Amen. You may be seated. If you're in your living rooms or whatever, you would feel free to get comfortable, but not too comfortable. Don't go to sleep on your couch or anything this morning. And if you would, go ahead and turn with me to Luke chapter 24. Easter sermons and Christmas sermons always feel extra pressure because there's so much content. that you're trying to get in just to one sermon. And so I have a little bit of extra anxiety usually coming into these weeks and knowing just how much material to cover and not wanting to overwhelm anyone. But just so you know, we will be focusing primarily on the appearances of Jesus in chapter 24 of Luke. So if you want to go and turn there, you're more than welcome to. So at this point, Jesus would have, of course, already died on the cross, and that whole scene, the seven sayings that he says on the cross, and even his entrance into Jerusalem, his beatings, his slayings, the humiliation, everything is a fulfillment of prophecy that had already been proclaimed that would happen to the Messiah, even from his death. Even from his disciples abandoning him, leaving him alone during his death. And to the point that where another man has to come in Nicodemus, who apparently is a member of the Sanhedrin that is actually a believer. We see him early there in the book of John. But He comes from nowhere, He and the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, and take Jesus' body. They claim His body, His disciples are hiding, and they put Jesus in the tomb, a borrowed tomb, of a rich man. But there we see just many, many, many, many, a multitude of prophecies being fulfilled one right after the other. And we're not going to get into all of those details, but we'll get into some of them. Now, as Jesus is put into the tomb, We also take note in Matthew chapter 27 toward the end there, 62 and 66, that the chief priests and the Pharisees, the ones who crucified him, wanted to make sure that his followers did not come and try to get his body out of the tomb. So they put a stone, of course, on the front of it, but they also posted guards there to make sure because they knew if someone took the body, then that could cause people to think that he actually did rise from the dead. So extra precaution was put in place to make sure nothing like that happened. However, what we find out today and what we find out in Scripture is that the apostles, the disciples, were in no mood for heroics. They were definitely not feeling like being grave robbers to keep something going that was not true. In fact, we find them today completely petrified. terrified, their whole world doesn't make sense anymore, who they thought Jesus was, he didn't seem to be in the end, and they don't know which end is up, which end is down, they don't know what to do with their lives, and they are completely dumbfounded at this moment. So they're obviously not going to go and get the body of Jesus Christ. Now, as we look at this, And it's interesting that even though Jesus had raised others from the dead, there's three different accounts, Lazarus being the most popular, that he had raised people from the dead. Remember, Lazarus was dead for four days. His sister did not want them to open up the tomb because he would smell bad at that time. He was decomposing. But Jesus brought life back into his bones and he came out a new man, walking and talking and totally fine. So he had done this multiple times. He had performed countless miracles, more than the Apostle John's, more than the books on earth could fill. I mean, it was just, there were so many miracles that he was fulfilling, that he was doing. And not only on top of this, but also he said that he would rise from the dead. Now take all this into account, if you're his disciple, you've been his disciple for three years, you've seen the miracles, you've seen him walk on water, you've seen him raise the dead, make blind eyes to see, make deaf ears to hear, miracle after miracle after miracle. Everything he says is absolute truth. As Peter professes that you are the Christ, the son of the living God, right? They're embracing who he is. He says he's going to die and rise from the dead, so he does die. And where are the disciples? Well, you would expect that since they knew this ahead of time, since everything Jesus said was absolutely true, they would be standing near the tomb, right? They would be ready to celebrate that all of his followers believed everything he ever said was true. Everything he said did come true. He is the son of God. He cannot speak a lie. So, where are the disciples? Well, we're going to find out today that they are not around. Now, there are many different appearances of Jesus. We're going to get to some of those in a minute, but I just want you to kind of see a little bit more before we get there about the prophecies of Jesus. So, if you would turn with me. First off, we're just going to look at John 2, 18-21. Now, Jesus had already announced this many, many times that He was going to rise from the dead. So, this is a common fact as we look back at Scripture. We know that He said these things before they came true. So, just to kind of get a little bit of a bearing in understanding this, starting off at John 2, early in the book of John, verse 18-21. Alright, I'm just going to hit some highlights here just to kind of lay some groundwork. So the Jews said to him, speaking to Jesus, what sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them. this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days? But He was speaking about the temple of His body. 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. Now we're going to come back to this a little bit later and reiterate this, but I want you to see something within this passage we just read. So he does announce it early here in the book of John that he is truly the temple. He is God in flesh. He is the ultimate temple. And we find out that God rejects the earthly temple that they had built. It is going to be fully rejected. They don't want to have anything to do with the real temple, the real God coming into their temple. But this is what he's talking about. Three days later, I will raise this temple back from the dead. In verse 22, they realized later on, but not at the time, that he was speaking about his body. And in verse 22, it says, his disciples remembered. And this is what we're really going to focus in on today is remembering the resurrection on a regular basis. And if you like titles, I usually do not title a message, but you might just title this one. Remember, okay, because we're going to focus in. on how all these things come into being, they remember and their faith is greatly strengthened. All right, another place though, look at John chapter 10, just turn over a few pages, verse 17 through 18. Jesus says, for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. So, once again, we clearly see that He is the Author of life and He can lay His life down and He can take it back up again. And this charge He has received from God the Father. So, we see this teaching. Obviously, He is not going to stay dead from what we see here so far. Now, just a couple of other places I want you to look, Matthew 16, verse 21. I just want you to kind of grasp a little bit about how common this teaching was through the Gospels. Matthew 16, 21, from that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. So here we have some very exact prophecies. Jesus is announcing where He must go. He's going to go to Jerusalem. We're not going to get into all the details, but even that entrance into Jerusalem. on Palm Sunday, right? He is going in and he's introducing himself on the same day that all the Jews are bringing their lambs for sacrifice for the Passover. And as they gather their lambs to bring them Into the Passover, here we have the Lamb of God who is presenting himself, not on a stallion, but on a small little unridden colt, humbly presenting himself as the true spotless Lamb, blemishless Lamb, the sinless one who is going to truly take away the sins of the world. So, He is going to enter into Jerusalem, even list out who is going to cause Him to suffer, the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, those who are in charge of the temple. He is going to be killed, and of course, pay attention to that last part, and on the third day be raised. Now, fast forward just a little bit, Matthew 17, 22 through 23. As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed. Alright, so what do we see here? We see some obvious prophecies from Jesus Christ about His future, that He is going to suffer. He tells them where He is going to suffer. He tells them at whose hand He is going to suffer. He tells them that He is going to die. And He tells them that He is going to be raised on the third day. Sadly, you would think as the disciples were seeing these things, okay, he is going into Jerusalem, all right? He is now suffering. He has been arrested. He is being beaten. He has been humiliated. He is being mocked at the hands of the chief priest, of the elders, of the scribes. He is now dead. Then, of course, what is going to happen next? But they are so distraught, they are so distressed that their theology seems wrecked at this time. Now, so do we find them? knowing all of this, gathered by the tomb waiting on Jesus. Absolutely not. We find them hiding. We find them having nothing to do with the tomb of Jesus Christ. Now, we also acknowledge that this is Easter and Oftentimes we compress a lot of the, um, the, the sightings of Jesus into just one moment or one time, kind of like we're doing today. We're just kind of hitting a few that happened on this day, but also we want to acknowledge Acts chapter one, verse three, that it wasn't that Jesus just rose from the dead and made a few appearances on one day, but the same one that records, uh, the book of Luke here also records the book of Acts and in Acts chapter one, verse three, we find out that from his resurrection, Jesus made appearances for 40 days teaching his disciples and catching them up to date on the things that they were kind of lacking in their understanding it seems. Then there's a 10-day break after he ascends into heaven and then he sends the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. All this is in perfect alignment with the Old Testament feast that were pointing towards the Jesus Christ. He dies on Passover. He rises from the dead. He ascends into heaven and sends the Holy Spirit for the first harvest, all in line with Old Testament feast. There's nothing happening by accident here. Now, we are going to look, though, at the primary appearances here in Luke chapter 24. So turn over there with me. And there's a lot of scripture here. I'm going to try to kind of skip through it without going through every single verse in Luke 24, but trying to catch the highlights here and looking at how important it is to remember. All right. So look at verse one, Luke chapter 24. We're on the first day of the week, which would be we refer to as Sunday 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 he has risen." Notice this next word, 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 look in verse eight, and they remembered his words. Now, it's important to note that the angel appeared, which is amazing, but he did not bring any new doctrine into the mix. He did not introduce new teaching. In fact, all he did was cause them to reflect and remember what they already should have known but did not yet apply. They seem catastrophic. The Savior is dead. He's died a horrible, horrible death. He's been mutilated. He's been spit upon. Crown of thorns on his head. They've punched him. They've plucked his beard. They've whipped his flesh so there's no skin left on his back, his torso. They've put him on a cross. They've hung him there. He is dead. And now, what? The angel says, remember, he told you all of these things. This is the way it can be with Christians even today. We must remind ourselves of the resurrection and what it means to us on a regular basis. If we are not doing such a thing, we can get overwhelmed, we can get distracted by the chaos of the world, by other things, and next thing you know, we tend to look like these women as far as not embracing everything that Jesus was and what he had accomplished and they focus on the dead, the death, the crucifixion and forget about the resurrection. Where does that leave you? It leaves you defeated, it leaves you completely perplexed, it leaves you in a hopeless state. So, the point of this is, if you wait until Easter, as a Christian, to think about the resurrection of Jesus, you'll find yourself looking much like these ladies, living as though Jesus is still dead. So, what is the advice from God, from the messengers, from the angels, to the ladies? Remember. Remember. Remember, and then they're at peace. And then they go from literally bringing things to put on a dead body to make it smell better, to now they're skipping, they're jumping, they're praising God, they're running back to tell the rest of the disciples. Now, look at verse 9, same passage, Luke chapter 24. 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. And what did the apostles do? But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. So here we find the disciples of Jesus not only not waiting at the tomb, for the resurrection, which they should have known about, they did know about, he had announced this ahead of time, but instead we find them huddled up, they're in despair, they're discouraged, they don't know what to do, and the women come, jubilant, full of excitement. Jesus has risen from the dead, he's not there, just like he's, and what do they do? They literally tell, it says that they have an idle tell. This is like make-believe, okay? It's fiction. You ladies have become way too emotional and you've worked yourselves up into a frenzy and you've created some false tale. This cannot be. And look what he says there at the end of verse 11, they did not believe them. Not one disciple believed the women's story at this point. Now we do see something interesting there in verse 12. We see Peter, rose and ran to the tomb." And in John's gospel, we find that John ran as well, it looks like. And stooping in, looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. So Peter at least went to see. And there's nothing here about him believing that Jesus had risen from the dead, but there is a marveling, kind of like pondering, wondering what is going on, where did Jesus go, where is his body at, right? Now, So the women did not remember these things. The disciples were not remembering these things. But the angels came and reminded the women, right? And then they're like, yes, this is wonderful, this is awesome. Now look at Luke chapter 24, the second appearance. Luke 24, verse 19 through 27. Luke 24, 19 through 27. And he said to them, what things? Now before we get all the way into this, these friends of Jesus, disciples of Jesus, apparently not a capital D or capital A, but they are disciples, they are students of Jesus Christ, are on their road to Emmaus, several mile walk from Jerusalem. They too are completely distraught, completely perplexed, they don't know what's going on, and Jesus appears to them. And as a supernatural appearance, he does not look like the exactly like they, he did before something as we don't know if he's in a supernatural camouflage, something has happened there, but he is with them and he acts as if he is a stranger. And they began to dialogue with him and he acts like he doesn't know what has happened, what has gone on. And they are completely distraught, completely perplexed. And we catch this in what they tell him. So look at verse 19, And Jesus said to them, what things, what things have happened? 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 priest 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, look what Jesus says, 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." Wow. So here we have these disciples completely dumbfounded about what is going on. They are going to educate their newfound walking partner about all the things that have happened. So they go over all the details of the events that have happened with the death, with the burial of Jesus Christ. Now the body is missing. But they're still not connecting the dots. And what does Jesus do? Luke 25, he literally says, you foolish ones. This is kind of a way to say ignorant ones. You should see all of this. It's right before your eyes, and you don't see it. What are you missing? And what does he do? What does Jesus do to strengthen their faith? He refreshes their memory with Scripture. This is beautiful. Look, he goes all the way back to Moses. And what is amazing about this, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, sometimes we treat it as a small thing that should be isolated to an Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday. But this is extremely important, not just to the New Testament, but also the Old Testament. Because it is all of God's prophecy and His prophets speaking about this moment. That not only did Jesus have to be born in Bethlehem, have to be born of a virgin that just have to fulfill all these prophecies with his life and with his death, but also with his resurrection. So what does Jesus do? He takes them to school. He takes them to theology school. He takes them to, to biblical school, Bible school. All right. Now you guys are listening to me, unfortunately this morning, but could you imagine having this lesson taught by Jesus Christ Himself. How would Jesus teach on His own resurrection? What scriptures would He use? Well, He gives us a really good hint, right? He says, going all the way back to Moses, look at verse 27, and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." So he goes back to, where's the writings of Moses? Well, the first five books of the Old Testament are, they have been authored by Moses. So Jesus goes back to the beginning, maybe even pulls from like a Genesis 315 to explain that you see all this, you knew the one born of a woman would crush the head of Satan, but yet he would be bruised, there would be suffering as well, and then he takes them through all the prophets. Maybe he camps out on some of those that we like to enjoy a lot, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, where there's just all the beautiful details laid out about Jesus' death and all the crucifixion and all the details that are happening. So he goes through all of this. Now think about that for a moment. Jesus could have These disciples are sad. They don't know what to do. He could have just showed up and said, hey guys, I'm Jesus. And they're like, oh, wow, what happened? I thought, yeah, I rose from the dead. But no, he doesn't do that. But he could have, right? I mean, he could have just showed up. And here I am. I rose from the dead. But instead, He uses scripture and he takes it even deeper than just a simple appearance. He takes the whole weight of God and brings it forward slowly, painting a picture for them so they can see this has been the plan of God all along. You thought man. to God the best of me. You thought man got his way. No, man did exactly what God had ordained. God is still sovereign. There are no accidents. Everything has gone according to plan. And by one by one, imagine that. One by one, oh, I see that. Oh, yeah, Jesus did do that. Oh, Jesus did that. Oh, yeah, and then he died. And then he was betrayed. Oh, and the disciples abandoned him. Yeah, that was us. And then he's walking him through the prophecy. Then he died. And on the third day, he rose from the dead. It's like he's taking them up to this going, oh, this has been the plan of God all along, right? So this is what happens to them. He refreshes their memory. Now, it is beautiful. to think back to all of these fulfilled prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy is a wonderful reminder that Jesus is who he says he is. Oftentimes in modern Christianity, we kind of remove Jesus out and don't teach much on him or what the Old Testament has taught about him. So we treat him just kind of floating up here with no foundation. And Jesus could have done such a thing, but he didn't. Instead, he goes back and builds the foundation in a wonderful conversation, taking them to school, biblical school, and one by one recounts all that he has done to fulfill the fact that he is the Messiah. So we have to take this into account. God said the Messiah would come. He said the Savior would come. He gave all these pre-arranged signs, prophecies that had to be fulfilled so that we would know, so they would know that He is truly the Messiah. So Jesus takes them and reminds them of all of that and brings their understanding up. And they finally realize it, right? Jesus goes out from them and they don't see him anymore. Now, let's look at the appearance number three. Appearance number three, skip down to Luke 24, verse 36. Luke chapter 24, verse 36. I'll say the appearance three, but the third set of passages we're going to be looking at here today. So Luke chapter 24, 36 through 48. All right. 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 that a spirit thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? So here we see this appearance is happening to the 11 remaining apostles that are all in a room together. The door is locked. There's no one else in there. And then Jesus appears. Now think, they're in the same mindset as the women were ahead of time, before the angels took them up to speed and reminded them and stirred their memories. They're at the same point in their emotional state, in their theological state, as the guys who are on their road to Emmaus. Like, ah, it just doesn't make sense. How could this be? We thought he was this and now he's dead. What do we do? And then all of a sudden, Jesus appears in the very same room. And Matt, this is the resurrected Christ. Now, what is the first thing that Jesus says? Look at verse 36. He says, peace to you. This is wonderful, remember who Jesus is, he is God and he announces peace to you. This is not just, it is, but it's more than this, it is not just emotional peace, it's not just mental peace, but it is, peace has been made. Remember who Jesus is, he is the only savior, he is the only one that can make peace between mankind and God. He is the only one, as the Bible says, that can propitiate the wrath that we deserve from God. We have all sinned. We deserve the wrath and curse of God. There is no peace between an unsaved person and God. There is only wrath. The book of Ephesians chapter 2 says we are by nature objects of God's wrath. But here you have God in the flesh. raised from the dead, who enters into this room and says, peace to you. Think about that for a moment. How? How is there peace now? Because Jesus paid the price. He bore our sins so that we might receive his righteousness. So that now you have God announcing peace to these disciples. Peace was made by Jesus Christ. death upon the cross. He is the Lamb of God, remember how the messenger John the Baptist announced him, who takes away the sin of the world. So now the sin has been removed, Jesus Christ himself took our hell for us on the cross, he bore the wrath and curse of God on himself, and now peace has been made. Now this is an important question because you must ask yourself that question, am I at peace with God? And unless your faith is in this Jesus Christ, the one who lived, the one who died, the one who rose from the dead, you are not at peace with God. You are foolish to think that you are because you have your sins and they have not been paid for and you will face the wrath and curse of God for all of eternity. You will pay for that for eternity because you can never pay it off. Time does not remove it, only the Son of God in the flesh can remove your sin. So the point of this is, peace has been made for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 39, same chapter 24. And do notice, though, before we go on, verse 38, they are troubled, and they have doubts that arise in their hearts, and that they are definitely frightened, okay? So they were not gathered around waiting on Jesus to come in. Hey, it's about time, any moment now, Jesus should come in. Let's all get ready and celebrate. It's gonna be wonderful. It's gonna be awesome. No, they are frightened, okay? Look at verse 39. See my hands and my feet, that 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 feet." So not only are they not expecting him to rise from the dead, but even at this point they think they've seen a ghost or something, that this is not real. They've heard the testimony already from multiple people, from the ladies and others, that Jesus has risen from the dead. But yet here they are, and they still don't believe it, and they still think He is a ghost. So Jesus begins this tedious process of proving, no, no, no, it's really me. Look, I have flesh. Look, I have bones. Look, it is my feet. It is my hands. You can see this is me. And look at verse 41. And while they still disbelieved, one of the most interesting passages I think in the New Testament, for joy and were marveling. Think about all that at one time. Luke does a good job of describing their emotional state of mixture at this point. While they still disbelieved, for joy they were marveling. So they're in a joyous, joyous marveling, disbelieving state at this moment. You're like, what is that? They don't know either, okay? It's very confusing for them at this time. Jesus says, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before him. So apparently, obviously what we see here is ghosts don't eat, but Jesus does. And so he eats fish and it does not drop to the floor, okay? He is not a ghost. He actually eats it and it is gone. So to help their disbelief, he is adding validation upon validation. Look, it's me. I have real bone. I have real flesh. These are my hands. The scars are still there. I can eat before you. Look at verse 44. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything, here we go again, what are they going to get? How are they, how is he going to catch them up to speed for ultimate proof? Not just look at my flesh, not just look at my bone, not just that I can eat fish, not just that I still have holes in my hands and feet, but what's he going to use? The ultimate proof is God's revelation, the compounding revelation, the authority of God's word that he is going to bring them up to speed and to rest in. Okay, so look at verse 44. These are my words that I spoke to you. Who is Jesus? He is God, of course. 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 he 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." So what does Jesus do? for their disbelief to turn to belief. Think about it, he's appeared, he's shown them his flesh, he's shown them his hands, he's shown them who he is, he's eaten fish, but he uses God's word. And he reminds them of what they already know, but just like the ladies who were at the tomb, just like the men who were on the road to Emmaus, he reminds them and causes them to remember His words, and not only His words, but all the words of the Old Testament, the prophets that spoke about His resurrection from the dead. And look, if you notice that, the Old Testament, we just call it the Old Testament, and then the New Testament these days, but they refer to their scriptures in three parts, and we have them here. Look in verse 44, if you're an underliner or highlighter, if you've not come across this yet, so he says, These are my words that I spoke to you." His words are God's words as well. Well, I was still with you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, there's one, and in the Prophets, there's two, and in the Psalms, there's three, must be fulfilled. In other words, he says the entirety of the Old Testament, everything written about the Messiah must be fulfilled. And then what does he do? He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. This is wonderful. In this, you see the sufficiency of scripture, right? The same scripture that we have is the same scripture that he used to open their minds to understand the importance of the resurrection. And also we see the authority of scripture. He could again have just appeared and said, look, it's me. It is absolutely me. Take it in. Breathe it in. I am here. Enough. He's God, right? He's God in the flesh. But instead, he builds this foundation and reminds them, remember this? Remember this prophecy? Remember this prophecy? Remember this one? Remember this one? We don't know how long this takes, but I would lean towards it took quite a bit of time. And then he brings them up to everything that the Old Testament spoke about the Messiah has come to be. I am. the one you thought I was to begin with. Now, think about what would have happened if the resurrection had not happened, all right? Think about that for a moment. What if there was no resurrection? What if there was no, as we refer to it commonly, as Easter or Resurrection Sunday? What would that prove? Well, think about it for a moment, just let your brain kind of wander, and what would that prove? That would prove that Jesus was not who he said he was. That would prove that Jesus, instead of speaking absolute truth, was actually a liar. Instead of it proving that Jesus was the ultimate prophet, it would prove that he was a false prophet, because he said he would rise from the dead. There would be no comfort in Him and who He is. There would be no comfort for us in knowing that we have peace with God because He paid for our sins. Think about what would have continued if He would have stayed dead. Think of the ladies who were at the tomb. Think of their emotional despair that they were in. It would never be alleviated. Think about His disciples. Think about the men on the road to Emmaus. would have made sense, right? Everything would have continued as it was. And we today could not rest in knowing that we have eternal life because Jesus is still dead. But the good news is, of course, that Jesus has risen from the dead. Now, sadly, those who have a poor understanding of the resurrection as we've seen here today in three different examples. Even today though, if they have a poor understanding of the resurrection, suffer much unneeded heartache and look a lot like the women and the men on the road to Emmaus and the disciples, and that is they feel doubts in their faith, they have feelings of hopelessness, feelings of despair and confusion. Now, I don't want to say that there's a lot out there, but I would say there are quite a few Christians who don't understand the importance of the resurrection enough to find peace that the disciples found. And this is what we need to remember. There was no peace until they saw Jesus resurrected. And so this is what we have to emphasize, and not just once a year to remind ourselves, oh yeah, Jesus rose from the dead. No, this is part of the gospel, the gospel that saves us, the gospel that God uses to regenerate us, and the gospel that we must not only tell, but the gospel that we must dwell on ourselves. So that when we think of the gospel, we don't just think of Jesus performing miracles, but we think of He is God, He is man, He is the Christ, He is the Messiah, He is the Savior, He truly died for my sins, He rose from the dead so that I can know that my sins are forgiven. He ascended into heaven and He is the one that I will meet. I can get into heaven because He's given me eternal life. He took my sins away. The one who is the final judge is also the one who died on the cross for my sins. I have peace with God because God paid for my sins. You put all this together and it's beautiful, right? But if you leave Jesus in the tomb on a regular basis, you're gonna end up like the ladies, like the people on the road to Emmaus, like the disciples, still in despair. You've got to get Jesus risen, which indeed he did. Now, Jesus did rise from the dead, and that changes everything. Here's just a few things to immediately apply, okay? It changed the women, it changed the men on the road to Emmaus, it changed the disciples. Number one, the resurrection reminds us that we can trust everything that Jesus said. So if he speaks ahead of time about where he's going to die, who is going to kill him, how he is going to be betrayed, how he is going to die, how he is going to rise from the dead, we can trust everything else he said. Now the disciples until that point, they trusted everything he said, except for the last thing, rising from the dead? Who can do such a thing like that, right? But now they've even believed that. So we look at this and go, yes, we can believe everything he said. He is the Christ. He is the Savior. He did take away sin. He has made peace. He has risen from the dead. He has gone to heaven to prepare a place for those who love Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Number two, the resurrection reminds us that He is truly the Savior. The only way to get to heaven. How on earth can our sins be removed without the Savior? They can't. People will die in their sins. They will face the wrath of God. But we can have peace with God and we can know that we've been rescued, that we have been saved because Jesus died in our place. He took the wrath. He provided peace for us so we can trust that He is indeed the Savior and that we who believe in Him have been saved by Him. Number three, the resurrection reminds us that the sacrifice for our sin was accepted by the Father. Again, where would their comfort be if He had stayed dead? We would not know. He said He was going to pay for our sins, but did He? Did it work? Did He truly redeem us? But then He rises from the dead and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was the Lamb of God, perfect sacrifice, whose blood was taken to the ultimate throne of God, the presence of God. and it paid the price. He comes back out, just like the priest would in the Old Testament, out of the tabernacle or out of the temple and announces the blessing upon the people. Peace has been made. Our high priest has entered into heaven with his own blood, with his own sacrifice, and he has made peace with God and brings back the blessing for us. First Corinthians 15, 17, It says, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, meaning a waste, and you are still in your sins. This is who it would be if there was no resurrection from the dead. Point number four here, the resurrection reminds us that we are now at peace with God. And all this is building up, building up, building up where our peace with God, our sins have been removed. He is truly our Savior. We can believe everything that Jesus says, right? And number five, the resurrection reminds us that we will rise as well. This is important. This is something that every human faces is mortality. There is no one here who is going to continue to live forever in our bodies as they are right now. Every person that is listening, including myself, every body stops living at some point. The good news is that we will rise because He has risen. Our Savior has not only taken away our sin, but he has defeated death, hell, and the grave. So that just as Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, we will rise from the dead as well. Now we know there is no sleep. The moment a believer dies, we immediately go into the presence of God, as Paul says. He longed to be in the presence of God and be absent from the body was to be present with God, that is eternal life. So a believer goes simply from this life to immediately on into to be in the presence of Jesus, in the presence of God, okay? But there will also be a day where our bodies, 1 Corinthians 15, a great read for this week, lets us know that there is going to be a new body reunited, our bodies will be remade to be in the presence of God and that our bodies will indeed rise. So this is what we think on when we come to this day each year often but we should be thinking on these things not just once a year. But this should be a common thought because there is peace that is found as the believers focus on the whole story and not just a part of the story. So when you want comfort for your soul, when you find yourself distraught, when you find yourself in a place like they were where things just don't seem to make sense, you can rest in knowing that everything is happening according to God's plan. And you can find yourself comforted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what this means for you and that there's peace with you and God and that you will be raised from the dead. One last verse, John 11, 25 to 26, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" This is an important question that Jesus poses to Mary right before he raises Lazarus from the dead. But here we have it, Jesus is indeed the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him, though he dies, seems like a contradiction, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? This is eternal life. We have resurrection. We will live because Jesus has risen from the dead. So the point of this today is remember the resurrection and find comfort for your soul. Think of these three examples that we were given and think of how distraught, how hopeless they were until they embraced the resurrection and God's revelation that this is the way it was going to be all along. And then there's rest for their soul. Hopefully, prayerfully, you have found rest for your soul today. And if you find yourself, wherever you are, thinking these things through, wondering if Jesus entered the room right there and you were in that room with the disciples. Would he say peace? Would there be peace? That someday this will happen. You will be before Jesus Christ and you will either receive the wrath of him or you will receive ultimate peace from him. All who believe in Him shall live. All who believe in Him have eternal life. All who believe in Him have peace with God. If that's you and you've not had peace with God, call upon the one and only Savior, the prophesied one who has fulfilled all of the Old Testament to say that I am the Messiah, to say that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the only Savior. Let's pray. Dear Holy Father, we thank you for the clarity of your word that we do not have to be in a hopeless state like the ladies, like the men on the road to Emmaus, or like the disciples, but that we have your word as Jesus taught them and reminded them of the writings of Moses, of the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, that all of these things spoken ahead of time by the prophets, the one that you spoke through, have come to pass. and that there is rest for our souls as we embrace who Jesus is and what he has done to bring about our salvation. So when we think of the resurrection, let us be reminded of these key truths that we can trust in who Jesus is. that he is the only Savior, that we have been accepted before God, that we now have peace with God, and that we will indeed rise from the dead, that we have eternal life. God, we thank you for the peace that we find in the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Help us not to just think about this once this year but may it be a steady thought in our minds on a regular, on a daily basis. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.