You've not turned me on yet,
are you, John? Our subject this morning, I gave it this title, though
I understand that there's a certain length you have to meet to put
it on the internet. I don't really worry about that,
but I'll shorten it if I have to. And my wife said I did have
to, so I will. But my title is Witnesses to
Christ's Resurrection. or seven proofs of Christ's resurrection. I want to read to you, if I can
do so without taking too much of my time and not have time
for anything else. I'd like to read the 24th chapter
of Luke. Let's beg the Lord to help us. Lord, we call upon your name as our only Savior and Lord, our God, our Christ, the God-man,
Christ Jesus. Lord, if you do not see fit to
presence yourself in our midst, we have no hope of accomplishing
anything. We're just spinning our wheels.
Unless you own yourself to be what you describe yourself in
our Bibles. We pray that you would give us
the ability to hear and to understand, like you did your disciples of
old, about which we are now to read. You opened their understanding. Lord, if we are to have understanding, You must give it. We're not born
with it. We can't learn it in the classroom.
It is a gift of your grace. Without it, we're hopeless and
lost. Bless our time this day as we
gather in this out-of-the-way, insignificant place. We pray
for your mercy and your grace. In your dear name, amen. Chapter
24, verse 1. Maybe I should borrow two verses
at the end of 23, so chapter 23, because these women are coming
up before us and we need to know this statement. And when the
women also which came with our Lord Jesus from Galilee, followed
after and beheld the grave and how the body was laid. A fellow by the name of Joseph
of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, a wealthy man,
this was his tomb for himself, and I suppose his wife, hewed
out of solid stone. And he goes to Pilate and requests
the body of Christ. Another character you might remember
from the scriptures is a fellow named Nicodemus, whom we first
meet in John chapter 3. He himself took part in taking
down that body of Christ from Calvary's tree and putting it
in this grave. And these women have followed
them to this grave, and they even take note of the position
that Christ is lying inside that grave. before that big stone
is put over the door. Verse 56, and they returned,
these ladies returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested
the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the
first day of the week, that's Sunday, very early in the morning,
they came unto the grave, called unto King James the sepulcher.
It's almost It's just a cave, it's not underground. "...bringing
the spices which they had prepared and certain other women with
them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the grave. And they entered in and found
not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments." These are angels, I think, in the form
of men. And as these women were afraid
and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them,
these two men said, Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you
when he was still in Galilee? He said, the Son of Man must
be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and
the third day rise again. And they remembered his words
and returned from the grave and told all these things to the
eleven apostles and to all the rest that were with the apostles.
These women were Mary Magdalene, if I remember right, out of whom
Christ cast seven devils. Joanna and Mary, the mother of
James, and I think also of John, and other women that were with
them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their
words seemed to the apostles as idle tales, as often as our
Lord had told these men that he would rise from the dead.
They cannot believe it. And they believed them not. Then
arose Peter, and ran to the grave, and scooping down, he beheld
the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself
at that which was come to pass." Still doesn't believe it. And
behold, two of them went that day to a village called Emmaus. We call these the Emmaus disciples,
which was from Jerusalem about seven miles, sixty furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed, these two men were walking sad, communed with
each other and reasoning. Jesus drew near and went with
them. But they do not know him, but their eyes were holden. It just simply means that the
Lord, as he did frequently, especially in dangerous situations, he could
walk right through the middle of his enemies that are fixed
to throw him off the mountain, and they don't even see him.
So these men cannot recognize Christ. He said, what manner in verse
17 of communication are these that you have one to another
as you walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleophas, answered and said unto him, Are you only a stranger
in Jerusalem? Have you not known the things
which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto
them, What things? And they said unto him concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed in word
before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. Alas, verse 21, but we trusted,
we thought it would be him. We trusted that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this, today is
the third day since these things were done." Now, everybody in
his brother, in the Jewish system of that day, was looking for
the Messiah. But they were looking for him
for the wrong purposes. They were looking for somebody
to deliver them from the Roman occupation and all the things
that go along with that. Verse 22, Yes, and certain women
also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the grave.
And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had
also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the grave and found it even as the women had
said, but him they saw not. Then said he unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory?" And he's talking now to the Emmaus disciples,
and beginning at Moses, And all the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." What
scriptures? The Old Testament. There was
no New Testament at this point. You mean Christ is in the Old
Testament? My Lord, that's what it's all about. He's the subject
of the Old Testament. Everything there is designed
to complement him in some way or other. Verse 28, and they drew near
unto the village where they went, and I like this next phrase,
the Lord Jesus made as though he would have gone further. He didn't walk around with a
sad face. He wants more than these guys
want. He wants to talk to them and
reveal himself to them. Made as though he would have
gone further. Some people think that's unbecoming
of Christ to act like he's going to do one thing when he really
intends to do something else. Well, if he was going to rob
these guys, you know, that might be all right. But that's not
his purpose. He wants them to really know
him. And if he wants them to know
him, they will know him. No ifs, ands, or buts. But they constrained him, saying,
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them, and it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he
took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave to them with
his hands, visible. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they
said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while
he talked with us by the way? And when he opened to us the
Scriptures, they rose up the same hour and
returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together
and them that were with them. And they said, The Lord is risen
indeed. That's our text this morning.
The Lord is indeed risen. Not wants to be, not hopes to
be, he is raised from the dead. They said, The Lord is risen
indeed and has appeared to Simon. I take this to be the other of
the Emmaus disciples. Verse 35, And they told what
things were done, in the way, on the way to Emmaus when Christ
was with them and they didn't know it. And how he was known
of them in breaking of bread by the nail prints in his hands. And as they thus spoke, while
they're still talking, look at this now, the Lord Jesus stood
in the middle of them. These hard-headed disciples still
don't believe. And even when our Lord stands
right in front of them, they still don't believe. And that's
exactly how it is with me and you. We don't believe until God
has taken every prop there is out from under us. And our Lord said, Peace be unto
you. But they were terrified and affrighted. and supposed that they had seen
a spirit, a ghost. And he said unto them, Why are
you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your heart? Behold, my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit,
a ghost, has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. Notice he
didn't say flesh and blood, he said flesh and bones. The blood's
already shed. It's on the mercy seat in glory. And when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet. What more could you
ask? And while they yet believed not,
For joy and wonder he said unto them, Do you have any food? And they gave him a piece of
broiled fish and a honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke
unto you while I was still with you." This was before the crucifixion,
before his arrest. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me, then opened he their understanding."
Now, I'm telling you, to understand this book is a miracle of grace. You can't have it any other way. You can study and read till your
eyes fall out, till the cows come home, but you won't make
any progress in this book. until God, by his Spirit and
grace, gives us an understanding. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. From that day forth, Noah's Ark
was not a kid's story. It's a picture of redemption
by Christ and by blood. That ark is Christ. And a thousand
other things in the Old Testament as well. Verse 46, And he said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise, from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things. And behold, I send the promise
of my Father upon you, but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem
until you be endued with power from on high, which took virtually
fifty days." Forty of which our Lord was still showing Himself
to them and having fellowship with them at various times and
places in that forty days. And then He ascends to glory,
and there's another ten days because the day of Pentecost,
when the gift of the Holy Spirit upon these apostles and upon
the believers of that day took place on Pentecost, and the word
penta means fifty. So it's fifty days from Passover
to Pentecost. And that's why these references
are this way. But tarry you in the city of
Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And
he led them out as far as Tibet, and he lifted up his hands and
blessed them, and it came to pass, while he blessed them,
he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped
him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually
in the temple praising and blessing God. Did you know every gospel? All four of them end with the
word, Amen. Amen. Now, don't lose your place.
We've got to come back. And keep your other place now,
Matthew 28. Alright, I've got seven proofs
of Christ's resurrection. In this very chapter, Luke 24,
we go back to verse 24. This first witness... I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong
scripture. I want to go first to Matthew 28. This is a little
much for this mind of mine, you know, to keep it all in order. So if I make a few flubs, don't
worry about it. It only gets worse from here
out. Here's seven witnesses, or seven proofs. The first one,
is the witness of heaven. The witness of heaven. Chapter
28 of Matthew and verse 2. And behold, there was a great
earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it." This earthquake gave its testimony
to who the Lord Jesus is and what He's done and what it takes
to save hard-headed sinners like me and you. It takes something
equivalent to an earthquake and an angel from heaven. We're just
like these disciples. I mean, after they had so many
proofs it wasn't even funny, they still didn't believe. And
if we'd have read John's gospel, we'd have found out that Thomas
was even worse than they were. He was absent when that first
appearance took place that we just read about in Luke 24. So
when he got back, they said, we've seen the Lord. Oh, he said,
I won't believe that he's risen until I put my fingers in the
nail prints in his hand and my hand in his side. And then our
Lord appeared in that meeting and told Thomas exactly what
Thomas had said, and yet our Lord was not there physically.
He said, Thomas, You believe only if you can put
your hand in my wounds. He said blessed are those that
believe who do not have such proof. We live in a religious generation
that looks for signs and wonders and all these things. And the greatest miracle this
world has ever seen is the salvation of a sinner. And we can be standing
right beside them when that happens and never know it. Never know
it. The angel of the Lord descended
from heaven," this is still the second verse of Matthew 28, "...and
came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it."
These women had worried, well, who's going to remove the stone
so we can get in the grave? No problem. No problem at all. Who's going to remove the stone
in our heart in order for us to believe? It
will be God or it won't be moved. That's just how it is. Now, hanging on to Matthew 28,
let's go back to Luke. I really want to mention the
two verses at the end of chapter 23 and read just a few verses
to take us into this third The second witness, if I didn't make
it clear, is that this earth itself, as well as heaven, gave
its testimony concerning Christ. And the third one is that these
angels appeared to the godly women, in addition to the one
that we hear of in Matthew chapter 28. And this time we begin in
chapter 23 in Luke, where we started our reading at verse
55. And the women also which came
with us from Galilee followed after and beheld the grave, and
how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared
spices and ointment and rested the sabbath day according to
the commandment. Now upon the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, These ladies came to the grave,
bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain other
women, I think, with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the grave, and they entered in and found not the
body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were perplexed thereabout, behold, two men, which I think are angels
in disguise, stood by them in shining garments. And as they
were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth and said unto
them, Why seek you the living among the dead? Lord, I'd like to go to every
Baptist church in Harnett County right now and just make that
same statement. What are you people seeking the
living among the dead for? Oh, preacher, you're too harsh.
Well, if they don't believe the gospel
that's in this book, They're going to hell, and somebody's
got to speak up. God helping me, I'm going to
sure do my part. Why do you seek the living among
the dead? This grave is now past tense.
Oh, I know thousands of people every year go over there and
stand in that grave, if they can even find which one it is.
But that is the worst thing you could possibly do. You think
to do something physically equals spiritually, and it does not
compute. It does not carry over. He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you
when he was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the
third day rise again? And they remembered his words,
and returned from the grave, and he told all these things
unto the eleven and to the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
and Mary, the mother of James and other women, that were with
them, which told these things to the apostles. So these godly
women had an angel visit all their own in regard to this glorious,
glorious wonder and miracle, the resurrection of Christ from
the dead. Never to die again. Raised forever. Now there's one reference, and
if you'll permit me, I won't tell you what it is until I read
it. Oh, there it is. Not only the
witness of heaven, and the witness of earth, and the witness of
godly women, but here is a multitude of witnesses, according to the
Apostle Paul, Over 500 men at one time witnessed the resurrected
Christ. Here it is. "...by which also you are saved
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain." For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which
I also received," Paul now speaking to the Corinthian church, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures, and that He was seen of Peter and then of
the twelve, and after that He was seen of above Five hundred
brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this
present hour, but some are fallen to sleep." Now that's Paul writing
in 1 Corinthians 15. Now, fourthly, here is a multitude
of witnesses. The evidence is growing. It includes beings from heaven
and beings from earth. It includes people who love Him
and people who hate Him. This is some witness list, if
you ask me. Alright, the fifth thing, and
this comes out of Luke 24. So you should already be there,
right? Alright, Luke 24, verses 36 Now, I know I've read this, but
I want you to see it in this regard. These disciples and apostles
are called the living. The living. In just a moment
we'll hear from the dead. But here it is, the living. And
these are people who ate and drank with our Savior after he
was raised from the dead. Alright, let's start. Let's see,
verse 36. And as they thus spoke, Jesus
himself stood in the midst. He just, not through the door,
mind you, he just appears on the inside of this room, wherever
it is. And he said, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified
and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he
said unto them, Why are you troubled and why do your thoughts arise
in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
has not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they still believed not," this time it's for a good excuse,
they believed not for joy, for the pure joy of a resurrected
Christ. And wondered, amazed, and our
Lord said to them, Do you have any food? Have you any meat? And I like that meat thing. I mean, if you don't have meat,
I don't think you've had much food worth anything. But my habits
are changing. They gave him a piece of brawled
fish and a honeycomb. And he eats it in front of them. And they see it. They've seen
this hundreds of times before He was crucified. And He took
it and did it before them. And He said unto them, these
are the words which I spoke unto you when I was still with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. You mean the Psalms are about Christ? Oh, yes, indeed. Genesis to Malachi. Then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures." Now Matthew, instead of 28, just
dip back into 27 a little bit. I need to make a point here.
There are some people in Matthew 27 that have already
died. They're in the grave. But they want to give witness
to the resurrection of Christ. Let me show it to you. Verse 51 through 53 in Matthew
27. Matthew 27, what verse did I
tell you? 51, yeah. Behold, the veil of
the temple was rent or torn in two from top to bottom. And if you think that curtain
there in front of the baptistry is thick, there's no telling
how thick this curtain was. And it split starting at the
top and came to the bottom. And these Jews are so blind,
all they do is sew it back together and keep on keeping on. Same
old sacrifices, everything the same. Keep the
law and God will save you and all this kind of stuff. And that's
what religion is doing every day. And the earth did quake
and the rocks rent or split. And the graves were opened, and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose." The dead arose and came out of
the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city,
Jerusalem, and appeared unto many. There you go. Dead people bearing witness that
Christ is risen from the dead. One more category that we cannot
omit, though we do not like these people, but we have to tolerate
them sometimes. In fact, I put myself right in
there with them at one time. I was a Baptist preacher, but I
didn't know doodlums quite. The first time I heard that God
was sovereign, I didn't like it one little bit. God sent me a book on the sovereignty
of God by A.W. Pink. And my whole world was turned
upside down. And from that day, I got put
out of that church after about another year. I don't know why
it took them that long. And then the next one, and the
next one, and the next one. And I'm still on the last next
one. That's right here. Oh my, it's
been a lot of fun. The enemies of our Lord Jesus
Christ. These, in verses 11 through 15
in Matthew 28, we read about this concocted
story. Instead of admitting that Christ
is risen from the dead, they say that the disciples went and
stole His body. and that they have it somewhere.
Alright, verses 11-15, Matthew 28. Now when they were going,
behold some of the watch. These are the people that were
paid to guard this tomb and to prevent these disciples from
stealing the body of Christ. Now when they were going, some
of the watch, I take that to mean these were Roman soldiers,
but they were being paid by the Jewish Sanhedrin, the hierarchy
of the Jewish religion. They came into the city and showed
unto the chief priest all that was done. They didn't go to Pilate
to tell him. They went to the religious leaders.
And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken
counsel, Ah, it still works this way, ladies and gentlemen. They
gave large money unto the soldiers. Bribery is still the way to go. Washington reeks with it. Raleigh reeks with it. Lillington reeks with it. And
you and I reek with it. Except for God's grace, we'd
be right there in that same rat race and loving every minute
of it. They said, the Jewish leaders
said to these soldiers, verse 13, say you his disciples came
by night and stole him away while we slept. And we'll patch things
up with the governor, and he won't be hard on you. That's
what the next verse goes on to say. Even the enemies of Christ, the
preacher, how can they testify that Christ is rose? Just one
little simple fact, the grave is empty. He's no longer where he was buried. They said, why seek you the living? The angel said to the women,
why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. He's risen. Now, I'm leaving Matthew 28 and
I'm leaving Luke 24. I want you to look at two scriptures
in the book of Romans. And one more in the book of 1
Corinthians. The first one is in the first
chapter of Romans. And I've tried to take advantage
of you and mark my place so I can find it before you. Romans chapter 1. One verse alone. Now let's look at this closely. Speaking of our Lord Jesus, He was declared to be the Son
of God, not just the Son of God, the Son of God with God's power. according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead. Here is what that means, and
it can only mean this. When Christ was raised from the
dead, He raised himself from the dead. Now before you get
too hot under the collar, I know the book also says that God the
Father raised him from the dead, and God the Holy Spirit raised
him from the dead, but it also says that Christ raised himself,
and here's one of those times. Here's why. If the Father raised him from
the dead, He could have been just like one of us. God can
raise us from the dead if He chooses. If the Holy Spirit raised
Him from the dead, that's no evidence as to who Christ is. But if Christ raised Himself
from the dead, then it goes straight to the point. What is the point? Look at verse 4. He was declared
To be the son of God with power? How? By the resurrection of the
dead. Which could not be said if it
were just simply God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God is in three persons, but
they're just one. One will, one purpose. The same. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Chapter 4 in Romans. The very last verse in Romans
4, which is verse 25. Speaking of our Savior who was
delivered for our offenses, Christ was delivered up to die for our
offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Please understand that word.
If the resurrection of Christ is real, then he justifies every
person whom he represented before God. If he's raised from the dead,
all who are in him are declared justified before God, without
sin, holy, sanctified, whatever else you want to name. It's ours
in Christ. But we can't have it any other
way. It must be in Him, and that's in the crucified Christ. One
more scripture, 1 Corinthians 15. Paul makes some plain statements. I already read you one of them
earlier. But this is even more to the point having to do with
this matter of the resurrection and the Lord Jesus. Not being
in the grave. He's not here. He is risen. 1 Corinthians 15, we'll begin
at verse 12. 1 Corinthians 15, 12. Now, if Christ
be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among
you that there's no resurrection of the dead? But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. In
other words, if we're not raised from the dead, He's not, because
if we're His, He raised Himself and His people all at one time.
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen. And if Christ be not risen, verse 14, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. Yes, and we are found false
witnesses of God. Boy, I used to be one for sure. I mean, it was a, you know, hey,
I was getting paid for it. It was a full-time job. I didn't
know it at the time. False witnesses of God. Jehovah's Witness ain't the only
false witnesses around, ladies and gentlemen. Because we've
testified of God, that if He raised up Christ, whom He raised
not up, if so be that the dead rise not. If Christ's people are not risen,
then Christ is not raised. But if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain and you are still in your sins. Then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, no future hope just in
this world, We are, of all men, most miserable. Now my question, and I'm finished,
are we witnesses of Christ's resurrection? Maybe, maybe not.