Let us turn again to the portion
that we read at the end of Luke in Luke chapter 24 Luke chapter
24 and here at verse 36 following we
have the various evidences of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ those infallible proofs of which Luke speaks in
the opening chapter of the Acts. I want to read again then from
verse 36 following in Luke 24 And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Please
be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted,
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them,
Why are ye troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold, my hands and my feet that it is I myself,
handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye
see me have." And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his
hands and his feet, and while they yet believed not for joy
and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they
gave him a piece of a royal fish and of a honeycomb, and he took
it and it eats before them. The evidence is then of the reality
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew something
here of fear and distress, as we see at verse 37, they were
affrighted, they were terrified it says, and affrighted and supposed
that they had seen a spirit. And the reason for that was because
they had such mistaken views with regards to the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he had said previously concerning his resurrection from
the dead. Remember, we saw last time that
it was the same in some way with those two on the road to Emmaus,
the Lord upbraided them for their unbelief. In verse 25 he said
unto them, O fools and slow at heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken. They too had very mistaken views
with regards to the Christ and those things that were written
in the scriptures. Now, I said last time that the
word that we have there O fools, is not to be confused with what
Christ says in his preaching. Remember how back in the 5th
chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew we have the Sermon
on the Mount and there we see Christ expounding the spiritual
nature of God's holy law and in verse 22 he's dealing with
the six commandments, thou shalt not kill, but he makes it plain
that it's not just the prohibition of literal killing that that
command deals with, but it also deals with attitudes of heart. I say unto you that whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of
the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raka shall
be in danger of the counsel but whosoever shall say thou fool
shall be in danger of hell fire. Now the word that the Lord uses
there is not the same words as we have here in chapter 24 of
Luke and verse 25 the word that we have back in
the Sermon on the Mount literally means stupid or senseless. And what Christ is saying of
course is it is possible to assassinate a person's character, to destroy
them in that sense, though they might still be physically alive,
yet in a sense what one is then doing is a transgression of the
sixth commandment, thou shalt do no murder. You're not to use
such language as that, says the Lord Jesus Christ. But the word
that we have here at the end of Luke, O fools, literally means
they're not thinking, it's the word to think with the negative
before, you're not thinking, you're not considering, you're
not perceiving, you're not understanding. and he goes on of course to explain
further when he refers to them as those who are slow of heart,
slow of heart to believe, they are not rightly considering the
truth that is before them, the truth of the resurrection, the
truth that is set before us here in the word of God. And I say
it's not just those two on the road to Emmaus, there's a sense
in which this is the case with regards to all the disciples
at this time. They couldn't understand the
things that were being reported to them. They couldn't believe
these things. It seems so Unreasonable, Christ
had died, they'd seen his dead body upon the cross, that body
had been taken down, it had been laid in the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea, and now the report is that the Lord is risen again
from the dead. They have such mistaken views
with these disciples. But let us be careful that we're
not just those who would point the finger at them, we too can
so often be guilty of the same. how important it is that we have
right views of the Lord Jesus Christ, a proper understanding
with regards to who Jesus of Nazareth is, the importance of
the doctrine of the person of Christ, that he is the God-man,
and then also the necessity of us rightly understanding the
significance of the work that he accomplishes. he was not only
made of a woman he was made under the law he is subject to the
law of God and in his life he obeys the law of God he obeys
every commandment he accomplishes a righteousness and that is important
the active obedience of Christ in living and honouring and magnifying
the law it is that righteousness that he wrought that is imputed
of course to the believer in his justification. But he who
lived a righteous life also died an accursed death. And he doesn't
die because of any sins of his own, he is the sinless one. As
his righteousness is to be imputed to the sinner, so the sinner's
righteousness was imputed to Christ. And he suffered as the
great sin-bearer. and we were just reminded of
that were we not in that lovely hymn of Thomas Tallis himself
he could not save, why? he comes to save others, he comes
to die in their place in their room and in their stead and I
say again it is so important that we are those who have right
views of Christ the person of the Saviour that he is God's
and that he is man of those two natures and yet he is one person,
the two natures in the one person and all that he did here upon
the earth in order to accomplish the salvation of his people and
our God has vindicated him in that great work by raising him
from the dead. He is risen and he is risen indeed. And so we're going to consider
some of these evidences this morning of that blessed truth
of the resurrection. Why is it that we observe this
day, the Lord's Day, as our special day, our Sabbath day? Why is
it so? Because it was upon this day
that Christ rose and he had accomplished a work God had accomplished a
great work of course in creation in six days, he made the heavens
and the earth and he rested on the seventh day and he sanctified
that day, he set it apart from then. But we do not observe that
day. There is a greater work that
has been accomplished and it was upon the first day of the
week that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead and so we
come together that we might worship him we come together in his name
and we seek to declare that blessed truth that this is the day of
the resurrection well as we look at this portion I've read a number
of verses from verse 36 to 43 but I want really to leave just
a few words upon your binds and I trust upon your hearts
this morning and their words are found here in verse 39 just
those few words in the middle of the verse where Christ says
to the disciples it is I myself behold my hands and my feet that
it is I myself, handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones as ye see me have. It's a most interesting statement
that we have here and we'll observe how at the beginning of this
39th verse we do have that word behold and the significance of
that word of course is that he calls us to fix the eye Our attention
is being drawn to this particular statement. We're to consider
this thing, we're to look upon this thing, we're to gaze with
some intensity upon this particular truth. Behold, he says, it is
I myself. Literally it says, behold, I
am myself. That would be a literal translation
of the three particular Greek words that are being translated
in this statement. It is I myself, literally I am
myself. And we remember of course that
the Lord Jesus Christ is in fact the Great I Am. He is the Great
Jehovah. He is Jehovah Jesus. He is the
Lord Jesus Christ He says at the end of John chapter 8 before
Abraham was I am and as he was before Abraham so he was before
Moses and when the Lord God declares himself there in Exodus chapter
3 to Moses as the great I am that I am it is the Lord Jesus
Christ Again in John chapter 8 he tells the Jews quite plainly,
if ye believe not that I am thee, ye shall perish in your sin.
There in John 8.24, but the pronoun, the he, is in italics. In other words, he literally
says to them, if you believe not that I am, ye shall perish
in your sins. And here he declares, I am myself. Behold, it is I, myself. But what are the truths here
that we see with regards to the truth of his resurrection body? Well, first of all, the Lord
Jesus Christ is seeing. Look at the words in verse 39.
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I, myself. Hand on
me, he says, and search. Behold, and search. There is an appeal to that sense
of sight. Here is something to be looked
upon. The very word behold indicates
that. The eye is to be fixed. Then
what is the Lord saying? Well there is a negative here.
He is saying that he is not a spirit. Remember how in verse 37 they
supposed that they had seen a spirit. This is why they are terrified
and defiant. They have such false ideas. They are not seeing things clearly.
They suppose that they had seen a spirit. What does the Lord
say? At the end of verse 39, the spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. This is not a spirit. This is a real body and yet this
body is clearly a remarkable body because Christ can come
and appear in the midst of them even when all the doors are shut
and the upper room where they are meeting is secure lest the
Jewish authorities should come after them. Remember in John's
account, John 20 verse 19, we're told then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. The doors were shut and yet suddenly
the Lord Jesus Christ appears in the midst and he says to them
that he's not a spirit what they're seeing is a real mother now I
know that there are those they call themselves Christians but
they don't believe the word of God we refer to them sometimes
as liberals or modernists people who hold important positions
in the established church, they might be archbishops or bishops
or deans, men of some consequences and yet they don't really believe
the word of God and yet they call themselves Christians and
they want to explain these things away. And what these people say
is that that resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ was
not the same as that body in which he suffered and died. He wasn't a spirit, they say,
but he wasn't the same body. They want to explain the scriptures
away, you see. And they appeal to certain scriptures. They appeal to some of the statements
that Paul makes, for example, when he writes that great 15th
chapter in the first epistle to the Corinthians. They say
it's a different body, and it wasn't a physical body. And we
have these sort of statements, of course, from Paul in verse
37 of that 15th chapter. That which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but their grain, it may chance
of wheat or some other grain. He's making a comparison with
sowing seed in the ground. And they say, oh, you see that
resurrection body of the Lord Jesus was different to that that
had lived and died here upon the earth. Then again you see
verse 44 there Paul says it is sown a natural body, it is raised
a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. Then one other scripture there
in verse 50, this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. Ah, they say, look, it says quite
clearly, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That
was not the same body, it was a different body. And these are
the sort of verses, you see, that these men appeal to and
seek to undermine the confidence of others in the word of God. And they contend that that resurrection
body was not the same body. in which Christ died upon the
cross but these men are guilty of resting the word of God they are guilty of abusing the
scriptures to their own ends and they will of course be called
to account for these things what the scripture makes so abundantly
clear is that it is the same body but it is now a glorified
body It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in honour. That's
what it says there in that fifteenth chapter. It is the same bottom,
but now it's a glorified bottom. And it is a pledge, of course,
that the bodies of believers will also be glorified at the
general resurrection at the end of time. Believing will then
be caught up with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air. Christ says
quite plainly here in the text who it is. It is I myself, he
says. I am myself. The very person
that they have known as in that same body. But now the body is
a glorified body. it was so in dishonour he did
endure all the contradiction of sin as he did bear in his
own person all the wrath of God but now God has vindicated him
and in that very body in which he had died he is now glorified
and he appears amongst them and what does he say? behold my hands
and my faith that it is I myself, tunnel me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." This is not just
an apparition that they are seeing. This is a real person in a real
body of a glorified body. He is therefore substance. It is not just a negative that
we have to take account of, we have to take account also of
the positive here look at what he says in verse 14 when he had
thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet why so? he shows them his hands and his
feet isn't this proof that this is the same body that was nailed
to the cross he shows them that body that
was wounded He shows to them the marks of his sufferings,
how there of course he had poured out his soul unto death, how
there upon the cross he bled so profusely from those wounds. These are the very things that
he draws their attention to. He showed himself alive after
his passion, says Luke in Acts chapter 1, by many infallible
proofs. And here are the infallible proofs.
It was 40 days that he was with them. Many times he showed himself
to them. There at the beginning of that
15th chapter, remember? The 15th chapter in 1 Corinthians. Paul gives some catalogue of
those who saw him, who saw the resurrection. He was seen of
Cephas, then of the twelve, after that he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once. of whom the greater part remain
unto this present but some are fallen asleep after that he was
seen of James then of all the apostles and last of all he was
seen of me also as of one born out of due time these are the
proofs there was something to be seen and the Lord Jesus quite
deliberately showed himself to these men and women who were
to be the witnesses of the truth of the resurrection that it was
a real body in which he rose again from the dead that the
tomb was empty because that body was now a glorified body but
that's just one of the proofs the fact that they could see
him we see also that Christ could be handled, they could touch
him doesn't he say as much? verse 39 behold my hands and
my feet that it is I myself handle me you see handle me all the truths of his human nature that he was a real man I said at the beginning, you
see, we must have right views concerning the person of Christ
as well as the work of Christ. And the human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ was a real human nature, as real as yours or mine. He was in possession of a physical
body, in possession of a human soul, He poured out his soul
unto death, it says in Isaiah 53. There upon the cross he commends
his spirits into the hands of God. And isn't that indicative,
as we saw, of the reality of his dying? body returns to the earth as
it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. That's what death
is. It's a separation of the body and the soul. When God created the first man,
he made his body out of the dust of the earth, he breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. And at death, of course, there
is that separation, that rending of the soul from the body. And the Lord Jesus, I say, was
in possession of a real and a true human nature. Now, there were
those who denied the truth of his human nature. And John speaks against them.
John declares that such are antichrists, such are deceivers. In his epistles John deals with
these heretical theorists, the theories of men, and speaks in
very plain and strong terms against their teachings. In chapter 4
of his first epistle he writes, Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. wherever you have heard that
it has come and even now already is it in the world. There were
those who were attacking Christ in respect to the truth of his
human nature, that he was a real man. And not only there in that
first epistle but again in the short second epistle John takes
up the same matter. verse 7 he says many deceivers
are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh this is a deceiver and an antichrist
and John could write so of course because he was one of the apostles
he was one of those favoured followers of the Lord Jesus Christ many times it was Peter and James
and John who were called aside to witness most remarkable things. Those three were there of course
in the Mount of Transfiguration. John can testify then to the
truth of Christ's deity, because he saw the wonder of the deity
shining through the humanity there in the mount. He saw the
blessed truth of Christ being the Eternal God, the Eternal
Son of the Eternal Father, he saw his glory. But John also
could bear testimony to the truth of his human nature. He was the
one that was lying on Christ's breast at the Last Supper. Though he knew the truth, you
see, of that human nature, because he had handled it. it handled
him, it touched him and so we have those opening verses of
course in which he declares that blessed truth the opening verses
of his first epistle that which was from the beginning which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes which we have
looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life or
the life was manifesting and we have seen it and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ John handled the Lord Jesus,
he knew the truth of that human nature. And here you see, with
regards to the truth of the resurrection, Christ invites the disciples
to touch. Behold, he says, it is I myself. Handle me and serve me. for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. It is that
very human nature in which he had died upon the cross that
he is now risen again from the dead. And it is of course in
that self-same human nature that he has now ascended on high as
a man, as a glorified man. that the right hand of the Father
and that glorified man is also the eternal Son of God. And this is the one, you see,
that we come together to worship. Oh, the blessed truth of His
resurrection and these infallible truths. They saw the body. They could touch it, they could
handle it. It was the same person that they knew during the days
of His ministry amongst them. But then another thing that Christ
does in order to establish the truth of his resurrection, he
partakes of food. He eats. He's not only seen,
they may not only touch him, but now he eats and he eats quite
deliberately before them. They see him eating the food. Verse 41, While they yet believed
not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here
any meat? And they gave him a piece of
a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and he took it, and did eat before
them. Now mark those words and the
significance of those words at the end of verse 43. He did eat
before them. He ate in their presence. They
saw him eating. before this the same expression
is used with regards to Moses when he came down from the mount remember how he was there 40
days and 40 nights in the mount receiving commandments and there
they had grown weary whilst he was away from them and Aaron
had made the golden calf and they had worshipped the golden
calf And God sends Moses down from the mountain. He has in
his hands the two tables of stone, the tables of the law, the Ten
Commandments. And in Deuteronomy chapter 9
and verse 17 we are told how he broke those tables before
their eyes. They saw him do it. He cast the
tables of stone to the ground and they broke and they saw him. And there was significance in
that, you see. They were the transgressors. They had broken
the covenant that they had just made with God, or that God had
just made with them. And it was a symbolic act that
Moses did. They had broken the covenant. They were no more in covenant
with God. God could altogether disinherit
them. Moses had to plead for them. Because God would cast
them off. the significance then of that
expression before them or before their eyes and this is what we
see here the Lord Jesus Christ asks for food and they give him
this food boiled fish and honeycomb and he takes it and he eats before
them they witness him eating this is no spirit this is a body,
a real, a substantial body the body of flesh and bones or they experience such strange
emotions at this time as the Lord is speaking to them manifesting
himself to them verse 41 while they yet believe not for joy
and wonder He says unto them, have ye here any meat? There was a great deal of unbelief
amongst the disciples as we said at this time. It was not just those two on
the road to Emmaus who were slow at heart to believe. Remember what we saw at the beginning
of the chapter when those women came to speak of the resurrection. Verse 11, their words seem to
them as idle tales, and they believe them not. In Mark's account, Mark 16, we're
told how Christ upbraided them for their unbelief and the hardness
of their hearts. There was much unbelief then
amongst the disciples. They had to be convinced of these
things. They couldn't believe these things.
They were impossible things to believe. Therefore how necessary
it was that Christ should give to them many infallible proofs. They are not those who are going
out to sea to delude men. They are not those who are making
up some story themselves. The disciples had to be convinced. I recall at this point I was
a young boy in a Baptist church here in Birmingham,
I suppose in my late teens. It was a general Baptist church.
The senior deacon was quite a well-known figure, Sir Donald Finneymore. He was a high court judge. He
very much got a legal background therefore. And I remember him
saying to us as boys, with regards to the resurrection, that the
evidence was overwhelming, as he applied his judicial minds
to the evidence in the scriptures, and he'd speak of the disciples,
and they had to be convinced of these things. They had to
be convinced, they couldn't believe these things. And yet, as they
were Chinese, How fearful they were, you see, when Christ was
taken, when Christ was crucified, even bald Peter trembles before
a servant girl. And yet, after the resurrection,
how that emboldens as we come into the Acts. And we see the
preaching of these men, men like Peter and John. And he made that
point, he said, you see the evidence is so overwhelming. There were
these many infallible proofs then of his resurrection. He
says to them, it is I myself, it's the real me. I am myself. I am that same one you see, the
eternal God. I am that I am. If you believe
not that I am, you shall perish in your sins. All what remarkable records we
find in here in the scriptures concerning the blessed truth
of Christ not only dying but Christ rising again. And why does he rise again? Well
he rises again for sinners. He dies for sinners and he is
raised again for sinners. And here we have the signs of
that death being for sinners. When he had thus spoken, verse
40 we read, he showed them his hands and his feet. Now Calvin makes his simple remark,
he says, by this sign it was testified that Christ was risen
for us rather than for himself. He shows them his wounds. And
why was he wounded? Why was it that he bled and died?
It was not because of any sins of his own, it was for the sins
of his people. It was to obtain peace for sinners. In dying, of course, he reconciled
sinners unto God. Again, in John's account of these things,
in John chapter 20, and verse 19 where the Lord Jesus comes that
same first day of the week in the evening the doors shut remember
we refer to it just now and he stands in the midst and says
to them peace be unto you and when he had so said he showed
unto them his hands and his sight then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord then said Jesus to them again, peace be
unto you as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. You see there is a connection
here between what he says as he shows them his hands and his
feet. He says, peace be unto you and
he shows them his hands and his feet. It is these wounds, it
is this bleeding upon the cross, it is the shedding of this precious
blood that have procured that peace with God. These who were
once as all in that state of alienation, enemies of God, yet
now reconciled. And this is the blessed message
of course that these disciples are to proclaim. Again he says,
peace be unto you as my father has sent me, even so I send you. And they go everywhere and what
do they do? They preach Christ. and they
preach Christ crucified, and they preach Christ risen again
from the dead. His death is for the sinner,
His resurrection is for the sinner, His ascension is for the sinner,
His session at the Father's right hand is for the sinner. All that
Christ is and all that Christ does is for the sinner. He is
the friend of the sinner. Oh, let us recognise that blessed
truth then. What Christ has purchased, what
Christ has procured by His death, by His resurrection from the
dead. And all of this surely, ultimately,
is for the strengthening of our faith. The strengthening of our
faith. While they yet believe not for
joy and wonder we read there in verse 41 strange words but
what do we see here well in a sense these things are too good to
be true there's faith here and yet there's faith mingled with
all sorts of strange emotions faith mingled with doubts and
with fears but that's true is it not of saving faith God says
of the believer to be steadfast in believing, yet to tremble,
fear and quiet. That's what faith is, is it not?
There is a certain trembling in faith. If we have faith, will not Satan
himself come and assault us and try to undermine our faith? Our minds with with doubts and
with fears and we don't commend those doubts and fears we have
to resist the devil he will flee from us but all friends to be
those who are persuaded of the blessed truth of the resurrection
to be brought to believe these things remember how the Lord
speaks to Martha the sister of Lazarus in John chapter 11 where
Christ is about to raise her brother to life again verse 25 there in John 11 Jesus
says to her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth
in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believe us, thou doest. That's the question that the
Lord Jesus Christ put to Martha. That's the question, is it not,
that the Lord puts to us this morning. Believe us, thou doest. Do we believe this record? Do we believe the truth as it's
set before us here in scripture? Or do we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are we those who are trusting
in Him as our God and our Saviour? He who comes to these disciples
and says, Behold, it is I, myself. The Lord bless His word to us
for His name's sake. I am, Sir Spice, your glorious
head. May thee attention give, the
resurrection of the dead, the life of all that live. you