? It's your job to share the gospel with your neighbors.
• 17:43
  That's why the Lord made them your neighbors and not my neighbors. It's my job to share the gospel with my neighbors.
• 17:55
  and my friends, and my loved ones who don't yet know the Lord, and all of the coaches and kids on those teams that I'm coaching, right? It's my job to do that. That's the sphere of influence that the Lord has placed me in. But it's your job to share the gospel with your neighbors, and your family, and your friends, and your classmates, and co-workers, and teammates who don't yet know the Lord.
• 18:18
  It's my job as the pastor of Highland Baptist Church to equip you for that task. That's my job. My job is to get you ready to go and evangelize. Ephesians chapter four says as much. In verse 11, it says, the Lord gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, those are pastors, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
• 18:41
  for building up of the body of Christ. Philemon in verse six, I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Romans chapter one in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And when Cleopas and his friend encountered Christ, their first response was a good one.
• 19:10
  They went to share the good news. And while they were relating their experience with the apostles, guess who shows up in their midst again? Look at verse 36. As they were talking about these things. They are relating now to the apostles the sermon that Jesus has just preached to them. Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. The apostles were now hearing again additional eyewitness testimonies to the resurrection. And it says Jesus stood.
• 19:40
  Among them and apparently the manner in which Christ appeared was so dramatic that it startled his friends it even says in the next verse they thought they saw a spirit they thought he was a ghost an Apparition they still didn't believe they're hearing eyewitness testimony again. Jesus shows up again in their midst They're looking directly at him and they still refuse to believe
• 20:06
  In fact, John's gospel includes that Jesus appeared among them despite the fact that all the doors were locked. Notice John chapter 20 and verse 19. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, that's Resurrection Sunday, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. The doors were all locked. There was no way Jesus could have gotten inside. He must have, it's concluded, performed.
• 20:35
  A miracle. And so they thought he was a ghost, but his appearance came with a declaration of peace. Peace to you. And praise God for his declarations of peace. You know, friends, on that day, in fact, in that very moment that you put your hope and faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord declared over you peace. Peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 21:08
  But the disciples, the apostles, thought that they were seeing a ghost. You pick up in verse 37, they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? You know, this is not the first time they mistook him for a ghost. Another time, the apostles were told to get into a boat, begin crossing the Sea of Galilee. Do you remember this?
• 21:33
  They begin crossing. For hours, they're out there rowing against the wind and the waves, and they're rowing and rowing and rowing. And one of them looks up and peers across the top of the waves, and they saw what? They see a man walking on the water toward them. They did not assume it was Jesus. They assumed what? It's a ghost. In fact, Jesus even said, don't be afraid. It is I. And remember what the Apostle Peter said? Prove it.
• 22:02
  prove it it's a pretty good question to ask a ghost okay have you ever encountered with one i mean prove it prove you are who you say you are and the lord jesus says jump out of the boat begin walking toward me and peter thought that's probably that's not really what i was asking all right but he did a moment of faith took that step of faith a literal step of faith began walking on the water himself they saw a man walking on the water they thought they were seeing a ghost
• 22:29
  They thought the same thing here. And so what Jesus does is begin to offer proofs that he was not only not a ghost, but that he really did rise from the dead. And make sure you hear this, church. His actual body rose from the dead. We believe that his body died. We also believe that his body rose. But let me ask you, does it matter whether Jesus actually rose bodily from the dead?
• 23:00
  I'm glad you all said yes. You know, there are some, even within Christian circles, who think that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is not that big a deal. It can actually be denied, and yet you can still believe in Jesus for atonement. Al Mohler, in an article entitled, Not All Christians Believe in the Resurrection of Christ, says it well when he says, Belief in the bodily resurrection is not merely foundational. According to Scripture, it is essential.
• 23:29
  The resurrection of Jesus bodily from the grave, he says, is the essence of Christianity. He continues, as Paul argues in Romans chapter 10 and verse 9, the gospel comes down to this. To boil the gospel down, Romans 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God, what's it say? You probably memorized this at some point when you were a kid. You got your little kingdom bucks or whatever they were.
• 24:01
  about your jump rope or whatever it is. Believe in your heart, it says, that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Without the resurrection, he says, there is no forgiveness from sin. There is no salvation. He continues, there is no middle ground between the denial of the resurrection and its affirmation. You can deny it or you can affirm it. There is nothing in between. And he says, one way leads to eternal life, the other to everlasting death.
• 24:31
  Does it matter? Yes, it matters. And Jesus proved his bodily resurrection with a number of proofs. We'll go through them quickly. Notice first his hands and his feet. Look at verse 39. See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Just in case Jesus had an identical twin brother who was now acting as the resurrected Lord.
• 25:01
  And we may chuckle at that, but listen, there are people who have tried to explain away the resurrection as a forgery by saying that Jesus had an identical twin brother that nobody knew about. One brother was crucified and buried. The other one began walking around, appearing to everybody, saying, it is I, the Lord. And Jesus says, no, no. Look at my hands and my feet. The holes in his hands and feet prove that he was the same man who had been crucified.
• 25:30
  Three days earlier, but he continued with his flesh and bones. Continue. He says, touch me and see. So don't just look. Come and touch me. A spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see that I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet in case they thought they were hallucinating or they were seeing a vision or were delusional or this was just some weird projection of Jesus. They were allowed to physically touch him.
• 26:01
  The same challenge he had issued to Thomas, who declared that despite all the evidence, he would never believe unless he could stick his hands in the Lord's side. He later became known as Doubting Thomas because of that. John chapter 20, Thomas said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side. Listen, he didn't just want to look. He didn't just want to touch. He said, if I see him, I'm poking my hand in the hole.
• 26:30
  you imagine that that's what he said and unless i can do that i will never believe i will never believe those are his words eight days later his disciples were inside again and thomas was with them and although the doors were locked again jesus came and stood among them again and said peace be with you again then he said to thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand so you can imagine thomas sticking his hand out and jesus walking over and pressing his hand in go ahead
• 26:59
  Place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. And Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. He finally got it. Yes, this is the guy. Jesus punched home his point by even requesting food. Look at verse 41. While they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and he ate before them.
• 27:30
  This was indeed their resurrected Lord, their friend, and their Savior. This was the same guy but risen. Once they were finally convinced, the Lord issued a commission, and we now call it the Great Commission. The Great Commission, which has a generational application, generational implication upon the church's mission even today. Highland Baptist Church is still fulfilling this.
• 28:00
  Great Commission and you'll notice that that Commission was nothing new in fact It was based in the reality and truth of the scriptures Look at verse 44. 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 in other words all of the Old Testament continues into this commissioning going to all nations
• 28:31
  is not new in fact it's not even novel to the new testament god's heart for all peoples began in the very beginning it has always been the lord's intention that all peoples would hear the good news he continues he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and here we have a very clear
• 28:54
  definition of the gospel he said to them thus it is written that the christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead there it is it is based in the suffering the death the burial the resurrection of jesus that is its foundation and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed what is it on our part what must we do we must repent of our sin and be forgiven but notice finally
• 29:23
  That the gospel that is proclaimed is both inclusive and exclusive. It is both inclusive and exclusive. How can it be both? Notice, and you guys have your Bibles open to verse 47, right? The next six words. Two three-word phrases, right?
• 29:48
  repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed. And what are the next three words? In his name. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 says, There is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In Jesus' name. There is salvation in no one else's name. He's it. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
• 30:20
  You know, years ago, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room with a 12-year-old boy from our church, a 6th grade boy. He was waiting for his dad who was undergoing a really invasive and extensive heart surgery. And so I just went down and I sat in the waiting room with this kid for all day. It was hours and hours and hours and hours I sat with this kid. Began having a conversation in the hospital waiting room as we awaited news.
• 30:48
  I began asking him about spiritual things. This young man was heavily involved in Awana. And so he began reciting memory verses to me. The very first verse out of his mouth, you know, he tells me, Pastor Danny, I know a whole bunch of memory verses. Well, tell me one. The very first one was Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. That same one, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must...
• 31:12
  be saved in fact he was so precise that he even after reciting it said acts chapter 4 verse 12 niv translation he even said that niv translation he got done with that verse and i said let me ask you this he just said there's only one name by which we must be saved so let me ask you whose name whose name is the one name he kind of looked at me quizzically he said jesus of course
• 31:45
  What kind of pastor are you? That's so funny. He thought I didn't know. I'm like, no, I was asking because you didn't. And he's like, yeah, right. Jesus, of course. The gospel is exclusive. It's Jesus. Not all roads lead to the top of the mountain. They don't. There is one road. He is the narrow road. He is the narrow gate. That's it. It is Jesus. It's exclusive. But notice the next three words. And with this, we conclude.
• 32:16
  It says, in his name, exclusive. But then what does it say? To all nations. Inclusive. Everywhere. That word for nations, the Greek word ethnos, where we get the English word ethnic. Christ was not necessarily commanding his followers to take the gospel to every political nation. Rather, he commissioned his church to take the gospel to every people group, every tribe, every language, every culture. It was a universal declaration of mankind's need.
• 32:47
  The gospel has to go everywhere because everyone has sinned. But it was also a declaration that everyone on earth really could be saved in Jesus' name. Who can be saved? Jesus said everyone. How can they be saved? Only through Jesus. Imagine for a moment, church, and I love to do this kind of stuff, just imagine in your mind's eye the course the gospel must have taken from that day until this. The people that it has touched. If you could trace...
• 33:19
  your gospel genealogy back to this day where these apostles, these disciples were commissioned. They began to share. Someone believed and they began to share and that person believed and that person shared and that person believed and so on and so on and so on as the gospel, those sermons, the missionaries, the translation work, the preserving of a people called by Jesus's name in order for the gospel to work its way all the way down through the ages to you and I sitting here in 2022 in Westminster, Colorado.
• 33:48
  We all possess that same spiritual need. We've all been offered the same forgiveness. Church, let me ask you a really hard question. Do you believe that a man actually rose from the dead? Yes, and if you've been fully convinced, then are you participating in that same commission, the commission of Cleopas and his friend?
• 34:15
  who encountered Christ and couldn't keep that secret? Are you participating in the same commission, being shared by generations of believers who eventually handed the gospel down to you? Are you sharing with others the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord? Lord, thank you for allowing us to participate in your work, to advance your church, to build your church along with you. God, I pray a blessing over the hearing of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.