Episode Transcript
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If you were with us on Thursday
at our Joint Service With Desert Springs Pca,
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you had an opportunity to hear a
lot from the gospel of Luke.
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I want to continue that and here
with you, read to you Luke Twenty
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Four, Luke Chapter Twenty Four,
and consider the resurrection of our Lord.
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This is the marvelous word of God. Give your attention to it. But
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not but on the first day of
the week, at early dawn, they
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went to the tomb, taking the
spices they had prepared, and they found
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the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they
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did not find the body of the
Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about
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this, behold two men stood by
them and dazzling apparel. And as they
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were frightened and bowed their faces to
the ground, the men said to them,
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why do you seek the living among
the dead? He is not here,
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but has risen. Remember how he
told you, while he was still
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in Galilee, that the son of
man must be delivered into the hands of
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sinful men and be crucified. And
on the third day rise and they were
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embered his words and, returning from
the tomb, they told all these things
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to the eleven and to all the
rest. Now it was Mary Magdalen and
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Joanna and Mary, the mother of
James, and the other women with them,
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who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to them
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an idle tale. They did not
believe them. But Peter Rose and ran
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to the tomb, stopping and looking
in, he saw the linen clothes by
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themselves, and he went home marveling
what had happened. That very day,
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two of them were going to a
village named Amaeus, about seven miles from
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Jerusalem, and they were talking with
each other about all these things that had
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happened. While they were talking and
discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and
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went with them, but their eyes
were kept from recognizing him, and he
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said to them, what is this
conversation that you are holding with each other
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as you walk? And they stood
still, looking sad. Then one of
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them, named Cleopus, answered him. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
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who does not know the things that
have happened there in these days? And
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he said to them what things?
And they said to him concerning Jesus of
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Nazareth, a man who was a
prophet mighty indeed, and word before God
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and all people, and how our
chief priests and rulers delivered him up to
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be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was
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the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it's now
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the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company
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amazed us. They were at the
tomb early in the morning and when they
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did not find his body, they
came back saying that they had even seen
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a vision of angels who said that
he was alive. Some of those who
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are with them are some of those
who were with us. went to the
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tomb and found it just as the
women had said, but they did not
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see and he said to them,
oh, foolish ones and slow of heart
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to believe all that the prophets have
spoken. Was it not necessary that the
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Christ should suffer these things and enter
into his glory? And, beginning with
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Moses and all the prophets, he
interpreted to them, in all the scriptures,
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the things concerning himself. So they
drew near to the village to which
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they were going, he acted as
if they were going, as if he
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were going farther, but they urged
him strongly, saying stay with us,
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for it is toward evening in the
day is now far spent. So he
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went in to stay with them.
When he was at table with them,
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he took the bread and blessed and
broke it and gave it to them,
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and their eyes were opened and they
recognized him and he vanished from their sight.
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They said to each other, did
not our hearts burn within us while
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he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?
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And they rose that same hour and
returned to Jerusalem and they found the
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eleven and those who are with them
gathered together, saying the Lord has risen
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indeed and has appeared to Simon.
Then they told what had happened on the
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road and how he was known to
them in the breaking of the bread.
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As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said
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to them, peace to you,
and they were all startled and frightened and
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thought they have saw a spirit.
And he said to them, why are
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you troubled and why do doubts arise
in your hearts? See my hands and
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my feet, that it is I
myself. Touch me and see, for
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spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
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And when he had said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet
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and, while they still disbelieved for
joy they were marveling, he said to
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them, have you anything here to
eat? They gave him a piece of
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broiled fish and he took it and
ate it before them. Then he said
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to them, these are my words
that I spoke to you while I was
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still with you, that everything written
about me and the Law of Moses and
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the Prophets and the psalms must be
fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to
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understand the scriptures and said to them
thus it is written, that the Christ
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should suffer on the third day rise, that the Christ should suffer and on
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the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins
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should be proclaimed in his name to
all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You
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are witnesses of these things and behold, I'm sending the promise of my father
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upon you, but stay in the
city until you are clothed with power from
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on high. Then he led them
out as far as Bethany and, lifting
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up his hands, he blessed them
while he blessed them, he parted from
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them and was carried up into heaven
and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem
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with great joy and were continually in
the temple blessing God. Well, I
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think I'm done. It's so clear, isn't it? And yet so many
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people struggle to see. The disciples
struggled to see. There he was,
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standing in their midst, with holes
in his body, flesh and bones,
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eating with them, talking to them
with his voice, his words, telling
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the things he saw him and they
still struggled to disbelieve, or struggled to
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believe. They were disbelieving, though
not fully. There was a kind of
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marveling, a joy, of hope
and expectancy. But even when he was
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there in front of them, they
couldn't see. Now, with the disciples
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on the road, he hit it
from them. Somehow, by his grade
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and divine power, he was able
to hide his hide who he was.
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He was able to keep himself from
being recognized by them. But that didn't
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happen when he got to the room
with the other apostles. He was very
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straightforward with him. He's less here, who at this is who I am.
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And yet they still struggled to see
with the sense of understanding. I
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think that we experience this from time
to time with with regular people. I
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have you ever thought that you knew
someone well and then found out that you
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didn't? Maybe you are chatting with
someone in a doctor's office, only to
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find out, what you read the
reach the exam room, that it was
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the doctor you were talking to.
Or maybe you were close to a person
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that you thought was trustworthy and then
found out they weren't. These experiences aren't
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fun, when we sort of think
we understand and know what's going on,
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but then find out that we don't. They are embarrassing and humbling. But
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if we're honest, we know that
knowing the truth is always better. It's
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always better, and I want to
tell you the truth about Jesus. I
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want to tell you the truth about
Jesus today. Of course, it might
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be uncomfortable at times. It requires
a certain amount of humility to check our
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pride at the door and ask do
we really know this Jesus that we hear
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about in the Scriptures? It's uncomfortable, but but trust me, it's better.
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It's better to be uncomfortable and know
the real Jesus. Then to be
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comfortable and not know him. It's
important that you know the real Jesus,
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that you know who he is,
that you can see him for what he
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is. But many people do not
know him. They think they know him,
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but they really don't. Now I'm
not playing games here or overstating anything.
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I really mean in the very plainest
sense that many, many people,
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maybe even some of you, simply
don't know who Jesus really is. I'm
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not talking about underestimating him, we
all do that. I'm not talking about
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doubting him more than we should.
Guilty as charged. I'm just talking about
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having a basically correct idea about who
Jesus is and what he's doing in the
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world. Just a basic, basic
understanding of who Jesus is and what he's
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doing. As I say, not
understanding Jesus's identity and mission is not a
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new problem. His own disciples were
struggling with it even after the resurrection.
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But before we talk about that and
we're going to think about his time and
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how it is that he showed himself
to these disciples on the road, I
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want to sort of step aside here
and have a little sidebar discussion and talk
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about the resurrection itself. I want
to remind you that we are in fact
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talking about a historical event here,
something that actually happened. Right these men
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that were going on the road.
We're not discussing a kind of fury.
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They were not sort of speculating about
interesting spiritual things that may or may not
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be they say to Jesus when he
asked them, not knowing who he is,
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just a man on the road,
and he says what things I say.
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Are you nuts? Do you have
no idea? Are you not?
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I think it's sort of sarcastic.
Are you the only person in Jerusalem who
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has not the word? Is Not
around and didn't see what was going on
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there? Are living in this very
difficult moment. I think Jerusalem would have
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been a fairly stressful place to live
in around the death of Jesus. You
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have mobs in the streets, crowds
of people, your leaders, your priests,
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they are obviously afraid, grabbing for
power of a crucifixion. Happens?
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Pilot, the Roman governor, is
doesn't seem entirely steady on his feet.
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It's a very tumultuous time and just
as you think sort of things might be
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settling well, least that's all over. Jesus is dead. They're sad,
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of course that says. They're sad. They're frustrated. They thought he was
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going to be the one to redeem
Israel. Everyone's kind of trying to short
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through their feelings when all of a
sudden, these women say he's not there.
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The tomb is empty, the tomb
that had a giant stone rolled over
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it, the tomb that the Jews
and the Romans were protecting to make sure
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no one would steal the body.
It's empty. Jesus and isn't there.
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And, moreover, there are angels. We are seeing angels who are telling
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us that he's alive, that he's
risen. There wasn't just one person saying
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these things, it was multiples,
please people saying these things, and Peter
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himself goes to check it out,
see if it's true, and sure enough,
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nobody, no one in the history
of the world ever produced a dead
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body. No one ever said,
you guys are all liars. He's obviously
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over here. You got the wrong
tomb, or yeah, we stole it,
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or here he is. The evidence
for the resurrection is Piling Up,
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piling up history. Christianity is rooted
in history. It's a historical faith.
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It's a historically rooted faith that people
are talking in this way, because it's
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the life that they're living. They're
all having to deal with the fact that
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the one that they crucified is now
alive. In the history of the world,
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no one had ever risen from the
dead like this, the way that
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Jesus had, and this was not
something that was an accident or surprise.
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As we read several times in this
chapter, Jesus had been telling them that
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this would happen. Not only did
Jesus tell him, but all the Old
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Testament was telling him that this would
happen. It's because of this fact that
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the Apostle Paul says that if Jesus
did not rise from the dead, our
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faith in him is worthless. That's
true. Jesus Promises Eternal Life, he
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promises forgiveness of sins, he promises
freedom from the bondage of Satan's and all
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of this through his work on the
cross, and that work is proved true
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when he rises from the dead.
If Jesus had not risen from the dead,
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he would have been just like any
other person who had come along,
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every other great teacher, every other
person, though small in number, who
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had done miracles in the world.
But he also would have been a liar,
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because he said he would rise,
he said he was the son of
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God, he said that he was
powerful over all the things in this world
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that bring us fear. But Jesus
wasn't a liar. And yet, for
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some reason, and I've experienced this
personally in talking with people, it's like
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they've never thought about this. They
just assume, without any thinking, that
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the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, an empty tomb, because he rose
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from the dead, as simply impossible. And then when you press them on
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this point, they hem and haw
and come up with some kind of hair
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brained explanation without really working it out, without really thinking. What other possibility
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is there? Not only is this
what he said was going to happen,
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not only was he powerful to make
it happen, but all the evidence points
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to the fact that it would happen. Maybe you've heard some of these responses
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and I want to share some of
them with you, some common examples and
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and I'll share all. So some
following responses written by a PC, a
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pastor in San Diego named Nick Davis. So one option is swoon theory.
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Perhaps you've heard of this. Basically, this is the faking faking it theory.
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The swoon theory claims that Jesus fainted
on the cross, awoke in the
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tomb sort of starry eyed and a
little day, a little days, and
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then got up and left right he
he didn't merely he didn't rise from the
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dead, he just sort of resuscitated
himself. Now this might seem plausible,
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I suspect, if you didn't know
what a crucifixion was. Can you imagine?
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Some of you, you know,
you get a cold and no one
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can rise you from your bed.
Jesus, when he went to the cross,
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he was flogged, he was beaten, he was tortured, they drove
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nails through him, they drove a
spear through him. The Romans were practitioners
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of this, they were experts at
crucifying people. They made sure that it
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would happen. And even if Jesus
happened to have survived all of these terrible
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things that he had to endure in
and before the crucifixion, can you imagine?
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Well, it's hard for me to
imagine how, any how anyone would
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survive that and they made sure that
he didn't to a cross and the asphyxiation
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that would have happened from hanging there
and not being able to breathe and all
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the rest, that somehow he would
have had the strength and health condition to
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roll away a giant stone, overpower
the Roman Guard ords and disappear into the
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night with no one seeing the swoon
theory Jesus faked it. He faked his
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own crucifixion. It doesn't account for
the evidence, it just makes an idea
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up and doesn't think about the things
that would have happened, the things that
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both Christians and non Christians would have
testified to. The Romans would have most
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certainly said no, we did our
job, we did it right. Do
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you think pilot would have admitted to
the fact that he somehow got it wrong?
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It was his job to get it
was right. It was the Roman
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soldiers job to get it right.
They had no interest, no motivation to
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to to get this wrong, that
these facts are sort of just dismissed by
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people without any thought. Another example. Maybe Jesus body was stolen, but
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again, who had a motivation to
steal Jesus's body? The Romans wanted Jesus
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to die. The Jews wanted Jesus
to die. It was very much in
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their interest to make sure that he
died, and they did. The disciples
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had no motive either. They believed
they're BESIAH was dead. They were sad,
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they were scared, they were sort
of planning and coluding and waiting,
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and then even when people of their
own number said he's alive, they didn't
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believe them. Why with the disciple
steal a body that was dead? Why
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would the disciples steal a body whenn't
it was all over and they were going
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to be in trouble and then grant
the point, say perhaps that they did
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steal the body? Is it likely
that twelve people that had been able to
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undergree, be able to agree on
things, get along serve one another during
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Jesus's ministry would all of a sudden
have an air tight agreement with one another
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and be and twelve people would be
able to deceive the world and never spill
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the beans? No again, these
are just I call them hairbrain. These
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just the sort of ideas. While
perhaps this happened, the ideas get crazier.
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Maybe thousands of people were hallucinating at
one time. Maybe they all,
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at the same moment and in the
same way, had the exact same vision
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hallucinating. This is not how hallucinations
work. They're experienced by individuals do disorders,
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they're nervous systems, drugs, these
kinds of things. To claim that
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over threezero people share the exact hallucination
at the same time and we're called everything
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in the same way just doesn't seem
that compelling, does it? Well,
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I won't bother to go on and
talk about alien abductions and whatnot. The
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point is, which I'm trying to
encourage you, and perhaps a little bit
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of a mocking way, is to
just think about it. If you have
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doubts about the resurrection, just spend
some time thinking about it, give some
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thought to the evidence that there is
and ask yourself what makes sense of the
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data. Jesus was clearly crucified.
He actually died. He was buried in
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a tomb. These things are documented, these things are witnessed. He was
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found missing from the tomb and Jesus
is followers claim to have seen a risen
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Jesus. It wasn't just one person
or two people or a room full of
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people, but it was hundreds of
people who saw Jesus and testify to the
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fact and even died for the fact
that he rose again from the dead.
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People that, at his death were
denying it and saying I don't know him.
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Now all of a sudden will say
take my life. You see,
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at the crucifixion they all thought it
was game over. They thought Jesus had
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failed in his task, or at
least the thing that they were all hoping
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he would do he failed to accomplish. But in the resurrection they realized,
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Oh no, he did accomplish it
and in fact he accomplished much more than
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we ever thought he was going to
do. And that brings us back to
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that road and the two disciples there
and to the room with the other apostles.
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They didn't understand who Jesus was,
even though they've known him, even
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though they had been around him and
they clearly had big ideas about him,
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they didn't really know who he was. Think about what they say to him,
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about him. They call him Jesus
of Nazareth. Correct. They say
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in versus, in Verse Nineteen,
that he was a prophet, correct mighty
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indeed, and word before God and
all the people. Correct. How our
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chief priests and rulers delivered him up
to be condemned to death, correct and
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crucified him correct but then Verse Twenty
One. But we had hoped that he
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was the one to redeem Israel.
You See, they're sad, they're disappointed.
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They had expected that Jesus was going
to save his people, but instead
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he was crucified. They ultimately they
were disappointed. He must not have been
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the great and conquering and King that
they were waiting for. But something at
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that moment, on that day,
was weird. was happening, something they
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didn't fully understand. They tell him
these events and they say, but there's
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this other thing. We've just recently
heard about an empty tomb, and we're
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not really sure what to make of
it. The women were reporting they'd seen
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an empty tomb, angels that Jesus
was were alive. Others were Corrob Coorse,
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corroborating this, but no one,
no one knew where Jesus was.
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Of course he was standing right there
with them. An amazing thing, I
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think. A really interesting question to
ask at this point then, is why
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wouldn't Jesus reveal himself to them?
Is An interesting question. There they are
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wondering questions. They obviously were loyal
to them. Why didn't he reveal himself
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to them say here I am.
If he had, wouldn't they have immediately
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believed? They wanted to believed,
they were primed to believed. They wished
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he were alive, but Jesus didn't
let them recognize him because he knew that,
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despite these positive signs, there was
something really basic in their understanding that
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was missing. Do you know what
it is yet? Do you know what
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the essential truth is that they did
not get? He says that they verse
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Twenty Five, the reverse, twenty
six. Was it not necessary that the
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Christ should suffer these things and enter
into his glory? That was the part
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that everyone had a hard time understanding, though. He said it plainly many
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times, though. The entire Old
Testament testified to it, and he would
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spend some time with them showing them
that. And then, perhaps the most
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amazing Bible lesson of all time,
Jesus spend some time with these men on
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the road and he went through the
most went through the Old Testament and said
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here's how it all talks about me. Now, they'll say later after he
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disappears. Wasn't weren't our hearts burning
in within us when we said those things
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they say to each other. In
a way, weren't we seeing Jesus,
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even while we didn't yet see him? By pointing them not just to the
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fact that he would come and that
the Messiah would come, but that it
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was necessary for him to suffer and
die. That Gospel message, that that
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important, critical piece of information.
That's what Jesus was telling them. And
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the more and more they heard it, the more and more the she he
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heard the voice of the shepherd and
recognized it and they said that's him.
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And in the same way they did, we do. We don't see Jesus
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with our eyes, but our hearts
burn within us when we hear his words,
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when we know him and come to
recognize him. And that's what Jesus
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did for them. He wanted them
to recognize that this suffering, that is
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humiliation, that is where things were
found. I think that if he had
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a merely appeared to him, they
would have gone back to all their old
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presuppositions. All the the cross didn't
really matter. Here you are after all,
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and now look, you're you're even
stronger, right. But he wanted
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them to see that the cross was
absolutely necessary. They thought it was unnecessary.
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They thought the Cross was the the
big thing that made everything fall apart,
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but it was just the opposite.
The Cross itself was glorious, powerful
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and effective for the redemption of Israel. Jeremy Treat in a really wonderful book
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called the crucified King As commenting on
the gospel of John, and puts it
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this way. For John, everything
is moving towards this climactic hour when Jesus,
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being lifted up on the cross,
is truly being enthrall owned in glory.
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It was on the cross that glory
happened, and before the Cross too,
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but the cross itself demonstrated the glory
of God. He was lifted up.
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Jesus didn't become a king after his
resurrection. The Cross didn't thwart his
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kingship. He was a king from
the very, very beginning, when he
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was born as a king, when
he was announced as a king by the
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angels, when he lived his life
as a king, when he died as
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a king. Continuing the quote,
the Cross becomes not only the center of
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redemptive history, but the full crem
on which the logic of the world is
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turned upside down. Shame is transformed
into glory, humiliation is exaltation, foolishness
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is wisdom and the cross is the
throne from which Christ rules the world.
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John Calvin calls the cross the Triumphal
Chariot of Christ. You see how different
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that is from the conception of the
disciples. In the conception of the people
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in that room and maybe the conception
of some of us here, some of
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US see Jesus is perhaps this excellent
man who did these wonderful things, who
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is powerful and good. That's it. The Cross is kind of absent from
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our understanding. The resurrection comes to
the fore because, well, that's good
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and and, I guess significant in
some ways. But the resurrection is is
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in some ways. It's the culmination
of the work on the Cross. It's
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the inauguration of the things that were
accomplished there in the enthronement. It was
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on the cross that we read in
Colossians that Jesus put all the powers and
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rulers and authorities of the world to
shame. Now the world doesn't see that
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that way. The world sees the
Cross and mocks Jesus. His disciples thought
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00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:30.799
the Cross was unnecessary, but Jesus
wants them to understand that it was absolutely
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00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:37.829
critical to quote again from Jeremy Treat
The resurrection is not the beginning of Christ's
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Kingship, but the revelation of Christ's
kingship and the inauguration of his kingdom on
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Earth. This message that Jesus gave
to the disciples on the road to Amus
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is the message that he would then
give to his disciples as well, or
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as up the apostles. The these
men on the road, they're planning to
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go to amaus. They checking into
the hotel. Jesus break spread with them,
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right, he observes, he gives
them the Lord's supper. Their eyes
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are open. Then all of a
sudden they see him physically, they recognize
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him for who is, and then
he vanishes right and then what do they
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do? They throw there, you
know, Hotel keys at the desk and
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they book it. They leave.
They run back to Jerusalem and they say
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he is here. They meet with
the disciples that very night. They head
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back and they say, we saw
him, and then Jesus appears to them
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all again and he does the exact
same thing in verse forty four. These
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are my words that I spoke to
you while I was still with you.
353
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That everything written about me in the
Law of Moses and the Prophets and the
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00:33:00.130 --> 00:33:05.410
psalms must be fulfilled. Then he
opened their minds to understand the scriptures and
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said to them. Thus it is
written, that the Christ should suffer on
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the third day and rise again from
the dead. The Cross of Christ is
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necessary because this is how the Lord
becomes king, and he becomes king in
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this way and in this way alone, because of what he says in Verse
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Forty Seven, and that repentance and
forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his
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name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. You See, we like to
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skip over the cross of Christ,
because the Cross of Christ condemns us.
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The Cross of Christ tells us about
our sins. It makes us look at
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them and see what it is they
deserve, and we don't like that.
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It hurts to think that the son
of God, the most lovely thing and
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00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:16.480
all the world and all time in
and all space, died because of my
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nastiness, my corruption, my pollution, my sins. I deserve that,
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not him. The judgment of God
for sins is something that I deserve,
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not him. And yet he went
and he didn't do it because he was
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forced to. He didn't do it
because he fell into it by accident.
370
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He did it willingly, deliberately.
For All of human history, God had
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been saying, I'm going to do
this thing from the very moment of the
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after the very first sin, God
said to Adam and Eve, I will
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give you a son and he will
be bruised, but he will crush the
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head of the deceiver, he will
destroy evil and the evil one and he
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will make things right. Jesus would
make things right, but he would be
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bruised, he would die, as
the whole sacrificial system taught us, as
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the life of the Kings would taught
would teach us, as the prophets would
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tell us over and over again throughout
the scriptures. This was pointing that they
379
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pointed to this fact. All this
to say and to remind you, that
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Jesus wasn't pushed into this. It
was planned before the beginning of the world,
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and that's important because it means that
Jesus came and did what he did
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in love. The Cross of Christ
was necessary because Jesus loved us. The
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Cross of Christ is necessary. The
suffering was necessary because Jesus wanted repentance and
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the forgiveness of sins to be proclaimed
throughout the world in his name. He
385
00:36:32.300 --> 00:36:38.260
wanted you to know that your salvation
is accomplished. And if you have any
386
00:36:38.300 --> 00:36:44.860
doubts about that, just look at
the empty tomb and hear the words of
387
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Mary and Joanna and Peter and these
disciples on the road and all and and
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00:36:51.730 --> 00:36:57.969
Paul, and hear them testifying to
you, saying he has risen, he
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has risen. Indeed, the world
has changed. Everything that we were waiting
390
00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:09.039
for and hoping for has been accomplished. Jesus didn't die and stay dead.
391
00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:17.309
He is a king. He indeed
entered into his kingdom. This is the
392
00:37:17.429 --> 00:37:22.710
truth about who Jesus is, and
this is what I want you to know.
393
00:37:23.110 --> 00:37:28.789
More importantly, it's what God wants
you to know, that Jesus came
394
00:37:28.829 --> 00:37:37.980
as he did for a reason,
on purpose. These things were necessary and
395
00:37:37.139 --> 00:37:47.090
in accomplishing them, he saved the
world from its sin. So repent,
396
00:37:50.010 --> 00:37:58.489
believe, trust, do not wait
for some kind of glory to come apart
397
00:37:58.530 --> 00:38:01.719
from the Cross of Christ, there
is no other. In him and in
398
00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:07.360
him alone, we have everything that
we need. Let us pray
