WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:07.580 I want to welcome you this morning because for us as a church, this is the day of the anthem of which we sing as 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:10.800 God's people and what the Lord has accomplished for us. 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:18.320 When we talk about Jesus being resurrected from the grave, the symbolism to that, the relationship to God enclosed 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.420 in that is more than just a historical event, of which we're gonna talk about what happened during this time period, but we're also gonna 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:27.110 talk about why it matters. 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:28.340 This isn't something we're just like... 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:35.680 and we say, "Eh, it happened." It's pertinent to your life and what Jesus accomplished on the cross a couple 00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:37.860 thousand years ago. 00:00:38.180 --> 00:00:45.240 And being honest to us, I know that this story from an outside perspective, not having an understanding of 00:00:45.260 --> 00:00:49.260 exactly what Jesus has done, it can look a bit ridiculous. 00:00:51.080 --> 00:00:58.320 And you think about the proclamation of what we're about today in the celebration of Jesus's victory over sin, Satan, 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:05.420 and death and what it means for us, that just from an outside perspective what we're saying this morning is that you're 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:09.240 following a dude that claims to be God that overcomes the grave. 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:11.120 Why? 00:01:12.880 --> 00:01:13.700 How do you know? 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:22.760 I mean, if you make this proclamation and base an eternal hope on that story, what solidifies that kinda foundation where 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:25.320 you would walk in faith in such a story as that? 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:27.940 It happened thousands of years ago. 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:36.700 I want to invite you to Luke chapter 24, and we're gonna unpack from this story the wrestling of what takes 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:40.520 place here and the relation that it makes to our lives. 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:47.560 And I want us to understand this when we begin this passage that what I'm provoking us to today is not 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:54.740 just this historical understanding about an event, but to encourage your soul to 00:01:54.740 --> 00:01:56.640 respond in celebration. 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:06.220 This matter over the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus so Christians might proclaim is more 00:02:06.220 --> 00:02:07.660 than just an event. 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:14.140 This was a war raged and waged for your soul. 00:02:16.140 --> 00:02:23.220 And so what we do with this matters, and having an understanding of this matters, and I think it's even important 00:02:23.260 --> 00:02:30.480 for us to go back to the first century when this event took place, because it's pertinent to us to see that everyone had to wrestle 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:33.400 with this story and what it meant for them. 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:39.540 Beginning with Luke chapter 24 and verse 15. 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:49.280 I wanna share this story about two strangers walking on the road to Emmaus, discussing 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:56.460 the events that they had just experienced with the death and now being reported resurrection of Jesus, and they're trying to figure out what 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:57.560 to do with this. 00:02:57.660 --> 00:03:00.720 How does this all fit in the framework of their thinking? 00:03:00.720 --> 00:03:07.760 And they're seven miles outside of Jerusalem just trying to conceive in their mind what exactly is taking place at this moment 00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:13.630 in history, and trying to understand how scripture wraps all this together and what it means for them personally. 00:03:15.440 --> 00:03:22.500 And now in verse 15 as these strangers start this walk, it says, "While they were talking and discussing, Jesus 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:27.520 himself," now post-resurrection, "Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them. 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:36.260 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him, and he said to them, 'What are these words that you 00:03:36.260 --> 00:03:42.200 are exchanging with one another as you're walking?' And they stood still, looking sad. 00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:50.760 And one of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, 'Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware 00:03:50.760 --> 00:03:58.460 of the things which have happened here in these days?'" Luke as he's writing this 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:05.700 gospel, he begins the book of Luke, chapter one, first four verses, he's writing 00:04:05.700 --> 00:04:10.900 to Theophilus this story, Theophilus likely paid Luke to go on this account. 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:16.579 Luke's a doctor, and Luke's trying to be accurate to the historical understanding of everything that takes place. 00:04:16.820 --> 00:04:23.860 And so he goes on this journey investigating and discussing with people the details of this event and laying it out for 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:24.140 us. 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:32.620 And so Luke is sharing this part of the story where he meets these people exchanging, in Luke 00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:37.660 chapter 24, and the reason we know that Luke likely meets these individuals is that he names one of them. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:46.720 Starts off, "Two strangers on the road to Emmaus," but then he says to us a little bit later that one of them is named Cleopas, and 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:53.820 what Luke is saying within the context of the story, he's sharing with them the detail of their interaction with Jesus, but he's also saying in this last part 00:04:53.820 --> 00:04:57.980 of this verse that this wasn't something done in a dark room in the corner of Jerusalem. 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:00.040 That everyone was aware of these events. 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.290 This was in the forefront of the society. 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:12.320 And this individual named Cleopas is responding to Jesus, and the reason Luke is identifying this individual is because when 00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:15.940 Luke is writing the story, Cleopas is still alive. 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:23.240 Likely the other individual isn't named because they've probably since died, but Luke identifies Cleopas as if to say to us, if you don't believe 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:27.020 the details of this story in which he's writing, Cleopas is still alive. 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:29.240 Go ask him. 00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:37.560 In fact, when the New Testament writers would record the events related to the resurrection of Jesus, they would often document the 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:41.000 individuals that were there for this resurrection event. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:48.440 In fact, when Paul writes about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, he calls this the gospel, he says in First Corinthians 15, 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:55.900 "For I passed onto you as of first importance that Christ died." This is the preeminent thing, of first importance, Christ 00:05:55.900 --> 00:06:03.040 died for our sins according to the scriptures, it was foretold in the Bible that he was buried then was raised on the third day 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:10.300 according to the scriptures, again foretold in the Bible, and then he appeared to Cephas, who was Peter, and then he appeared to the 12, and after that he 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:14.820 appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.700 Again this resurrection wasn't something done in a dark room. 00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:22.660 500 people at one time witness this. 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:29.680 And then Paul goes on to say this: "Most of whom are still living." As if to say to first-century believers, "If you 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:36.820 don't believe the story, talk to the hundreds of people that experienced the resurrection of Jesus. 00:06:37.020 --> 00:06:44.140 Though some have fallen asleep," he's saying some have died, "then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to 00:06:44.140 --> 00:06:51.140 me." And so Paul, Luke documenting for us the individuals that experienced this 00:06:51.140 --> 00:06:54.580 encounter of the resurrection of Jesus. 00:06:54.640 --> 00:06:57.770 And then the strangers on the road to Emmaus, the story continues. 00:06:59.700 --> 00:07:07.140 "And he said to them," Jesus saying to them, "What things?" And they said to Jesus, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:15.860 who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people." I like what Jesus is doing here. 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:22.820 Now Jesus is completely aware of all the events related to the resurrection, I mean he's the living example of which they're talking about. 00:07:24.260 --> 00:07:30.420 But what Jesus is interested in is understanding where their heart is and understanding the events that took place related to the resurrection. 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:38.760 He's meeting them where they are, and he's asking them the question, "What is your understanding of all of this which takes 00:07:38.760 --> 00:07:45.820 place?" The wrestling in their mind, "How does this fit together and the events that we've been a part of?" And so they're trying to see the broad picture in here, and Jesus 00:07:45.820 --> 00:07:51.240 is asking this question, and they identify him, this very important role in Jewish history, the prophet. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.380 You look at Jewish history to this point, God had been silent for hundreds of years. 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:04.480 And now they're acknowledging through this Jesus, God was speaking to them again. 00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:13.240 And he goes on in verse 20, "And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him," and look what 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:19.860 they say in verse 21, "but we were hoping that it was he who going to redeem Israel. 00:08:22.020 --> 00:08:26.940 Indeed besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 00:08:28.700 --> 00:08:30.980 But also some women among us amazed us. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:40.320 When they were at the tomb early this morning, the tomb was empty." So 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.540 what these individuals are wrestling with is the idea of what the Messiah would be. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:47.400 Verse 21. 00:08:49.260 --> 00:08:57.140 They know what "Messiah" identifies, Messiah means "anointed," "God's chosen," "blessed," "redeemer." And 00:08:57.140 --> 00:09:04.200 yet it's Jesus crucified on a cross of which scripture says, "Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree." "How is 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:11.300 it that the Messiah, the blessed one, the anointed one, the one that God is favoring, the Father is with him, how is it this one who died 00:09:11.300 --> 00:09:13.170 such a cursed death on the tree? 00:09:15.100 --> 00:09:24.160 We saw him prophetically saying utterances of which God had to be with him, yet such a despised ending to his life." And 00:09:24.160 --> 00:09:30.220 then on top of that, they add in verse 22 that the women were the first ones to see the resurrection. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:40.600 Can I tell you, if you were to make this event up, historically, in the first 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:48.760 century, and you wanted people to believe your story, the last person 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:54.620 you would want to validate your testimony would be a woman. 00:09:56.880 --> 00:10:05.520 The testimony of a woman wouldn't hold up in court in this first century, but yet God is being truthful in 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:07.010 the identification of what's taken place. 00:10:09.140 --> 00:10:13.720 He's not trying to deceive you in a story, he's sharing what happened. 00:10:16.020 --> 00:10:23.020 If Luke or any of the apostles, any of the gospel writers, wanted to lie to you about first century, I can tell you how they would 00:10:23.020 --> 00:10:23.720 have written the story. 00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:30.720 They would have made themselves look great, and they wouldn't have allowed women to be the first encounterers of the resurrection. 00:10:32.820 --> 00:10:39.820 But when you read the gospel account, it's Peter who rejects Jesus and denies him and curses him to 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:40.060 his face. 00:10:41.680 --> 00:10:46.280 It's the disciples that the Bible tells us forsook him at the time of his crucifixion. 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:48.800 And it's the women that went to the tomb. 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:56.140 And seeing them wrestle, Jesus is asking them this question, "What things? 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:56.840 What things? 00:10:57.060 --> 00:11:04.380 Tell me about your understanding of who you think this Messiah is." And so they start to identify, and they say in verse 21 exactly where they're wrestling: 00:11:04.380 --> 00:11:09.660 "We don't understand how this picture fits together in our messy, [inaudible 00:11:08] understanding of what Jesus is to present. 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:13.560 We know who the Messiah is. 00:11:15.420 --> 00:11:22.420 He's to lead us in victory." And it's on the backdrop of this statement that Jesus then gives his response and 00:11:22.420 --> 00:11:23.160 said... 00:11:23.160 --> 00:11:30.220 And they did not find his body in the cave, and they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive, and some of those 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:34.860 who were with us went to the tomb and found just exactly as the women also had said. 00:11:34.900 --> 00:11:36.270 But him they did not see. 00:11:36.420 --> 00:11:44.100 And Jesus said to them, "Oh, foolish men, slow of heart to believe in 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:46.280 all that the prophets have spoken. 00:11:48.680 --> 00:11:56.500 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer in these things and to enter into his glory?" Then 00:11:56.500 --> 00:12:03.560 beginning with Moses, and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself 00:12:03.560 --> 00:12:05.040 in all the scriptures. 00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:14.020 When Jesus starts to unfold scripture, I wonder where he started? 00:12:17.420 --> 00:12:21.920 Jesus wanted them to see how new covenant, old covenant ties together. 00:12:22.020 --> 00:12:27.740 Old Testament, New Testament, how God is culminating this entire picture with us. 00:12:28.140 --> 00:12:35.180 Maybe he started pre-Jewish history, maybe he started in Genesis chapter 3, where it tells us, "From the coming of a woman there would be one who would crush the 00:12:35.180 --> 00:12:42.480 head of the serpent." Maybe he started with the story of Adam and Eve and how God is the one that pursued Adam and Eve, and sacrificed the first animal, 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:49.700 and clothed them in garments, and the word that he used for clothing them in garments was "priestly garments." Or maybe he started in the context 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:53.150 of Jewish history because this is where they're wrestling with the identity of Messiah. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:02.140 Maybe he went to Psalm 22, where from the cross, Jesus cries, or in the psalm, the psalmist cries, 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:09.300 verse one: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And Jesus says, "Remember when I was on the cross and the things that I were quoting, 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.280 do you know that they were scriptural? 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:19.540 Do you know that they were scriptural to show you the fulfillment of Old Testament and New Testament of what the Messiah would do?" Or maybe Jesus 00:13:19.540 --> 00:13:27.580 quoted from them Isaiah 7:14, "A virgin will conceive, and he will be with us, and his name will be Emmanuel, meaning 'God dwells with us.'" 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:35.620 Or may it's Isaiah 9:6, "Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the government will rest upon his shoulders," or 00:13:35.620 --> 00:13:42.960 maybe it's Samuel 7:14-16, where he would come from the house of David, 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:51.340 or maybe Genesis 49:10, from the house of Judah, or maybe Zechariah 9:9, that he would ride on the back of a donkey, or 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:56.040 maybe Zachariah 11:12-13, that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. 00:13:56.640 --> 00:14:05.420 Or maybe Micah 5:2, that he would be born in Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:08.780 die on a cross in Jerusalem, Isaiah 53. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:16.950 I wonder what he told to tie the stories together. 00:14:18.900 --> 00:14:23.860 The Old Testament gives us over 300 plus prophetic statements of what Jesus would fulfill. 00:14:26.180 --> 00:14:32.080 For me perhaps one of the most scandalous in all of scripture is Isaiah 53. 00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:41.770 In fact, if you were to read that passage of scripture, what unfolds in Isaiah 53 truthfully begins in chapter 42, 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:44.660 but the highlight of it starts in chapter 52. 00:14:46.160 --> 00:14:53.660 Remember when Jesus was presented by John the Baptist, John says, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," which 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:59.760 by the way is a statement uttered during the Passover celebration, identifying exactly what Jesus would be? 00:14:59.800 --> 00:15:06.860 And when Jesus is finally baptized by John, John knows Jesus's identity, because John says, "I'm unworthy to even untie your shoes," 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:13.280 and in Jesus's culture, touching someone's feet is something the lowest servant in a household would do. 00:15:14.140 --> 00:15:21.120 That's why when Jesus in the upper room with his disciples, he washed the disciples' feet, showing the lowest form of serving towards those he loved. 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:30.360 And John says, "I'm unworthy to even untie your shoes, I'm beneath that servant, certainly I'm not gonna baptize you." But when John is commanded by Jesus to baptize 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:37.520 him, so John baptizes Jesus, and when Jesus is baptized, God the Father utters these words from Heaven: "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased." 00:15:39.880 --> 00:15:46.660 God quoting that passage, Psalm 2:7, and Isaiah 42:1. 00:15:47.060 --> 00:15:51.060 He takes two passages and crushes them together in the statement of Jesus, why? 00:15:51.280 --> 00:15:54.670 Because he's identifying for us who the Messiah is. 00:15:55.760 --> 00:16:03.000 Psalm chapter 2 is the kingship psalm, a psalm that they thought identified the Messiah ultimately, 00:16:04.260 --> 00:16:10.520 and Isaiah 42 is the servant psalm, Isaiah 42:1, the servant psalm. 00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:19.600 And the Jews would refer to Isaiah 42, to chapter 53 as not just the servant section of Isaiah but 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:22.220 the suffering servant section of Isaiah. 00:16:23.160 --> 00:16:23.260 Why? 00:16:25.410 --> 00:16:26.840 Because of the content of Isaiah 53. 00:16:29.140 --> 00:16:36.220 You see in Isaiah 42 God calling his servant, and by Isaiah 53 that servant's suffering. 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.760 But the way chapter 52 starts to conclude in Isaiah, is it starts to... 00:16:42.060 --> 00:16:44.080 Chapter 53 is where the challenge is found. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:47.260 It says this, "Behold, my servant will prosper. 00:16:49.380 --> 00:16:56.740 He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted," identifying messianic thoughts, and then it says, "Just as many were 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:03.960 astonished at you my people, so his appearance," look at this, "was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:11.240 men." So God is taking his servant exalted, and now allowing 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:18.880 that servant to be marred beyond recognition and then in verse 15, "Thus he will sprinkle many nations," 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:26.200 alluding to the thought of atonement, and Leviticus chapter 16 where, "sacrifice was made for sins, king will shut 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:33.280 their mouths on account of him, seeing the ruling of his greatness for what had not been told them, they will see and what 00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:40.460 had not been heard, they will understand." So you see this picture of this servant both in authority 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:41.240 and suffering. 00:17:44.020 --> 00:17:51.460 And then 53, which I can't show you all the text, but just to get the flavor of what's said, verse 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:58.580 3, "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and 00:17:58.580 --> 00:18:03.200 like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we did not esteem him. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.460 Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:14.380 Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." So our perspective is that position of him. 00:18:14.380 --> 00:18:21.680 And then in verse 5, "But he was pierced through for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities," our sins, "the chastening 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:28.900 for our wellbeing fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed." Now 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:31.480 look at this, all of us like sheep going astray. 00:18:33.020 --> 00:18:40.200 Each of us have turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to 00:18:40.300 --> 00:18:40.740 fall on him. 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:47.300 Jesus is like a lamb as led to the slaughter. 00:18:52.620 --> 00:18:56.550 Strangers on the road to Emmaus struggled with this. 00:18:58.080 --> 00:19:00.400 I think the apostle Paul struggled with this. 00:19:01.700 --> 00:19:08.980 I think in Acts chapter 9, when he's on his way to persecute Christians, this is the challenge in his mind: he sees this Jesus, he 00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:16.040 has the messianic thoughts of the coming king in his mind, that's why when we read last week in Luke 19, Jesus on 00:19:16.040 --> 00:19:23.460 the back on the donkey, they're shouting, "Hosannah," salvation now, "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." They're seeing a king on a donkey riding 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:25.300 triumphant in Jerusalem to take his throne. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.460 Paul wrestled with this. 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:36.920 But then on his road to Damascus, Acts chapter 9, Paul sees resurrected Jesus. 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:39.380 How does that work? 00:19:41.140 --> 00:19:42.700 How does that work in Paul's mind? 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:49.480 You hear this one claim to be Messiah, and he dies a despicable, despised death. 00:19:49.480 --> 00:19:52.840 "Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree." And yet he's resurrected. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:54.990 How can he be resurrected? 00:19:56.940 --> 00:19:58.600 God's favor is on him. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.660 God's favor is with him, and Paul could not deny it. 00:20:04.100 --> 00:20:11.340 And so when you consider, if you could just take a step back from this for a moment, I know skeptically from our perspective today, we think, "How 00:20:11.340 --> 00:20:13.600 can we trust these prophecies? 00:20:15.520 --> 00:20:21.700 How do we know someone just didn't write it in later, or give these details about Jesus's life in the Old Testament, 300 accounts? 00:20:22.020 --> 00:20:29.040 Well I can tell you it's because we have manuscripts of these prophecies related to Jesus, older 00:20:29.040 --> 00:20:29.560 than Jesus. 00:20:31.580 --> 00:20:38.810 In the 1940s and '50s, Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, dating as early as 225 years before the coming of Christ. 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:47.540 Within the context of these scrolls, there's 39 from the book of Psalms, 33 from the book of Deuteronomy, 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:54.700 24 from the book of Genesis, 22 from the book of Isaiah, 18 of the book of Exodus, 17 of Leviticus, 11 of 00:20:54.700 --> 00:21:01.990 Numbers, 10 of the minor prophets, 8 of Daniel, 6 of Jeremiah, 6 of Ezekiel, 6 of Job, 4 of First and Second Kings, 00:21:02.260 --> 00:21:09.440 and of First and Second Samuel, and of Judges, and of Song of Solomon, and of Ruth, and of Lamentations, and of Joshua, and Ecclesiastes. 00:21:12.260 --> 00:21:13.060 You have manuscripts older... 00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:14.920 You have the Bible Jesus read. 00:21:17.620 --> 00:21:22.680 The probability of someone fulfilling over 300 prophecies. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:32.040 If you just gave every prophecy a 50/50 chance of you fulfilling in this room, and you took one prophecy for 00:21:32.040 --> 00:21:39.180 every book of the Old Testament in the English translation, which is 39, so if you take 39 prophecies and you give a 50/50 chance of fulfilling 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:43.640 them, it's 1 in 549 billion. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:49.640 And I will tell you, us in this room, we don't have a 50/50 chance of fulfilling nearly any of them. 00:21:50.560 --> 00:21:55.920 You think, you had to be born in Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, die on a cross in Jerusalem. 00:21:56.860 --> 00:21:59.360 Everyone in the world is eliminated from that one, right? 00:21:59.860 --> 00:22:01.230 I mean, when's the last time there's crucifixion? 00:22:03.660 --> 00:22:06.220 The probability of this happening for us... 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:08.390 And that's not the only way to validate the resurrection. 00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:16.220 Not only is it prophetically, but Jesus fulfilled images in the Old Testament, and the New Testament tells us how he has the role of prophet, priest, king, 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:18.920 lamb, temple, sabbath, law. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:26.020 Some debate whether or not Jesus was actually crucified or if he died in the crucifixion. 00:22:27.860 --> 00:22:35.220 You think about what Jesus endured at the crucifixion itself, that Jesus was crucified by 00:22:35.220 --> 00:22:36.920 professional executioners. 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:44.740 Their entire job as Roman soldiers was to kill people and to make sure they were dead, and if they did not succeed at 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:51.040 that, and they pulled someone off a cross before it was determined that they were dead, they could suffer punishment if not execution for not fulfilling their duties. 00:22:52.320 --> 00:22:59.480 And when Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, the book of Mark, chapter 15 verses 25 and verse 34, tells us that Jesus 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:06.460 is crucified at the exact time in which the Jewish people would conduct the sacrificing of the animals within the temple. 00:23:08.520 --> 00:23:10.380 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. 00:23:10.820 --> 00:23:11.460 Coincidence? 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:19.220 Jesus crucified by professional executioners, and you think about what he went through. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:24.940 He was scourged to the point that his organs and bones could have been exposed, which historically had killed men. 00:23:26.320 --> 00:23:33.440 Taken to a cross, crucified, pierced through, and dies on the cross, then determine that he's really dead, 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:36.320 they run the spear through his ribs into his chest. 00:23:38.320 --> 00:23:45.760 Thrown in the cave for three days, boulder rolled in front some estimate weigh as much as 4000 pounds, sealed by Rome 00:23:45.760 --> 00:23:47.760 and placed with guards at the front of it. 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:56.260 If by some random chance someone could survive that type of torture, who could do it without treatment? 00:23:59.180 --> 00:24:01.840 And who then three days later would be up walking around? 00:24:04.100 --> 00:24:04.700 Yet by God. 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:15.760 When you look at Jesus's life, one of the most inspiring things for me, and one 00:24:15.760 --> 00:24:20.970 of my favorite portions of the gospels, John 13 to 17, the last six hours Jesus spends with his disciples. 00:24:22.760 --> 00:24:30.700 Can I tell you if Jesus were just a mere man who happened to go through crucifixion, even though prophecy had declared this, if 00:24:30.740 --> 00:24:38.120 I were in his shoes, last six hours of my life and I knew it, can tell you the last thing that I would be doing was 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:39.060 washing the feet of my disciples. 00:24:40.820 --> 00:24:44.300 I would be holding onto the table saying, "Don't let me go out of this room. 00:24:44.360 --> 00:24:45.610 Guys, I know what's coming. 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:50.420 Judas just betrayed me, he's got 30 pieces of silver because of it, oh, woe is me... 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:51.400 " That's what I would be doing. 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:54.450 You know what Jesus does? 00:24:57.120 --> 00:24:58.920 Jesus encourages the faith of his disciples. 00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:02.620 Jesus continues to serve others. 00:25:04.940 --> 00:25:12.510 In fact when you read the gospels, 40% of the story of these gospels, 00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:17.460 four gospels, 40% of it, is centered around the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. 00:25:18.900 --> 00:25:25.820 You know it's that individual that lives his life for 33 years, and 40% of what they share are about his death, burial, and resurrection. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:26.380 Why? 00:25:27.600 --> 00:25:31.430 Because it's the theme of what he desired to accomplish in the redemption of your soul. 00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:32.830 It's the point of the story. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:41.240 In fact I would go so far as to say, when the Bible shares the 60% about Jesus's life that the only reason it's sharing that 60% is to 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:47.900 validate his position as Messiah, which is leading to his death, so that we understand the picture of which he has created for us. 00:25:50.980 --> 00:25:56.200 The thought of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the central theme of our story. 00:25:57.560 --> 00:26:04.190 It's why Luke starts his account in the beginning of his story saying that he's writing this accurately so that we understand the significance of Jesus. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:11.500 It's why John says at the end of the story, "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:19.220 you may have life in his name." One of my favorite thoughts 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:26.940 in all of this is to read the reaction of the individuals that believed in 00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:29.600 the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in the first century. 00:26:32.060 --> 00:26:35.280 So Jesus wasn't the only child born to Mary. 00:26:36.800 --> 00:26:44.480 Jesus was the first but Jesus had half brothers and sisters, and 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:51.600 in the book of Mark, in 3:21, it says, "When his family heard about this," talking about Jesus, "they went in to take charge of him, for they said 00:26:51.600 --> 00:26:57.820 he's out of his mind." You wanna know what their picture was of Christ as he taught throughout the streets in Jerusalem? 00:26:58.160 --> 00:26:59.020 The man's insane. 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:08.180 The disciples, Mark 14:15, "They all forsook him and fled." Yet 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:15.380 by the time you get to Acts chapter 1, the conclusion of the gospels, you find all 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:22.440 of those individuals that forsook Jesus joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:24.510 the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. 00:27:27.060 --> 00:27:33.740 By the time you get to Acts chapter 2, they're preaching with such boldness that they face persecution because of it. 00:27:34.680 --> 00:27:36.280 What happened? 00:27:39.360 --> 00:27:46.400 Jesus's half brothers James and Jude, martyred for their faith, 10 of the 12 apostles or disciples martyred for their faith, 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:51.940 one of them heavily persecuted but never faced martyrdom, which was John, who lived into old age. 00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:53.560 What changed? 00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:59.430 Why from coward to not denying? 00:28:02.120 --> 00:28:09.580 Can I tell you when you study the history of those that have faith religiously, I can very plainly, even today we see this often 00:28:09.580 --> 00:28:12.060 that people will die for an ideology. 00:28:14.340 --> 00:28:16.220 They'll sacrifice themselves for an ideology. 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:25.000 But can I tell you the thing that led the disciples to lead their lives with such bravery, to the point of martyrdom for Christ, had nothing to 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:25.720 do with ideology. 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:31.280 Their faith was built on a historical event. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.720 Their faith was built on a fact, and what was it? 00:28:35.600 --> 00:28:39.000 They couldn't deny the resurrection of Jesus. 00:28:40.560 --> 00:28:42.300 They had experienced it with their own eyes. 00:28:43.760 --> 00:28:49.960 And so when someone came to them, and they said to these individuals in the faith, "Deny Christ or die," they said, "We can't. 00:28:51.360 --> 00:28:57.940 We've seen it with our own eyes." And they became devoted followers. 00:29:00.900 --> 00:29:07.680 In our history, there was this event some of you may remember or not, but called Watergate. 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:10.420 Richard Nixon. 00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:19.520 These individuals that were involved more than Nixon tried to collaborate their story together to keep anything from 00:29:19.520 --> 00:29:20.540 happening to them. 00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:28.880 One of those individuals was a man by the name of Chuck Colson who went to prison because of Watergate, and one of the things 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:36.020 that led Chuck Colson while in prison to Christ was the idea of what 00:29:36.020 --> 00:29:39.540 these disciples when through because of their testimony related to the resurrection. 00:29:40.260 --> 00:29:41.710 They didn't profit from this. 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:49.880 And Chuck Colson looked at his own friends related to Watergate and watched as one after another, they began to break down, and the lie 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:54.320 that they had concocted to try to hold the story together, but they started to turn on one another. 00:29:54.560 --> 00:30:01.160 And Chuck Colson realized how easy it became when pressure was added to their lives to deny the truth in which they stood for. 00:30:03.050 --> 00:30:05.340 And because of that, Chuck Colson gave his life to Christ. 00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:14.640 He looked at the testimony of these disciples facing death all over the world and realized if they, 00:30:14.860 --> 00:30:22.660 in being such in prominent positions, had so much to lose, couldn't keep their story together, how 00:30:22.820 --> 00:30:28.080 truthful the testimony of these disciples must be for them all to give their lives. 00:30:30.700 --> 00:30:33.940 When you go throughout Christianity, you see the effects of this. 00:30:35.040 --> 00:30:39.350 For the first 250 years of Christianity, they faced persecution under the Roman Empire. 00:30:39.780 --> 00:30:47.060 Of the 250 years, 125 they faced persecution that could lead to death, starting with Emperor Nero to 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:52.340 [Dominician 00:30:48] and ending with Diocletian before Christianity was legalized by Constantine. 00:30:53.800 --> 00:31:00.860 Christianity spread so rapidly by the mid-300s, Emperor Julian wanted to revive pagan religion, and he goes on 00:31:00.860 --> 00:31:07.540 record as saying this, that "Christianity has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers. 00:31:07.620 --> 00:31:14.860 It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who was a beggar and that the Christians care not only for their own poor but 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:22.180 for ours as well." And you can look in history, from the first century during the time of 00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:28.720 the disciples, both secular writers and believers commenting on what's taking place in the life of Jesus. 00:31:28.800 --> 00:31:36.200 You can read from secular writers like Pliny the Younger, and Tacitus, and Flavius Josephus recording 00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:37.860 this event in history. 00:31:37.860 --> 00:31:40.190 Or you can read from Christian writers. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:48.120 You can read Irenaeus, and Polycarp, and Justin the Martyr it's recording events, Clement of Rome, of all that's 00:31:48.280 --> 00:31:48.840 taking place. 00:31:52.700 --> 00:31:59.060 What faith can validate for you the hope of a resurrection? 00:32:01.820 --> 00:32:08.900 I mean, you think about all the beliefs taught in the world in an afterlife, and the hope 00:32:08.900 --> 00:32:15.920 people carry in such a faith for an afterlife, but yet Jesus demonstrates the 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:18.440 hope of an afterlife through the power of the resurrection. 00:32:22.120 --> 00:32:26.060 Individuals throughout history have examined these historical facts related to Christ. 00:32:28.380 --> 00:32:28.920 Men like C. 00:32:29.060 --> 00:32:29.140 S. 00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:36.640 Lewis, I said Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, they've all examined it. 00:32:36.660 --> 00:32:42.640 People from America, from a perspective of really trying to disprove Christianity and finding it out to be true. 00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:50.840 One of the more famous individuals that started this tradition of examining Christianity in American history was a man by the name of Simon 00:32:50.840 --> 00:32:53.500 Greenleaf, who was the founder of Harvard Law School. 00:32:55.180 --> 00:33:02.420 Simon Greenleaf, he would mock Christianity, he would call it a hoax, but he taught his students to use evidence 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:05.580 in the court of law and not to argue against the evidence. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:12.900 In fact he wrote a book entitled A Treatise of the Law of Evidence, which is considered by many the greatest legal volume ever written. 00:33:14.560 --> 00:33:19.160 And one day as he was mocking Christianity in his class, referring to it as a hoax, one of his students challenged him. 00:33:20.860 --> 00:33:27.200 "Have you ever examined the evidence?" And so Greenleaf went on a mission to disprove Christianity. 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:36.560 He walked away writing this book, it's called An Examination, it's more of a thesis statement, but it says, An Examination of 00:33:36.560 --> 00:33:41.860 the Testimony of the Four Gospels by the Rulers of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. 00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.190 And if I just take the evidence of Christianity, would it hold up in court? 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:53.320 And this is the conclusion he made: it was impossible that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the truths they 00:33:53.320 --> 00:33:57.540 had narrated, had not Jesus Christ actually risen from the dead. 00:33:58.340 --> 00:34:05.580 Greenleaf concluded, "According to the jurisdiction of legal evidence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best supported event in all 00:34:05.580 --> 00:34:06.180 of history. 00:34:09.100 --> 00:34:16.560 I mean when you consider the totality of scripture, 66 books, 40 authors, 3 continents, 3 languages, one central theme. 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:21.210 How do they do that over a span of 1500 years? 00:34:25.260 --> 00:34:28.320 Yet God be in it, right? 00:34:28.620 --> 00:34:35.719 So you look at all this evidence, and we certainly have some, but can I tell 00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:43.120 you the most important question isn't "What happened?" The most important question is, 00:34:43.120 --> 00:34:50.139 "Why?" So we all walk away with a historical understanding Jesus did that, that's great, but the question really that all of us need to wrestle with is 00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:50.500 why? 00:34:51.800 --> 00:34:52.719 Why would God do that? 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:02.060 And then you read, if we go back to the strangers on the road to Emmaus for just a minute, verse 30 it says this, "When he had reclined at the table," talking about 00:35:02.060 --> 00:35:09.760 Jesus, he's sitting with them now at the table, "When he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:16.820 blessed it, and breaking it, he began giving it to them, and then their eyes 00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:22.160 were opened, and they recognized him." What was Jesus doing? 00:35:24.160 --> 00:35:24.620 Communion. 00:35:26.640 --> 00:35:34.540 He'd just had it with his disciples in the upper room, he takes the bread and breaks it, and Jesus makes this statement in the upper room with his disciples, "This 00:35:34.540 --> 00:35:37.490 is my body, which is broken for... 00:35:37.680 --> 00:35:37.780 " what? 00:35:39.640 --> 00:35:39.660 "... 00:35:39.740 --> 00:35:39.840 you. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:45.920 Do this in remembrance of me." This is for you. 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:51.500 It's not about just looking at what happened but why. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:36:00.600 When you consider the nature of God, he is both just and 00:36:00.600 --> 00:36:00.980 gracious. 00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:05.880 He has wrath against sin, and he is merciful. 00:36:07.900 --> 00:36:15.340 And when you look at the cross of Christ, it becomes the place where those two characteristics, those attributes of God, collide 00:36:15.340 --> 00:36:17.500 together on your behalf. 00:36:18.420 --> 00:36:19.370 God is holy. 00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:21.210 God is just. 00:36:21.740 --> 00:36:29.520 And God demands because he is good that all sin be accounted for, otherwise he would never be good, nor 00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:29.940 could he be just. 00:36:31.640 --> 00:36:38.820 And so God pours out his wrath on Jesus, who becomes the sacrifice for man on 00:36:38.820 --> 00:36:39.940 our behalf. 00:36:41.960 --> 00:36:48.980 Psalm 53:7, "But at the same time God created you in his image, so that you could 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:56.060 enjoy a relationship with him." So this invitation in Christianity, it's not this invitation to religion, 00:36:56.200 --> 00:36:57.980 it's invitation to relationship. 00:36:58.740 --> 00:37:04.560 The reason Jesus had to die is because we stand before a holy God, our relationship with God is dead. 00:37:04.620 --> 00:37:06.360 We can't come before that God. 00:37:08.180 --> 00:37:15.240 But because God is also loving and gracious, being created in his image for relationship for all of eternity, Jesus takes the wrath on him at the cross 00:37:15.240 --> 00:37:19.900 so that we can be reconciled to God and enjoy that relationship for all of eternity in him. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.250 Jesus did this for you. 00:37:24.860 --> 00:37:27.700 The wrath of God and the grace of God. 00:37:28.420 --> 00:37:29.880 And here's the challenge that we face, guys. 00:37:31.240 --> 00:37:35.460 In our lives, we become calloused to the effects of our sin. 00:37:36.780 --> 00:37:39.480 We kinda justify it like, "Eh, someone else is worse than us. 00:37:39.680 --> 00:37:47.020 Eh, Jesus died on a cross." But can I tell you, Jesus invented a sacrifice way back in history called the Passover, where a lamb, blood 00:37:47.020 --> 00:37:47.620 was shed. 00:37:47.620 --> 00:37:54.650 Every family would go to this temple at this time every year, sacrificing this lamb and this blood would pour from the temple. 00:37:55.020 --> 00:37:55.220 Why? 00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:59.760 Because God wanted us to be aware of our sin, the consequences of sin, death. 00:37:59.820 --> 00:38:03.700 God's not about "Let's just kill things for killing things." God hates death. 00:38:04.680 --> 00:38:06.500 In fact Jesus came to conquer death. 00:38:07.940 --> 00:38:15.180 But Jesus also created the symbolism of this sacrifice to remind us in a very sobering moment what the effects of our sins really were. 00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:18.060 Our sin nailed him to the cross. 00:38:20.260 --> 00:38:27.320 When they would sacrifice this lamb, it's even written about the day of atonement in Leviticus 16, they would place their hand on this lamb as if 00:38:27.320 --> 00:38:31.900 to confess their sins, and to symbolize that this lamb would carry the weight of their sin. 00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:39.960 And so when John said to us, in John 1:29, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," he's making this declaration of 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:42.000 the image of who Jesus is. 00:38:42.980 --> 00:38:43.280 Why? 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:44.860 For you. 00:38:46.600 --> 00:38:47.140 For me. 00:38:49.290 --> 00:38:57.520 That when we think about Jesus, I need to end here, as 00:38:57.520 --> 00:39:02.440 he went to the cross willingly, no one made him. 00:39:04.380 --> 00:39:06.410 Rome couldn't have hung him up there. 00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:10.820 There was no anger, no one could keep Jesus on the cross. 00:39:10.820 --> 00:39:18.620 When Jesus went to the cross, Hebrews 12:2 tells us he went to the cross "for the joy set before him." Jesus 00:39:18.620 --> 00:39:24.080 went arms wide open, palms stretched out. 00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:33.780 "This is my body which is for you." This 00:39:33.780 --> 00:39:38.440 moment for us is intended to be intensely personal. 00:39:40.700 --> 00:39:43.040 Your sin holds him there. 00:39:44.460 --> 00:39:48.070 It's not an invitation to religion but to relationship. 00:39:48.080 --> 00:39:55.320 It's Jesus takes the curse of your sin upon his shoulder, that you can enjoy this relationship with God for all 00:39:55.320 --> 00:39:56.420 of eternity. 00:39:56.640 --> 00:40:05.340 And it's always the same to us, if ever in your life there was ever a doubt that God loves you, the 00:40:05.380 --> 00:40:13.100 cross screams it, to the point that God laid down everything to 00:40:13.160 --> 00:40:19.200 confess and demonstrate his love for you by bearing the curse of your sin. 00:40:21.020 --> 00:40:28.260 That's why today we don't just talk about it like it's an event, but we celebrate it as a personal mark 00:40:28.260 --> 00:40:35.340 in our history, because Jesus gives us all this position to come before him now and saying, "The head of the lamb, what 00:40:35.340 --> 00:40:44.300 is your posture?" Do you place your hands upon his head and 00:40:44.300 --> 00:40:50.020 say, "Jesus, thank you for dying for me"? 00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:54.880 Or do you walk away carrying the weight of your own sin on your shoulders? 00:40:57.860 --> 00:41:04.940 This day in history is immensely important to the depth of our soul and relationship with 00:41:04.940 --> 00:41:05.340 God. 00:41:08.200 --> 00:41:15.260 As Jesus said, "Unless you believe that I am he, you'll die in your 00:41:15.260 --> 00:41:15.400 sins. 00:41:17.140 --> 00:41:20.360 Unless you believe that I am he."