Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Easter: When Reality Seems Too Good to be True (Luke 24:36-49)
68 Plays3 years ago
Easter: When Reality Seems Too Good to be True (Luke 24:36-49)
Gospel of Luke: Examining Our Spiritual Health
Sunday Message recorded 17 April 2022
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Celebration and Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
Good morning. He is risen. You got it. Let's do that again. He is risen. Yes, he has. Oh, wow. That's why maybe you're visiting with us today. We're so glad you're here. Please come anytime. You're always welcome here at First Baptist. And you may wonder, why did everyone sing with such enthusiasm? It's because all of us, every member, all of us,
00:00:34
Speaker
We're just sinners saved by grace. And when we sing about our Savior, that He's alive, it just gets so exciting we can't contain it. And so we are so glad that you're here today. I know many of you are visiting with family, and I just want you to feel welcome. And I want to invite you to attend one of our Bible study fellowships that are immediately after this service. I know any of them would be glad to welcome you if you have children or students to welcome them as well.
Introduction to Luke 24
00:01:02
Speaker
But would you take God's word and turn with me to Luke chapter 24? Luke chapter 24, we'll look at verses 36 through 49 this morning.
00:01:14
Speaker
We're going to allow Luke, he was actually a physician according to the word of God, so he's going to examine our spiritual health. How are you doing spiritually? How are you doing? I pray that God would take this passage that we're going to look at today and show us how we're doing, especially how are you doing with your faith, your faith in Christ?
00:01:35
Speaker
You know, I do believe that chapter 24 gives us three different scenes of the resurrection. If you were to rewind it from where we're going to begin in verse 36, if you went back to verse 1, the first scene is a group of ladies went to the tomb.
00:01:53
Speaker
And they found that Jesus' body wasn't there. It was empty. And so these ladies went there and they were perplexed. They didn't understand. And then there were angels there that said, oh, he's not here. And so then they were frightened.
00:02:08
Speaker
As you go down into scene two, verses 13 to 35, there were two disciples. These are people that followed Christ, but they're walking on the road and Jesus has died on the cross. He's been placed in the tomb and they think it's over.
00:02:23
Speaker
And so they're really sad. Did you come today and you're feeling down? There's something going on in your life. Perhaps you can connect with what they were experiencing in verses 13 to 35.
Initial Disbelief in Resurrection
00:02:36
Speaker
But those two discouraged disciples discovered that Jesus is alive because he started walking with them and revealing to him that he was indeed alive, that he was risen from the dead.
00:02:49
Speaker
Then in where we're going to look, verse 36, down through verse 49, all of those groups converged together. They all gathered together in one place, one house. So you have the apostles, you have the ones that were following Christ as He was leading them, and so they were there. But then the women, the five plus, maybe six women were there, and the two that were on the road to Emmaus that were discouraged, they were there.
00:03:14
Speaker
So they're all gathered together and they're startled because there they are in a locked room and suddenly Jesus is there. Someone has pointed out that all three scenes have the same pattern. If you were to look at all three of these, you would see confusion at first over His resurrection. Why was the tomb empty?
00:03:34
Speaker
What? These two disciples were so surprised to learn that Jesus was walking right beside them. But then you'll see, secondly, correction. Correction from His word. He had to keep pointing them back. This is what I told you was going to happen. This is what was written in the Old Testament.
00:03:52
Speaker
But then there's instruction regarding his mission. There's something he wanted all three of those groups to do whenever they knew the truth about the gospel. And I hope you're sharing that truth with people you know, and that's how it ends. They witness from an overflow of joy as they realize we've been entrusted with incredible message. So I want us to look at this today. You know, when Luke examined the testimonies of the eyewitnesses, he discovered that at first,
00:04:23
Speaker
Their health, their spiritual health was not good. They were skeptical. They were weak. And they were thinking, I think he's gone. I don't think he's coming back. And so whenever chapter 24 verses 9 through 11, they didn't believe the testimony of the women. The women came back and told the disciples, look, he's alive. And they said, nah, that can't be.
00:04:43
Speaker
That can't be. That's too good to be true. It can't be. But then verses 22 to 25 tell us that even the two on the road to Emmaus, they had heard the women's testimony, but they didn't believe them either. And so they had doubts. But now Jesus is going to enter this room. He's going to show them his hands and his feet, and you're not
Relating Resurrection to Personal Experiences
00:05:03
Speaker
going to believe it.
00:05:04
Speaker
They're still going to be having doubts. There's something I want you to notice in these two verses, 40 and 41, that we're about to read. It says, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy.
00:05:21
Speaker
And we're marveling. How do you disbelieve for joy? You know what I think it's telling us? It just, from where they were, it seemed too good to be true. And yet it was true. This was reality. Jesus is standing right there in front of them, and He is here today.
00:05:40
Speaker
But at that time they're saying, I don't understand. We saw him suffer. We saw the Roman soldier make certain after he was crucified that he was dead. We saw them take his lifeless body, place it in Joseph's tomb. We saw them roll a big stone in front of that tomb.
00:05:58
Speaker
We saw them place guards there to guard the tomb. We don't understand how he's standing here, but yet it's real. It's undeniable. It's incredible. So what I want to share with you this morning is when reality seems just too good to be true.
00:06:16
Speaker
Whenever you propose to your wife, do you remember when she said yes, you're thinking, did you say yes? I mean, she said yes, but it's too good to be true. Do you remember when you had your first child and you held that baby boy, that baby girl in your arms? It just seemed too good to be true. And yet it was true. There that little one was. When you landed your first job, I mean a job you really wanted.
00:06:43
Speaker
And you think, how did this happen? I can't believe I'm getting to do what I've always wanted to do. You know, there are times in life when reality comes in and it's so incredible, it's like this can't be true. Would you stand? I want to read this passage.
Physical Proof of Resurrection
00:07:00
Speaker
You can follow along in your copy of God's Word. If you don't have a copy, you can look at one in the pews or you can look on the screen.
00:07:08
Speaker
This is what it says in Luke 24, 36 to 49. And as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
00:07:28
Speaker
And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands, my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
00:07:47
Speaker
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of broad fish. And he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.
00:08:14
Speaker
that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written,
00:08:32
Speaker
that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
00:09:01
Speaker
Now, before we pray, I want to direct your attention back to verse 45.
Prayer for Understanding and Peace
00:09:05
Speaker
Look at it closely. I want to give you a challenge today. I want to ask, will you be honest and real with God? And would you say, Lord, this morning, I want you to take the facts that are recorded here in your word by Luke, and I want you to open my mind to understand the truth of scripture. If you'll ask God that, I believe you'll answer that prayer.
00:09:30
Speaker
Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh, Father, I thank you for every person, every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. It doesn't matter their age. It doesn't matter, Lord, their skin color. It doesn't matter, Lord, what they're wearing this morning. What matters is that you love them. What matters is that all of us, all of sin and fall short of the glory of God.
00:09:53
Speaker
What matters is that we have a sin problem. What matters is that we're under condemnation because of the sin problem. And what matters is that you sent your son out of love, grace, and mercy to down a cross in our place so that we could be set free. And you didn't stay dead. Three days later, the father raised you from the dead.
00:10:19
Speaker
And you are alive. And you can give people hope. You can give people help. You can forgive people today. You can guide people who are looking for guidance. So Lord, would you speak to us this day? We give you this time that we pray. Help us. Would you help us to simply understand the scriptures? Open our minds. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much. You may be seated.
00:10:45
Speaker
Well, I wanna introduce you to some of the things that I think they were dealing with seem too good to be true. It could be maybe someone here. You would say, look, people don't just rise from the dead. I don't understand this whole thing. Maybe you're struggling. Maybe you actually want it to be true, but you've never quite understood it. So I'm praying that God will take His word and God will speak to your heart today. The first thing that I think
00:11:13
Speaker
was just simply seemed too good to be true, was the peace. When Jesus came into the room, he said, peace, peace be to you. I want us to think for a moment about people that are here this morning, people that may hear a podcast of this message, people that may be in the overflow down the hall, but people who are gonna listen to it and they need peace because they're afraid. Maybe they're troubled.
00:11:41
Speaker
something's going on in their lives. I was reading an article that was written by May the 26th, 2020, so last year, and the article was entitled, What Are You Afraid Of? And what it said was 19 million Americans experience a phobia. And as they went on to unpack it, what they said was, it's an irrational fear. They said they know that it's not warranted. I shouldn't be afraid.
00:12:12
Speaker
But they said, I still feel afraid. That's what I think they were doing. There's Jesus. There's no reason to be afraid, and yet they feel afraid. I want you to notice something interesting in verse 37. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. Let me say it again and put the emphasis on thought. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
00:12:42
Speaker
Someone in this room, someone listening to this message may think you may presume and assume God's not real. Nobody comes back from the dead.
00:12:53
Speaker
But I want to give you peace through Jesus Christ. I want to offer it to you that he said you can have peace with God through him. You can be reconciled to God because really we are rebelling against God as the human race. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us have gone each to his own way. We've turned away from God. And so what is God going to do? You know what he's going to do?
00:13:21
Speaker
He's going to offer you peace. He's offering you peace in sending His Son. That's why Jesus came. So if this morning you're here and you'd say, man, I'm so troubled. I'm so worried. I'm so afraid of something. Whatever that is, I want you to know that Jesus is the source of peace.
00:13:39
Speaker
Maybe somebody's looking at this passage and they say, hey, if he just showed up here today down front, I'd be scared too. Maybe that's what you're thinking. But you know what? This group was afraid before he got there. It says in John chapter 20 verses 19 to 21, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.
00:14:03
Speaker
What is it you're afraid of today? Would you come to Christ and He can take the stinger out of that fear? There's a second thing that I believe seemed too good to be true, and yet it was reality, and that was the proof of the resurrection.
Evidence and Witnesses of Resurrection
00:14:21
Speaker
I wonder if some of these are like you and they're thinking, you know what?
00:14:25
Speaker
I just can't wrap my mind around how this can really happen. You know what I want to assure you of? That's exactly where they were. That's exactly where they were. Did you catch the question that Jesus asked them in verse 38? I mean, there He is standing in their midst. They can see Him, they can touch Him, they can hear Him.
00:14:45
Speaker
And yet they're doubting because Jesus says, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
00:14:56
Speaker
You know what? If Jesus were to appear here today, some people still wouldn't believe because there He was then and they didn't believe. So maybe you would say, well, just what is it that makes you people Christians? What is it that makes you believe that somebody could overcome death? What is it?
00:15:17
Speaker
Well, it's right here. It's all found here. You know, Jesus gave compelling evidence of his bodily resurrection. He wasn't a spirit. This wasn't a ghost. Jesus said, look, you can hear me, right?
00:15:33
Speaker
You can see me, you can touch me. And then a little bit later, what does he do? He says, let me have a piece of broad fish. And he eats it. Have you ever thought about those five senses? You know, if there was a scientist here among us, how would you prove something is real? How is something virtual and how is something real? What's the difference?
00:15:55
Speaker
I mean, let's be honest. How do you know I'm up here real? How do you know I'm not a hologram? How do you know I'm not on the Columbus golf course right now? You know, getting ready to take off. Maybe I filmed this earlier. No, I'm telling you, I'm here. You can hear me. You can see me. And if you want to, we'll shake hands or do a fist bump or something so you'll know. But listen, Jesus gave them compelling evidence.
00:16:18
Speaker
What's the evidence? Let me just hit some of the highlights. This is not all of it, but here's some of it. How about the reliable documents? If Luke was the only one that said this, then you'd say, yeah, it's just one guy.
00:16:30
Speaker
No, it's not just one guy. What about Matthew? What about Mark? What about John? So now we've got four gospel writers, but then the book of Acts records how then the apostle Paul, he's actually anti-Christian. He meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. His life's totally changed. Then you'd have to put in 1 Corinthians.
00:16:52
Speaker
You'd have to just keep on putting in book after book after book, letter after letter after letter, because they're reliable. You can trust what God's words, it's the truth. I know we're living in a day when you don't know where truth is, but this is where truth is found.
00:17:11
Speaker
Let's go to the multiple eyewitnesses. How many were in that room? Was that just one guy that says, I saw him, I know he's alive? Oh no. There were at least 10, maybe 11 disciples. Judas had already taken his own life because he betrayed Jesus. So we don't know if Thomas was there for sure or not.
00:17:32
Speaker
Some translations, when you go to John, it says that there was one time Jesus came, Thomas wasn't there. There was another time he was there.
00:17:41
Speaker
And so we don't know, but probably there were 11, let's say 11 apostles. Then there were the two that were on the road to Emmaus. They were still in there trying to convince them it was true. Then you still had the women in there, which there was at least three women's names, plus it says there were other women, plural. So there had to be at least five or six. So altogether, you've got almost 20 people.
00:18:06
Speaker
in the same room, but here's the thing. If 20 individuals told you, hey, I saw Jesus alive last night in a dream, you might say, did all of y'all go out for pizza or something? What is that? No, don't say that to the word of God. The word of God is trying to tell us something truthful. What he's trying to tell us is there were multiple eyewitnesses, but here's another thing, simultaneous, simultaneous sighting.
00:18:35
Speaker
I'm telling you, it would be significant for something to happen in this room and this many people go out and say, you know what, I saw it with my own eyes. You're not going to believe this. I know it seems, it seems too good to be true, but here's exactly what happened.
00:18:51
Speaker
And of course, we already talked about the empirical evidence.
Fulfillment of Prophecies
00:18:55
Speaker
It was verifiable by the senses. Remember, they could hear him, they could see him, they could touch him. He took the broiled fish, I think, to taste. Maybe when they brought that, they could smell it, and yet he ingested it.
00:19:10
Speaker
And they were thinking, okay, maybe Jesus at that point was like, come on, you wanna do it? I wonder if some guys in there, no, I'm good, I'm good, we're good. Yeah, you stay over there, I'm good. They're still spooked. They still don't understand why, because it just seemed too good to be true. Every one of these people in that room wanted him to be alive.
00:19:33
Speaker
but they were thinking in their mind, I just never seen this before. I have never in my life heard of this before that someone comes back from the dead. And think about the various locations because you have the empty tomb, you have the road to Emmaus, and now you've got this house wherever they're gathered. Think about the proof of the resurrection and how the Lord is not asking you, he's not asking me,
00:19:58
Speaker
He's not saying just take a leap into the darkness, take a leap into the unknown. No way the Word of God is giving us the evidence we need in order to say, wait a minute, the Lord really did rise from the dead. He put it in His Word. This is what His Word says, which leads me to the third thing that I think was too good to be true.
00:20:22
Speaker
Oh, they knew, they knew that, you know, in the past, in the book of Isaiah, Jesus was prophesied. They knew this. And then maybe like in Micah, he said he'd be born in Bethlehem. In Zechariah, it said he'd be, you know, betrayed for pieces of silver and on and on it went. So they knew that all of these passages spoke about him.
00:20:48
Speaker
But to see the prophecies about the resurrection actually being fulfilled right there, wow, that would be incredible. If you were to go through Luke chapter 24 and look at what the angels said,
00:21:03
Speaker
They said, remember what he said? If you were to go to the two on the road to Emmaus and think, what did Jesus say to them? You know what he said to them? He said, it had to fulfill scripture. So he goes back to the law of Moses, to the prophets, to the Psalms. And now here you have it again in this passage. You see, here's the thing. Jesus is not asking you to just believe in one miracle.
00:21:29
Speaker
He wants you to believe in the massive body of truth that is given to us in the word of God. He wants your faith to be resting on the eternal word of God because it's been pointing to Jesus all along. You want to know what the whole Bible, the Bible is thick and maybe you'd say, could you just condense it for me? Okay, it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Him coming to redeem us. That's it.
00:22:00
Speaker
But you know, there's this freshness to scripture that I was challenging you to ask the Lord honestly, transparently when we started. And I said, would you just ask the Lord to open your mind that you might understand the scripture? I've been praying that all week, that you would understand the scripture.
00:22:20
Speaker
I believe God's going to help you. Somebody in this room, maybe you didn't know some of these things before. That's why every time you come to our, let's say a Sunday school class, or you come to a Bible study, you come to a service, I want you to know you're welcome here. We welcome visitors. We're not a closed group. We're very open and would like for others to learn along with us.
00:22:45
Speaker
But let's go to the fourth thing that I think was just too good to be true, the proclamation of the resurrection of Christ.
Proclaiming the Resurrection
00:22:54
Speaker
Have you ever known anybody in your life? It's like, man, I can never be the first one to learn something. It's like somebody told me the other day, they said, did you know there's a church's chicken? Or I think it's church's chicken. If it's not, I'm sorry for misleading you. But somebody said, they're going to open up a place here in Columbus. I'm like, really?
00:23:14
Speaker
Well, I would like to be the first one to say something sometimes, to know something that I can say. If there's some kind of honor that comes with being the first one. That's why, listen, whenever you know somebody that's gonna get married, the engagement begins, he proposes, she accept, let them tell it. It's important that they can tell it. Whenever they have a baby, let them tell it. And so they'll tell it. All of these kinds of things are so important
00:23:42
Speaker
to be given this incredible privilege of telling someone. Do you know that God? It's amazing. Why didn't He pick an angel? Why didn't He pick all the angels? Why did He pick us? We're so broken. We're so sinful. We're so rebellious in all of our ways. And yet God says, you're the ones. You're the ones that I want to tell other people. I want you to proclaim that Jesus is alive.
00:24:11
Speaker
Not an angel. Don't expect everybody to get a dream and everybody to get a miracle or to get some visitation from an angel. Oh, it can happen for sure. But all I'm saying is I read here that Jesus says to these that are gathered there, which He would say to you and to me, you, you are witnesses.
Gospel Summary and Acrostic
00:24:32
Speaker
Tell the people what you've seen. Tell the people how good God has been to you.
00:24:37
Speaker
You know, I was looking at what he says in verses 46, 47, and 48, and I got to thinking, you know, that's about one of the best summaries of the gospel I've ever heard. If you were to tell your grandkids, if you were to tell someone at work, someone at school, you want to tell them how to become a Christian.
00:24:57
Speaker
You want to tell them the gospel message, how Jesus came. He lived. He died. He was buried. He rose again. He's coming back. If you wanted to tell somebody how to become a Christian, what would you use? Would you use the gospel bracelet with colors? You know, the colors all stand for something. Or would you use the bridge of life? You can do it in a coffee shop by drawing the bridge of life. You could do that.
00:25:22
Speaker
You know what you could also do? You could use this passage right here. I want to give you an acrostic. I want you to write this down if you would really like for somebody to equip you, somebody to give you an idea. How can I put it in one little package? I want you to write down the word redeem.
00:25:41
Speaker
Write down the word redeem vertically on a piece of paper. Redeem, redeem, R-E-D-E-E-M. I'm from Tennessee, I had to look it up first. But anyway, I didn't want you to make the same mistake. But anyway, let's look at what Jesus says here and think if you were to tell a friend,
00:25:59
Speaker
How to become a Christian, how could you do it? The R stands for repent of sin. Repent of sin, that's the first thing. To repent means you're going in one direction and you change your mind and you're going to go in the opposite direction. You see, like I said earlier, all of us are resisting God.
00:26:17
Speaker
We're rebelling against God. There's sin in our lives. Have you ever been selfish? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen something? Have you ever been prideful? I mean, we could just go down the list and we would be guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. But you know what? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
00:26:40
Speaker
But the free gift of God is eternal life. So if you and I, if all the world, if we don't repent and say, I'm tired of living for sin, I want to walk toward Jesus. If we don't do that, then we are under the condemnation. It says we're condemned already.
00:26:57
Speaker
But there's good news, and the good news is the E. Everyone is loved by our Creator. Everyone is loved by our Creator. You see, they do, and you do, I do, I did, perhaps you did in the past, but we all have to repent of our sin.
00:27:16
Speaker
But then the second thing we have to know is, if you are sinful, does God really love you? You know what? God loves you because He gave you life. God loves you because He gave you air to breathe and water to drink. God has given you so many opportunities in your life. He's been so good.
00:27:35
Speaker
And you know what else God did? He gave His Son to die on the cross. So by the D, you write the word, died on the cross in my place. He died on the cross in my place. Sin deserves punishment of some kind. And you know what Jesus did? The Father gave His Son to come to this earth
00:27:56
Speaker
He was perfect. He was sinless. He never sinned. And yet Jesus said, I will die in their place. He died in my place. He died in your place. Whoever you're going to tell the gospel to, He died in their place.
00:28:12
Speaker
It's wonderful that although we were sinners, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. I think it's an amazing thing that He said, I want to die on the cross to take that punishment your sins deserve.
00:28:27
Speaker
So He's dead, right? So it's over, right? No, there's another E there after the D. Write the word, earth could not hold our Savior. The earth could not hold our Savior, even though they placed Him in a tomb, even though He was buried.
00:28:45
Speaker
He didn't deserve death. Remember what I said, the wages of sin is death is? The wages of sin is death, right? So what about Jesus? He never sinned, so He didn't deserve to die. So the Father looks at the perfect sacrifice of His Son.
00:29:02
Speaker
And you know what he said? He does not deserve death. My son deserves life. And three days later, he raised his son from the dead. And that's why it's so important, because this,
00:29:16
Speaker
His resurrection means that the Father accepted that perfect sacrifice of His Son. So see, if I died on a cross for you, man, you might be sad. Would you be sad if I died on a cross for you? If I died on a cross for you, it wouldn't do anything.
00:29:33
Speaker
But when Jesus died on the cross, the Father said He was perfect. And that's why He said, no, He doesn't deserve death. He deserves life. So the earth could not hold our Savior. He was raised from the dead. And get this, there's a third E here. It's after that E. Hopefully you put two E's in redeem. That E is erase our sin death.
00:29:57
Speaker
Erase our sin debt. Man, that's fabulous news. That all of those mistakes, all that rebellion, all that wickedness and iniquity that characterizes every person on the planet, God says, you know what? If you will come underneath His blood, then I can erase. You ever seen anybody erase a whiteboard?
00:30:18
Speaker
He can just completely erase your sins and my sins. Are you going to be under condemnation anymore? No. He says those who are in Christ Jesus, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the place to be. That's why I want to give you an opportunity in just a moment to trust Christ, to have your sins erased, and to follow Him.
00:30:41
Speaker
But then the M would simply be that message ought to be shared with our world. Everybody in your family, everybody in your circle of influence, everybody you know should hear that simple message of Christ and be invited to follow Him as a disciple. But you know what? These disciples, they were timid before. Remember how afraid they were? Remember how nervous they were? What was it that made the difference?
Empowerment by the Holy Spirit
00:31:08
Speaker
What made them bold?
00:31:10
Speaker
Well, it's this verse 49 and I close with this one. And behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high.
00:31:23
Speaker
the power after the resurrection. You see, everyone who truly repents of their sin places their complete trust in what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross and are born again. You know what? The Holy Spirit comes to empower you. Maybe you'd say, I can't live it. God knows that.
00:31:43
Speaker
He knows that. That's why when Jesus ascended back to the Father, He said to them, I'm going to send you a helper, a comforter. He's going to go with you. It's the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit comes. And when the Holy Spirit comes, look what He brings, clothed with power. Do you know that word power in the Greek, which the New Testament was originally written in Greek? That Greek word for power was dunamis.
00:32:09
Speaker
Dunamis, sound like anything you know? Dynamo, sound like dynamite. Let me tell you, that's the power of the Holy Spirit that comes to help us, comes within us. How significant is it? Well, if you were to look in John 14, where the apostle John is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about the work and the role of the Holy Spirit, you would see that Jesus made a statement that maybe you'd say, oh, no way.
00:32:38
Speaker
He said to his disciples, the works that I do, you're going to do also. And then he went a little bit further. He said, and even greater works than these shall you do. How is that possible? That's possible because just think.
00:32:56
Speaker
each one of us with the Spirit's power, with the person of the Holy Spirit, empowering our lives. Think about all that could be accomplished. Oh, I know Peter denied him whenever Jesus was going through his trials. I know that James and John disappointed him when they got their mom over there and said, ask him if we can sit on the left and the right of your throne. And he's like, really guys, this is really what you're, well, that's my translation. But anyway, Thomas denied him.
00:33:27
Speaker
Most Bible scholars say that Thomas may have missed this Luke 24 passage.
00:33:35
Speaker
But you know what? He was being honest. He was being honest when he said, look, I know all of y'all are claiming that you have seen him alive, but that's just too good to be true. I'm not gonna believe it until I can see those nail prints in his hands. I'm not gonna believe it until I can put my hand in his side where they thrust the spear through to make sure that he was deceased. Man.
00:34:01
Speaker
You know what? The reality was Jesus had risen. It's just Thomas didn't know about it yet. The reality is Jesus has risen. Perhaps you've not known about it until today. But see, thanks to the word of God, thanks to the spirit of truth,
00:34:19
Speaker
you can know about it today. So I wanna invite our musicians if they would come back to the platform and prepare to lead us in what we call a hymn of invitation or a closing song where we invite people to trust the Lord. Because eight days later, after Thomas said, I will never believe in him. Maybe that was your statement you've made in your life. I will never believe in him.
00:34:47
Speaker
But Thomas saw the evidence he needed. And Thomas, whenever Jesus appears that second time and Jesus calls him out, says, come on over here. I want you to put your hand in my side. I want you to put your fingers in these nail prints. Thomas just falls down. He says, my Lord and my God. Somebody could say that today because you realize how true it is.
Invitation to Trust Jesus
00:35:10
Speaker
Jesus said to him, blessed are those who have not seen like you've seen Thomas and yet have believed.
00:35:17
Speaker
You know, I thought about how Jesus rolled the stone away. He rolled the stone away. Why did He roll the stone away so Jesus could get out, right? No, that's not it. No, Jesus didn't need the stone to be removed. He went through locked doors. He rolled the stone away so we could see He's not in there anymore.
00:35:39
Speaker
He's still rolling stones away right now, rolling stones of unbelief, stones of fear. Maybe here you're saying, well, I would trust Christ, but I'm so afraid of what others would think. I'm so afraid of my family.
00:35:54
Speaker
Would you just focus on the one who loved you so much that he came to die on a cross for you? Let's all stand together. Let me pray and we're gonna sing this song. I'm gonna stand down front. If you would like to trust Jesus Christ today, if he's touching your heart, then I will pray with you or we will get somebody that's in our congregation to pray with you. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much.
00:36:17
Speaker
for giving us the evidence. Thank you for the truth of your word. Lord, we're living in a world where it's so hard to know who to trust these days.
00:36:27
Speaker
But we can trust you. I pray for any that have never made that decision yet that they're going to repent of sin and trust Christ for salvation. I pray this would be the day. I pray that they would say, you know what? I'm tired of running. I'm ready to go toward Christ. So Lord, you be glorified. Help them to turn from sin and to trust Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:36:54
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milan Street, Columbus, Texas.