I invite your attention to 1
Corinthians chapter 15. This morning's message continues
this series on Christ has been raised from the dead. Our text is found in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 in verse 12. If Christ is preached that he
has been raised from the dead, and he is preached that he has
been raised from the dead, If I'm not mistaken, this is our
fourth message in this series on the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, and we're going to consider further aspects of that resurrection
today, God willing. We observed, first of all, that
Christ's resurrection fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, and
in particular, Psalm 16, verses 8 through 11. And then we observe
that Christ's resurrection was prophesied by Christ himself. He said that he would be raised
from the dead, and he said he would raise himself from the
dead on the third day. Then we observe that Christ's
resurrection is declared and described in all four Gospels. And then we began to look at
the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ under the heading,
and you have your synopsis there, but under the heading, the resurrected
Christ was seen by many witnesses and on various occasions. We observed, first of all, that
he appeared to Mary Magdalene at his tomb, John 20, verses
11 through 18. Then he appeared to Simon Peter
on an unspecified occasion that day, Luke 24 verse 34 and 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 verse 5. Then we observe that he appeared
to Cleopas and another disciple in Emmaus that evening, Luke
24 verses 13 through 35. at which time it came to pass,
as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread, blessed,
and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened,
and they knew him. He was known to them in the breaking
of bread." And we emphasize that Cleopas and this other brother
did not know who Jesus was until he broke the bread and he handed
it to them, and when they saw the hand that handed the bread
to them, they knew this was Jesus and they ran back to Jerusalem
to let the word be known. Now that is in Luke chapter 24. We're
going now to the 20th chapter of the gospel according to John. John chapter 20. And we're going
to observe today two more appearances of Jesus Christ on that very
day. Remember, Mary Magdalene, probably
early morning, a little later in the day, to Peter on an unspecified
occasion, to Cleopas and another disciple later that day toward
evening, and now evidently after dark, Jesus is going to be appearing
again. 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, Jesus came
and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you. Peace be with you. Now when he had said this, he
showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were
glad when they saw the Lord. But I would have you to know
that they were not glad and they did not rejoice immediately. It took a while. In fact, if
you will, go to the gospel according to Luke, chapter 24. Keep your
place here. We're going to come back to it.
But in Luke's gospel, chapter 24, Luke has a larger account of
this appearing to his disciples. Luke, the 24th chapter. Verse 36, Cleopas and the other brother
told the disciples what had happened to them in verses 34 and 35.
And then we read, Now as they said these things, Jesus himself
stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace to you. Who
was in this room? It appears that ten of the apostles
were there. Judas was not there because he
was no longer among them. And Thomas was not there. He
was absent on that occasion. So there were the ten apostles. And there were other people also. Cleopas was there, and so was
this other brother as well. And as they said these things,
Jesus stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace to you.
But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a
spirit. And He said to them, Why are
you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your
hearts? Behold my hands and my feet. That's where the prints of the
spikes were. Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had
said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while
they still did not believe for joy and marveled, he said to
them, Have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of a
broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate it in
their presence. Now, he has come into the door
where they were. The door was shut. Some have said maybe He'd come
in through some miraculous way. No. He probably came in through
that door the same way that everybody else goes through the door because
He was in a body. He walked over and He opened
it and He stepped in. There He is. And the disciples, You foolish ones and slow of
heart to believe." How often did our Lord have to say that
to His disciples? Thought they'd seen a spirit.
Thought they'd seen a spirit. He says, no. See my hands? Go ahead and touch me. Touch
me. It is said that seeing is believing. Well, touching is
even more. Go ahead and touch me. And to
prove that it is a real body, He says, give me something to
eat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took
it and ate it in their presence. He's going to tell them about
the promise of the Father that he's going to give, but we can
look at that some other occasion. But the point that I want to
stress to you now is, they were still so slow to believe. And this was the same day, remember,
the same day. The angels had told the women
at the tomb, he is not here, he is risen. Peter and John had
come to the tomb, they realized he's risen, his body was not
stolen. Cleopas and the disciples have
come with word. All of these things happened
on that first, first day, following the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But Thomas was not there. So, now go back to the gospel
according to John. The gospel according to John.
Because he's going to appear to them yet again. Verse 24. John 20 verse 24, but Thomas called Didymus, the
word means twin, Thomas probably had a twin brother. But Thomas
called Didymus, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus
came. The other disciples therefore
said to him, We have seen the Lord. They finally were convinced. We have seen the Lord. But he
said to them, Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails,
Unless I put my finger into the print of the nails, unless I
put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Thomas evidently took this matter more seriously. And it evidently had greater
consequences on him than it did the others. The fact that Jesus
was gone. He just could not believe in
this resurrection. We call him Doubting Thomas,
and perhaps he has earned that name. But let's not leave him
called Doubting Thomas, because later he became Convinced Thomas. But he is here not believing.
He says, I've got to not only see, I've got to touch. And after eight days, his disciples
were again inside. That would be exactly one week
later. Just as we say that Tuesday is
three days after Sunday, well, here is eight days later, and
Jesus shows up. Eight days later, on the first
day of the week. There is something that I probably
need to stress to you here. Have you noticed the emphases
that are made on the first day of the week? On the first day
of the week. In the Old Testament, it was
the seventh day of the week that was so important. That was the
Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day. Six
days you shall work, but the seventh shall be holy unto the
Lord. And all through the Old Testament,
it was the seventh day of the week that was important. And
even during the ministry of Jesus Christ, that seventh day continued
to be important. Our Lord went to the synagogues
on the seventh day because he was born under the law. But now
with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the seventh day falls
into the background and the first day of the week comes into prominence
and replaces it as the important day in the New Testament. On the first day of the week,
all four Gospels record Jesus being raised from the dead on
the first day of the week. Both Gospels record Jesus appearing,
pardon me, it is John's Gospel that emphasizes Jesus appearing
on two occasions on the first day of the week. First when Thomas
was not there, second when Thomas indeed was there. The first day
of the week. Later on in the book of Acts,
we're going to read that the disciples of the Lord as a church
came together on the first day of the week to break bread and
observe the Lord's supper as we shall do today. Then later
on, Paul writes about offerings being made on the first day of
the week, gathering money together for a worthy cause of benevolence. And then later in the book of
Revelation, we read that the first day of the week is called
the Lord's Day. And now it is this first day
of the week that has become the more prominent day to us. Why
are we here today? It is the first day of the week.
This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and
be glad in it. We follow the tradition of the
apostles. We gather on the first day of
the week in order to worship our Lord as a group here together. But eight days later, verse 26, his disciples were
again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you. Then
he walked over to Thomas and said to him, Thomas, you said
unless you put your finger into the print of the nails,
you would not believe. So give me your finger. Now look
at my hands. Take your hand and put it into
my side and do not be disbelieving. Quit being an unbeliever in this
matter and believe. And Thomas axed and said to him,
my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. I have heard
some people say, who deny the deity of Jesus Christ, they say,
oh, he was just using an expression. You know, you hear people very
Commonly, in the streets, you'll hear people say, My Lord, and
My God. And we should not use our Lord's
name in such a way as that. That is using His name in vain.
When we're using it, you know, just to be saying something,
My God, you know. It's a very serious matter to
take God's name in vain in such a way as that. Now, that is not
to say that you cannot use those expressions, but when you do,
ascertain that you are using them correctly, and Thomas did. He's looking at Jesus Christ.
He saw that hole in the side. He saw the print of the nails,
and he exclaims, than my God, because that's who Jesus Christ
is to him. It's not just some kind of an
expression, because had it been so, it would have been taking
God's name in vain. Surely Jesus would have said
something about that. Surely the other apostles would
have said something about that as well. But nothing is said
about it, because what he said is true. He's looking at the
pierced Jesus, and he calls Him, My Lord and My God, because that
is whom and what Jesus is. Verse 29, Jesus said to him,
Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed. That would be you and me. You
and me. We have not seen him, but we
believe. Blessed are we who have not seen
and yet have believed. Now the next appearance. In 1
Corinthians 15, verse 6, Paul says he appeared to over 500
brethren at once, but we're not told when. But he says many of
them are still alive, and you know who they are. This resurrection
of Jesus Christ was not done in some dark corner. Over 500
people on a certain occasion saw the resurrected Lord. And then we read that James saw
the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
7. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
7. And after that he was seen by
James. Now this James, Evidently was
James the brother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It evidently
was not one of the apostles. James the brother of our Lord.
Do you want to know what is so remarkable about this? About
six months earlier, James was not a believer in Jesus Christ. Think about this. Raised in the
same household with Jesus. His brother. And the same was
true of the other brothers and the sisters as well. They were
raised with Jesus. They had to have known He was
not some mere mortal. And yet they did not believe
in Him. Even six months before His crucifixion, after three
years of ministering, they still were not convinced of the deity
of Jesus Christ. They still were not convinced
to believe in Him. But now, Jesus is raised from
the dead, and he makes an appearance to James, his brother. And James is now a believer.
And other brothers as well, because we read about them later in the
upper room. But Jesus appeared to James,
and then James became a believer, if he had not been already one. Then we read about appearing
to the other apostles. He was seen by James and then
by all the apostles, all of them. Locate Acts chapter one, the
book of Acts chapter one. In Acts chapter one, The former account I made, O
Theophilus, Luke is the writer of this book called the Acts
of the Apostles. He wrote to someone named Theophilus. The former account was the gospel
bearing the name of Luke. The former account, the gospel
that I wrote, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after he
through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles
whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive
after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during
forty days and speaking of the things concerning or pertaining
to the kingdom of God. For forty days Jesus walked on
this earth after His resurrection. For 40 days, He showed Himself
to His apostles. For 40 days, He continued to
teach them concerning the things of God. For 40 days, they walked
with Him and communed with Him, and evidently were more and more
beginning to believe this truth concerning His resurrection. Forty days he walked with them,
until on that last day when he walked with them, as they walked
along, they noticed a cloud coming down from heaven, and angels
descending, and Jesus ascended up into glory. But the apostles
saw all these things. And then there was someone else
who saw the Lord, and that was Paul the apostle, when he was
Saul of Tarsus. He tells us in 1 Corinthians
15 verse 8, Then last of all, he was seen by me as by one born
out of due time. Seen by me. When did Saul of
Tarsus see the Lord? on that road to Damascus. Old
Saul of Tarsus. He's going up to Damascus. He
has papers, written authority from the council in Jerusalem.
He's going to go up and he's going to find some of Jesus'
disciples, put them in chains and drag them back down to Jerusalem
and maybe do to them what he had done to Stephen. And there,
Jesus appeared. Jesus knocked Saul of Tarsus
off of his high horse. Saul of Tarsus said, Lord, what
would you have me to do? And Jesus talked with Saul of
Tarsus, and Saul of Tarsus saw Jesus because when he records
this event in Acts 22, he says, I was obedient to the glorious
or to the heavenly vision. He saw the Lord. He did see the
Lord. He tells us so. In 1 Corinthians,
I think it is chapter 5, I have seen the Lord. That's why he was qualified to
be an apostle. Saul of Tarsus had seen the Lord. We're going to look at one other
instance in which Jesus was seen. One other. We have observed Mary Magdalene
at His tomb, Simon Peter on an unspecified occasion that day,
Cleopas and another disciple in Emmaus that evening, all his
apostles except Thomas that evening, all his apostles including Thomas
one week later, Over 500 brethren at once, James and the other
apostles, then Paul the apostle, and now I want you to locate
one more in Acts chapter 7. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
7. Yes, I know that Paul said, last of all he was seen by me. But I'm going to give you one
more. Paul speaks of him being last
among the apostles to see the Lord. He was one born out of
due time. Stephen the martyr. Stephen was
a deacon in the church in Jerusalem. One of the first seven deacons
of this church in Jerusalem. He also was a preacher, a faithful
witness. And because of his testimony,
he's brought in before the Sanhedrin. Saul of Tarsus was there on this
occasion, as we shall see later. Stephen is asked to give an account
of what he believes. And Stephen does. He gives a
remarkable account of the history of the prophecies of Jesus Christ
from the Old Testament and then into the New Testament days.
He declares the glories of Christ to the Sanhedrin. And as he speaks,
they are becoming more irate and more irate, madder and madder
all the time. until finally they have reached
the boiling point with Him. They can no longer take what
He's going to be saying to them. And we read in verse number 51,
Stephen said, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so
to you. In verse 54, When they heard
these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at
him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy
Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. What a glorious vision! He looked into heaven, and saw
the glory of God and Jesus there standing. And what did he say? Look! I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. He saw
the resurrected Christ. Oh, it was after Jesus had already
ascended into heaven. But notice what he saw of Jesus
Christ. When Jesus Christ ascended into
heaven, his father said to him, son, come here and sit down on
my throne right here on my right hand. Sit down. And so Jesus
did. Sat down with his father. Jesus is going to rule and reign
over the nations right here seated at the right hand of his father.
It appears that they are probably looking around and seeing what's
going on down on earth. Their attention is drawn to Jerusalem. Look, they've got Stephen down
there in the Sanhedrin. I hear his testimony. He's giving
a faithful witness of me. He's declaring the truth concerning
me. But oh, it looks like they're
going to kill him. It looks like they're going to
stone him to death. Yes, they're taking him out now
and they're going to stone him to death. My Stephen, they're
going to stone him to death. And Jesus stands up off of his
throne and opens heaven, opens it up so that Stephen can look
into the portals of heaven. And Stephen looks up and he says,
I see Jesus, but he's not sitting on the throne. He's standing. And it is as though Jesus is
standing there with arms wide open and saying, Stephen, come
on home. Come on home. I see the heavens
opened. I see the glory of God. I see
Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he says, Lord Jesus,
Receive my spirit. Receive my spirit. Jesus said,
I do. Come on home. The resurrected
Christ seen in heaven by Stephen as well. You see all these witnesses? All these witnesses. Hundreds
of people saw the resurrected Lord and yet the world today
mocks him. Some say it never happened. Some
say it never occurred. They mock him. not people like
Stephen. I hope that, or it would be blessed
to be having such a vision as that as death comes. I see the
heaven opened. I see the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God, receiving all of his children. And I hope that's your testimony,
that when you have come to the end of your life, and it's time
for you to end your earthly pilgrimage. May Jesus, the resurrected Christ,
receive you into glory. And O God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray, to bless this word, to the glory of your Son, in
whose lovely name we humbly pray. Amen.