Join us this morning, if you
would, in the New Testament, in the book of Acts chapter 1,
Acts chapter 1. And I would like to read the
first three verses of scripture here in the book of Acts chapter
1, verses 1, 2, and 3. And we've looked at this Jesus
that is mentioned there. In verse 1, the former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do, both
to do and to teach. And we looked at Theophilus as
a friend of God, and we find out that everyone that God has
ever given regeneration to, has ever saved, are the friends of
God. And that name, Jesus, the name
of Jesus, every knee shall bow. But we also find out thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
And then we looked at verse 2, "...until the day in which he
was taken up, the ascension of the Lord Jesus back to the Father,
and a sign that it truly, it is finished." Salvation is absolutely
complete. There is nothing to be added.
There's nothing to be read into it. It is as clear as clear can
be to those that God has saved, that God has given the new birth
to. Now, religious people, just like we were before the Lord
saved us, are going to try to add things to and take away things
from, but that doesn't hinder God in the least. He's going
to do, has done, and will continue to do all His will, until the
day that He was taken up. After that, He, through the Holy
Ghost, had given commandments. unto them, unto the apostles
whom he had chosen. Now in verse three, we have to
whom also he showed himself alive. Verse two, he's ascended. Verse
three, we have a redeclaration of whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion. That word passion means suffering,
after his suffering. by many infallible proofs. You know, Mike and I have been
talking, last week he mentioned Genesis chapter 1, where it's
just a plain statement. God created the heavens and the
earth, no argument. He didn't have to prove a thing.
And you know, he could have just simply said, He raised from the
dead. But we're going to read that
He is so gracious on that matter that He's going to demonstrate
by many infallible proofs. He is going to appear unto many
that 40 days after His resurrection until His ascension, He is going
to appear unto many so that there would not be one argument about
this. If you can see the Word of God
by God's revelation, there's no argument. In fact, it is necessary
to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ if you're saved. Now, I can see people that say
they don't believe it. They just do not know the gospel. It is part of what God gives
us in the package of grace is to know beyond a shadow of a
doubt that He rose from the dead. many infallible proofs, seeing
of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God." So during forty day period, He is going to share
with those disciples and with many others by many infallible
proofs, He's going to be touched. He's going to be heard. He's
going to eat fish with them. He's going to have meals with
them. He's going to demonstrate in teaching them that He is the
true one that came out of the tomb. The resurrection of Jesus
Christ is absolutely essential to the gospel. There's nothing
that can substitute for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know, as
the scriptures teach us and as history teaches us, that there
was one, by the name of Jesus, that came down and was crucified.
There is record that he was buried. And there is record that God
reveals to us that He came out of that tomb, and there's record
that He ascended back to the Father. Now, before we go any
further on this, turn with me, if you would, to the book of
1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle
Paul sums up. Now, I remember many years ago
when I heard the gospel for the first time, the preacher said,
that he didn't know the gospel. until he'd heard it. And I just
said to myself, I'm sitting in that pew or a chair or whatever,
and I says, the gospel? That's so simple. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, this explains the gospel to a core. How can he
say he didn't know the gospel? Well, I understand now how he
could say that. It hadn't been revealed to him.
But notice with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, there in verses one
through four, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
One of the things to underscore here is it is a declaration.
I'm not going to try to convince anybody of the gospel. It is
an open declaration. God requires of us to declare
the gospel. God requires us to declare the
gospel to all creatures. God declares unto us to declare
the gospel. You know, I had a golden opportunity
yesterday. I was in City Park after the
farmer's market. And there's a gentleman that
I've met the last four times I've been in there. Saturday,
they have a farmer's market. Saturday at about three o'clock,
I go through with my metal detector. there's gonna be some chains
left over. So I like to find it. And there's
been this old gentleman there, and yesterday we got to visiting,
and he got to talking about creation, and he got to talking about that
his father was an atheist that believed in the Big Bang Theory,
but he believes that there was a, the Earth is a young Earth,
and that it's been created, and God's in charge, and then he
got off on eschatology. And I just simply said, in closing,
it took the same power of God that it took to create the heavens
and the earth to give us the new birth. Now, I hope to meet
him next Saturday, and we're going to have some more discussion.
You know, I don't try to convince anybody of anything. It's a declaration. God saves His people from their
sins. Well, here's the declaration.
which I preached unto you. Paul spent his ministry on this
subject, which also you have received and wherein you stand,
by which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I preached
unto you. And then he throws in this caveat, unless you have
believed in vain. And you know what that is? Self-belief. That's belief that we've come
up with. I believe that Jesus died. I believe that Jesus came.
I believe this. And I was talking to Mike this
morning about my father, Wisconsin. Many years ago, he went to a
church and he went through a period of education. And at the conclusion
of that, if he answered the questions correctly, they threw some water
in his face and he was baptized. He went through a ceremony of
believing some facts, and he counted that as his salvation. Now, the only thing different
that he did was he was immersed. From having water sprinkled on
his face, he was immersed, but he was hanging on to that, I
answered the questions correctly. We cannot, we never will be able
to convince or educate people into the kingdom of heaven because
it is an act of grace. It is a new birth that God must
perform. So unless you believed in vain,
You cannot go back to an experience. You must go back to Christ. And
then it says here, for I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Now this is the gospel. And that
he was buried. And that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. So he summed it up. Here's a
thumbnail sketch. Here's an outline. And if we
start looking, who did he die for and all those other things,
we have, it expands and expands. And that's why we have Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, and all the rest of the Bible to expand
this outline. Turn with me back to the book
of Romans, if you would. Romans chapter one. In Romans
1, verse 4, Romans 1 and verse 4, we read
this about the Lord Jesus. Well, verse 3 and 4, it's concerning
the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. That's the God-man came. He came
through the loins of David. He came through Abraham. Concerning
his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans chapter 1 verse 3 which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
how by the resurrection from the dead. He's declared to be
the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.
And then if you'll travel with me in the book of Romans to chapter
10, chapter 10 and verse 9. Now I remember very clearly as
a young boy sitting in my pew at church and squirreling around,
and my dad grabbed my Bible and underlined these verses of Scripture
and then whispered in my ear, �I want you to be quiet so someday
you might be saved.� And these are the verses. Now I�m not going
to take them out of context like he did. But I do want to read
one verse of Scripture here that it is absolutely essential. God reveals this to His people.
He does not leave this point out. This is a gift of God. It is something you cannot unlearn. It is something God gives to
us in such a capacity that we will never, ever wonder whether
it's true or not. It is BEYOND CONVINCING. It is
ABSOLUTELY GIVEN to us. It tells us there in the book
of Romans chapter 10 and verse 9, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, and then we have a past
tense verb. shall be saved. Talk to people who go to church
and say, you know, I really don't think that Jesus came out of
the grave. I don't think he's ascended.
And there's a big discussion in the Bible about that very
thing. As Paul goes to the Corinthians, there are some of you that say
there's no resurrection. And he said, if that be true,
you're yet in your sins. All right, let's go back here
to the book of Acts. As we go through this passage
of Scripture, we find out that the resurrection, the emphasis
of the resurrection is found in this book. In fact, if we,
and we will notice this over time, that there are 16 places
in the book of Acts that refer to Jesus being raised from the
dead. There�s 5 places in the book
of Acts that refer to Jesus being raised from the dead. 16 it says
He�s raised, 5 of those raised from the dead, and 10 verses
in the book of Acts refer to His resurrection. And we're going
to find out that the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, during
the book of Acts, spent their ministry on this very subject,
and they were imprisoned for it, they were beaten for it,
but they were convinced of it. There was not one thought in
their mind. Why? Because there was many infallible
proofs that God gave to them. And as we read over there in
1 John 1, verse 1, we handled Him. We touched Him. We heard
Him. We saw Him. And they were convinced
beyond a shadow of a doubt. You know, there is a whole group
of people that Jesus never went to visit after He came out of
that tomb. He never visited with Herod.
He never visited with Pilate. He never visited with the Sadducees
or the Pharisees. He visited with the saints. They're the ones that saw Him.
The rest of them, They wouldn't have believed it if they'd have
seen him. You know, Jesus raised a man from the dead by the name
of Lazarus, and it's not very long, they're plotting to kill
that guy again. It's just too much for them to
bear. So they're plotting to do that.
Acts chapter 12, they're plotting to kill. Lazarus, along with
the Lord Jesus. So he didn't go to Pilate and
say, look at me. He didn't go to Herod. He didn't
go to anybody. He didn't appear to those soldiers
that crucified him. He went to his children. He went to the apostles. He went
to his disciples. He went to people he had revealed
himself to by the Spirit. So as we look at this, we find
that the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to many people after
His resurrection so that there would be many infallible proofs. People could not walk away and
say, I don't believe it, unless it hadn't been revealed to them.
Alright, let's look at this, and I'm not sure that we'll get
through all of these. but the Bible is filled with His appearances
to His people after His resurrection to cause them to know, ìIt is
I.î Sometimes they say, ìItís a spirit,î and He says, ìNo,
itís Me!î Alright, turn with me, if you would, to the book
of John, the book of John chapter 20, many infallible proofs. And this is the basis for what
we're going to find here in the Book of Acts. Many infallible
proofs. They were convinced of this. It was just not a historical
event. They were convinced of this very thing. The Lord had
convinced them. The evidence from the Gospels
and from the Book of Acts the incident after incident, and
witness after witness, and detail after detail, there may not be
any more thoroughly attested event in ancient history than
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the times that He reveals this. And we see in the scriptures
the resurrection was undoubtedly a central proclamation of the
early church from the very beginning. But as we read in the Old Testament,
they believed in the resurrection. What did Job say about it? Job
declared the resurrection. Though the skin worms destroy
this body, yet shall I see him. So he's talking about it, and
that reading we just read from the book of Jonah. Jesus said,
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. I'm coming out. The psalmist said, thou
shalt not leave his soul in Sheol. but it will come out. So we have
this. Now the attestation of it. The
early believers at the time of the Lord Jesus did not just endorse
his teachings. They were absolutely convinced
that he had seen him alive after his crucifixion. No one doubted
about that. Now they had some doubts before,
but after many infallible proofs, there was no doubt in their mind
whatsoever. So in the book of John chapter
20, John chapter 20, and verse one, we read this. John chapter
20, verse one, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth
the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Mary Magdalene. Now
drop down with me, if you would, to verse 11. But Mary stood without at the
sepulchre weeping. And as she weeps, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet where
the body of Jesus had laid. And they said unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? And she said unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back
and saw Jesus standing, and knew not it was Jesus. And Jesus said
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? And
she, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir,
if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid
him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said unto her, Mary,
And she turned to herself and said unto him, Rabboni, which
is to say, Master, in that simple word, her name that he called
out, she understood exactly now who she's visiting with. She
is visiting with her resurrected Savior. She is visiting with
Him, and He is giving to us an infallible proof. She is a testimony. Now, it's interesting to find
out who this Mary Magdalene is. And so, if you would turn with
me back to the book of Luke. Let's just step back there in
the history of what happened in the Gospels. In the book of
Luke chapter 8, It tells us about Mary Magdalene, and she has a
great infirmity. She has an infirmity that no
man can take care of. There is no incantation that
can deal with this. I heard the other day that when
Pastor Joe was, his life was taken from him, that it was the
devil that caused that, and I thought, oh my goodness. There is so much
silliness that goes on. A man's heart was desperately
wicked and he took another man's life. Cannot blame it on the
devil. Well, here we read there is an
infirmity. Now, I don't know how much this
happens today, but I know this. A man does not have the power
to deal with this. I don't care who he is. I don't
care how much education he has. He has no power to deal with
what Mary Magdalene had as an infirmity. It takes the power
of God. Now, I'm almost convinced that
when Jesus went to the cross, he took care of all of that problem.
and we find it in people and they blame it on the devil and
demons and things like that. I think it s alcohol and drugs.
It says here in verse 2, A certain woman, which had been healed
of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils. Now, this is the record of the
first person that Jesus revealed himself to after his resurrection,
was a woman that he'd already dealt with. And it's interesting,
in her view of him, she could not see him. And yet the Lord
called her name, and in the revelation of that name, she heard the voice
of her Savior speak to her, and she turned to Him and said, Master,
Master, Rabboni, what a statement that God has for us in this,
that the resurrection is a revealed truth, but once it is revealed
to us, it is a truth we can carry to glory. the resurrected Savior. So we have the record that Jesus,
by many infallible proofs, one of them, He appeared unto Mary
Magdalene, and we will see by this appearance that Christ,
after His resurrection, was viewing, or coming to people, sinners
saved by grace. Not one instance can we read
about anybody else ever seeing Him, but those who knew Him in
salvation. And in the second place that
we find, and we may not have them exactly in order. It's kind
of hard sometimes in reading through there exactly the order
of things, but this is another place, and that's found in the
book of Luke chapter 24, of many infallible proofs. In the book
of Luke chapter 24, we find the Lord Jesus appearing unto other
women. Chapter 24 of the book of Luke,
beginning with verse 1. First day of the week, very early
in the morning. Now, it's interesting, these
ladies were not coming expecting a resurrection. They were expecting
to put more spices on the body. They were expecting to put more
aroma around it so that that decomposing body would not smell. That's their goal. They did not
have time to take care of it properly before he was taken
off the cross and put up before the Passover. They came very
early in the morning. They came to the sepulcher, and
what are they bringing? Burial spices, which they had
prepared and certain others with them. They are coming to take
care of a problem that they didn't have time to take care of. The
Lord's going to take care of it for them and reveal himself
to them in his resurrected glory. A lot of people. Most of these
disciples had no idea. About what was going to happen,
they. They just could not fit it into
the scheme of their teaching that Jesus Christ was not going
to set up a political kingdom They'd been taught this in school,
they'd been taught this in Sabbath school, they'd been taught this
all their life, and now the Lord's going to show them, that's not
why I came. I came to save sinners. I came to save sinners." Alright,
it goes on to tell us here, And they found the stone rolled away
from the sepulcher, 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, and as they were afraid, and bowed down their
faces to the earth, and said to them, Why seek ye the living
among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.
Remember how he spake unto you when ye were yet in Galilee,
saying, The Son of man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful
men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again? The gospel. declared to them the gospel,
and they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulcher,
and told all these things unto the eleven, and to the rest,
and was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James,
and other women that were with them, which told these things
unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them
as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter and
ran unto the sepulcher, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes
laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at what
had come to pass. And then we have the next step
there in verse 13, we have the road to Emmaus. Two, one of them's
name is given, his name is Cleophas. Many infallible proofs on the
road to Emmaus. Two people are walking along
saying, oh my goodness. What are we going to do now?
We supposed, and they're going to tell that to a stranger, we
supposed that this was him. Behold, two of them went on their
way to the village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about
three score furlongs. And they talked together of all
the things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together in reason, Jesus himself drew near and went
unto them. Jesus himself drew near and went
unto them, but their eyes were holden, that they should not
know him." Now is that on purpose or is
that an error? It's completely on purpose. And he said unto them, What manner
of communication are these, that ye have one to another, as ye
walked, and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleophas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem? Hast thou not known the things
which have 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, and
word before God, and all the people. and how the chief priests
and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have
crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
him that should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulchre, and when they found not the body,
they came saying that they have also seen a vision of angels,
which said, He is alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even as the women
had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory, and beginning at Moses and the prophets? Now they came
near unto the village there, and verse 29, they constrained
him, saying, Abide with us. And he went in, and he broke
meat, it tells us in verse 30. And verse 31, their eyes were
opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.
The Lord opened their eyes to understand this is the risen
Savior. Took away all their doubt about
what they'd already said. We suppose it would be He that
would redeem Israel. What are they saying? That He
would set up another political kingdom and put Rome to its knees. never intended to do that. He
came for a purpose, and that was to lay down His life, a ransom
for many. And since that was total and
complete payment, He was buried. And the third day, the promise
of the resurrection came, and now He's out visiting with His
saints and saying, I am He who was crucified. The testimony
continues on. Verse 34 of the same chapter,
it says, saying, Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to
Simon. And then in John chapter 10, would you join over there? In John chapter 10, we have a
person, and we hear it today, doubting Thomas. Not the only one. Tells us in John chapter 10,
verse 19, that Jesus met with his disciples John 10 v. 19. Well, I got that wrong. I'll have to look that up. John
20, thank you. I should have known that. It's
too early in the book. John Chapter 20. 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.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then
said Jesus unto them, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent
me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
of the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. Now before
we have too much consternation about Thomas, we don't know the
circumstances why Thomas was not there. But we know for our
education that the Lord did not criticize him for not being there. The Lord gave him the same blessing
when he saw them than him the next day or the next week. Thomas
was not there. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, we have seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
except I shall see in his hands the prints of my hands. What
did Jesus just do with those disciples? Look at me. And then, except I see the hands
and the prints of the nails, and put my finger into the print
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after eight days, again, his disciples were within, and
Thomas was with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then said he to Thomas. Now, the Lord was not present,
but he knew exactly what Thomas had said. He said, Thomas, reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my sight, and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. There was such a revelation in
this whole manner. And then in John chapter 21,
let's just move another chapter. John chapter 21, we find in verse
one, more infallible proofs about His resurrection. This is going
to be a convincing item with the disciples. It is going to
be carried to the Apostle Paul, convincing item of the Gospel. After these things, Jesus showed
Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on
this way showed Himself There were together Simon, and Thomas
Chaldidemus, and Nathanael of Canaan, and the sons of Zebedee,
and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing.
We have here that he appears unto seven of his disciples at
one time. And in Matthew chapter 28, let's
travel over there, we'll find many infallible proofs. The Lord
was going to demonstrate to His disciples, demonstrate to those
that He loved from an everlasting love, and share with them, He
truly is the resurrected Christ. In Matthew chapter 28 and verse
16, it says, Then eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into
a mountain, where Jesus had appointed them. Why is there eleven? Judas
has already taken care of his business. He hanged himself. There's 11 disciples. That's
all there is at the time. And when they saw him, they worshiped
him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye
therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo,
I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. When
they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. You know,
by these many infallible proofs, all that doubt will be taken
away. Jesus appears to His apostles
in Matthew Chapter 24 again. Matthew Chapter 24 and verse
36. We read these words about the
Lord's, excuse me, Luke Chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, and there
in verse 36, just before His ascension. And we read this over
in the book of Acts, too. As this book of Luke and the
book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave it all to one person, Dr. Luke. In verse 36 of this chapter,
it says, And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst
of them, and said unto them, 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 ye troubled, and 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 you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
broiled fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat. And
said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in
the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. how the Lord was
so careful to instruct His disciples by many infallible proofs. And
you know, the Lord continues to reveal His resurrected glory
to His people. If you'll turn with me to the
book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
we read here, In 1 Corinthians 15, beginning
with verse 5, the Apostle Paul writes this as he's led by the
Holy Spirit. It says in verse 4 that he was
buried, he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. Twelve? Hmm. That was one of the requirements
for the person to take Judas' place was to see the Lord in
his resurrected glory. After that, he was seen of 500
brethren at once. He appeared unto His disciples. He appeared unto people who loved
Him. He appeared to take away their fear. He appeared to take
away their unbelief. He appeared and revealed Himself
unto them, 500 brethren at once. At the time of this writing,
the greater part remain unto this present, but some are falling
asleep. Some have already passed away,
already died. After that, He was seen of James,
then of all the apostles. And then the Apostle Paul said
this, and last of all, he was seen to me also as one born out
of due time. That's one of the glorious activities
of God through the Holy Spirit. When he saves somebody, he reveals
himself in resurrected glory. that the work has been done.
He is now sitting down at the right hand of the Father. He's
done the work. It is finished. Work is over.
Don't work your way into heaven. This is what he said by many
infallible proofs. Going over to the book of 1 John,
I have to go over there and read this passage of Scripture, 1
John 1, verse 1, as we find there in that wonderful statement that
John mentions by inspiration He says, with regard to the Lord,
the Lord of glory, the one that came and laid down his life for
ransom for many, these things, it says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, you know, they heard him
before his death. They heard him, many of them,
from the cross. But after His resurrection, we
heard Him. We understood what the Old Testament
was about. We understood that we were going
on a misconceived idea that He came down to restore Israel to
its former glory. It is not a political kingdom.
It is a spiritual kingdom that He came to establish. Heard about
that in the book of Daniel today. He came down and established
a spiritual kingdom. Well, we can trace that for a
long ways back, can't we? And it will be traced a long
ways in the future, yes. This spiritual kingdom where
God saves His people for His glory, it's a spiritual birth.
It places us in a spiritual context with the Lord, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, many infallible proofs
that Jesus Christ has come out of that tomb victorious over
all the enemies of God and the church, which have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon. And beyond that, our hands
have handled of the word of life. They got to touch Him. They got to hear Him. They got
to see Him. Many infallible proofs. And as
Paul brought out there in the book of Corinthians, 500 people
at one time. They were having a revival meeting.
God appeared, Jesus Christ appeared unto them and revealed Himself
in His resurrected glory to them, that He came out of the tomb
victorious. And if you turn with me to a
place, it will be a while before we get there in the book of Acts
chapter 4. If you turn with me to Acts chapter 4, and there
in verse 20, the disciples are going to pay dearly. for believing,
for having knowledge of, for knowing about the resurrection. If those guys would just shut
up, this whole thing will blow over. They keep talking about a resurrection. And if we could just get them
to shut up, this will go away. Well, here we read in the book
of Acts, verse 19 of chapter 4, But Peter and John answered
and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. They're telling
them, don't you talk about the resurrection anymore. They're
going to beat them. Several times they're going to
beat them. And then it says, for we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard. That's what we must do. So when
they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing
how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified
God for that which was done. This same Jesus, Came out of
the tomb victorious, and he in his resurrected glory appeared
to many, many infallible proofs. The word infallible, there's
no way if you have an open mind you won't believe this. Well,
we find out death which is something surely and plainly known. but
it is only plainly known to the church. It must be revealed to
those that are without Christ. So after his passion, he appeared
with many infallible proofs, and it was so serious to the
disciples, and to those disciples that would be born into the kingdom.
You know, the day of Pentecost, 3,000 were saved. Those guys
said, we believe in the resurrection. And then when another group would
say, we believe in the resurrection. And when another group would
say, you know, it's made unto us, knowledge has been known
unto us that he came out of that tomb. He's no longer there. So
by many infallible proofs, after his passion, after his death
and resurrection, Jesus appeared to a whole host of people. And you know what? In due time,
He appears to every one of his lost sheep in his resurrected
glory. And guess what? We get to say,
Rabboni. Master, Lord, you weren't yesterday,
but you are today. You weren't this morning, but
you are now. The crucifixion paid all that
was owed. He came out victorious, and now
he sits at the right hand of the Father. And the rest of this
book is going to be based upon this, the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The book of Acts, about 30 years,
historic time, from the resurrection of Jesus Christ to Paul at Rome,
and in between, they preached Christ and Him crucified. And that's the only thing that
changed anybody. I like what the Apostle Paul
did there in Athens. I'm going to talk to you about
an unknown God, an unknown God. To the world,
He is unknown. To the saints, He is Rabboni. Brother Mike.