#198 Lu. 24:36-45 JESUS IN THE MIDST OF HIS DISCIPLES Introduction: In this text Jesus appears after His resurrection to the apostles and other disciples who had gathered together at Jerusalem. I. Those who were present in the room when Jesus appeared In the study of our text last Sunday I had wondered if the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples on the Emmaus road had taken place on the same day that the women went to the tomb. Since that time I found the answer in the book of John. The women went to the tomb, the two disciples went to Emmaus and Jesus appeared in the midst of the whole group all on the same day. According to John, it all took place on the first day of the week. Prior to the crucifixion Jesus, His apostles and at least some of the other disciples had been staying each night in the village of Bethany about two miles from Jerusalem. They would go to Jerusalem to the temple each day, but return to Bethany each night. After the crucifixion, a certain large home in Jerusalem became the meeting place for the disciples. There were two main reasons they gathered together. For one thing, they were all saddened by the death of Jesus and they gathered to find comfort in one another's company. For another thing, they felt that there was a measure of safety in numbers. John said that they shut themselves up in the house and locked the door. They would not open the door to anybody they did not know. I want you to envision them inside a large guest room after the two disciples had returned from Emmaus. It was probably the same upper room in which they would later meet on the day of Pentecost. Thomas was not present. The women who had gone to the empty tomb were there. Mary Magdalene, who was in that group, was there. Mary Magdalene is the one who had left the tomb as soon as they saw that it was empty. She ran and told Peter and John that somebody had stolen the body of Jesus. The other women, who stayed at the tomb long enough to see the angels, were now present in the room. Peter and John were there. They ran to the tomb as soon as Mary Magdalene told them that the body of Jesus was missing. They, too, saw that the body was missing, but the linen cloth in which Jesus had been wrapped was neatly folded and left in the grave. That surely meant that the body had not been stolen. If somebody had stolen the body, they would have taken the linen also. John had seen the linen and concluded that Jesus had risen from the grave. Peter saw, but was not yet convinced. There is something I should mention right here about Mary Magdalene. According to John, Mary Magdalene followed Peter and John back to the tomb. She could not keep up with them, of course, and they were gone when she arrived. Two angels appeared to her and told her that Jesus had risen. However, before Mary left the garden where the grave was located, Jesus appeared to her. Mary Magdalene was the very first to see Jesus after He had arisen. The Apostle Peter was the next to see Jesus. The two disciples who went to Emmaus were the next. At the time of our text today these two had just returned from Emmaus and they were all rejoicing at the news that Jesus was alive. Not all of the apostles were present. Thomas was absent. But all who were present were locked within this building and they were all rejoicing. II. The sudden appearance of Jesus All of a sudden the rejoicing stopped and fear set in. V. 36, "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." It startled them and frightened them. Nobody had knocked at the door. Nobody unlocked the door. Nobody let Him in. All of a sudden He appeared right out in the middle of them and it just about scared the daylights out of them. Get this. Jesus said, "Peace be unto you." He told them not to be afraid. He said, "Peace be unto you." So what did they do? They panicked. He told them to do one thing and they did the opposite. Luke explains why they were afraid. V. 37, "But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." They were afraid because they thought they were seeing a spirit, a ghost. They had done this once before. Back when they were out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee Jesus walked out to them from the shore. He walked on the water. They thought they were seeing a ghost that time also and they panicked then, too. They thought the same thing now. You can see that their faith was not yet strengthened very much. They had just been rejoicing that Jesus is alive. They had been told by angels that He is alive. Four of them have already seen Him alive. Now He appears in their midst and they have a problem believing that it is Him. They think they are seeing a ghost. V. 38, "And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" That is, "Why are you troubled? Why do doubts and fears arise in your hearts?" He had told the two on the Emmaus road that they were slow of heart to believe what was said in the Scriptures. He could have said the same thing to them all now. Let me direct those same questions to us all. "Why are we troubled? Why do we allow doubts and fears to arise in our own hearts?" I am going to confess to you that I am sometimes troubled. Aren't you? I will confess to you that sometimes I do have doubts and fears come into my mind and heart. Don't you? But why? Why do we Christians become troubled when we know that God is on His throne and that God is watching after us? Why do we allow doubts and fears come into our hearts when we know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, that God the Father watches after us from above, that the Holy Spirit of God is right here with us dwelling even within us, and the holy angels of God have been assigned the task of watching after us? Why do we worry? Why do we doubt? Why do we fear? I will tell you why. It is not that God lacks the power or concern to watch over us. We become doubtful and fearful because of our own weakness. If we could only fully trust in God and put everything in His hands, we would never doubt. We would never worry. We would never fear. May God increase our faith in Him so that we will, at least, worry a lot less. III. Evidence that Jesus physically arose from the grave V. 39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Earlier in the garden where the tomb was located, Jesus had told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him. But now He tells them all, including Mary, to see and touch. He held out His hands and feet so that all could see. He let them examine closely so that they could see that the nail holes went all the way through. They could tell that these were freshly made holes. They could clearly see that He was flesh and bones. Even if the bones did not show in the nail holes, the presence of bones would be evident underneath the skin of His arms and legs. V. 40, "And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet." He invited them to touch. To both see and touch should convince them that He was truly physically risen from the grave. They were not just seeing a spirit. They were seeing a flesh and bones human being. In I John 1:1 the Apostle John later wrote that he and the others had heard with their ears, seen with their eyes and had touched with their hands. They could truly testify that Jesus had risen from the grave. They heard; they saw; they touched. V. 41, "And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered,..." Still they group was not convinced that Jesus was with them bodily. No doubt a few of them were convinced. For instance we have already been told that John saw the linen and was convinced. Mary Magdalene saw Him and she was convinced. Peter saw Him and He was convinced. The two who on the Emmaus road saw Him and they were convinced. Now all of them saw Jesus but most of them were not fully convinced. They assumed that they were seeing a ghost and they were happy to see whatever they were seeing. But they were not convinced that they were really seeing Jesus. Luke gives a strange reason for their unbelief. He said that they believed not for joy. They were really happy to hear that Jesus had risen from the dead. They were really happy to see Him now in their midst. But they thought to themselves, "This is just too good to be true. It's not for real. It's got to be a dream or vision or spirit or something, but it be for real." (V. 41), "...he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?" Then Jesus called for something to eat. V. 42, "And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb." Probably they also furnished Him something to drink. V. 43, "And he took it, and did eat before them." The fact that He could eat fish and honey was to them an evidence that He was not a ghost. He was physically there in that room with them. They could hear Him. They could touch Him. They could see Him eat fish and honey. He had, indeed, risen from the grave. V. 44, "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." Seeing Jesus present with them, hearing His voice and reaching out and touching His body and seeing Him eat food should have been convincing to them that Jesus was risen from the grave. However, that should not have been the chief reason why they believed. They should have known the Scriptures. They should have understood the Scriptures. They should have believed the Scriptures and then they would have had no trouble believing that He was risen from the grave. Just as He had taught the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus now teaches them all. He even included more Scriptures. To the Emmaus brethren he had quoted form the writings of Moses and all the prophets. He now teaches them all from Moses and the prophets, but He also includes the Psalms. The Psalms also teach that Jesus arose from the grave. IV. The opening of their understanding V. 45, "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." Jesus did more than quote Scriptures to them. He explained those Scriptures and showed that they were talking about Him. Yet He did more than explain the Scriptures and show how they related to Him. By means of the Holy Spirit of God He worked on their minds and helped them to understand what they Scriptures teach. By means of the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus helps people to understand the meaning of the Scriptures. II Corinthians 2:14 tells us that the Holy Scripture are not understood by means of human intelligence alone. Rather, they are properly understood only by the help of the Holy Spirit of God. I want you to note the procedure by which Jesus opened their understanding. First of all, God provided the Holy Scriptures so that the truth of God could be presented to them. God could have shown them these truths even if there were no Scriptures to read. But He didn't. He first provided the Scriptures for them to read. Secondly, He gave them opportunity hear and read the Scriptures. Jesus could have just opened up their heads and poured the truth in, but He didn't. He gave them opportunity to hear the Scriptures. He gave them opportunity to study the Scriptures. Then He presented an explanation of the Scriptures. Finally, He used the Holy Spirit of God to help them to understand the truth of the Scripture. That is the way that God operates today. That is why the preaching of the gospel message to the unsaved world is important. That is why the study of God's word is so important to those who are already saved. I talked earlier in the message about the need for Christians to learn to trust the Lord more fully pertaining to the affairs of our lives. I want to talk to you now about the need for the unsaved to trust in Christ for the salvation of the soul. I am convinced that there is a very strong possibility that somewhere within this congregation one or more of you are unsaved. If anybody is unsaved, that person is headed for the fires of hell. To me that is a very disturbing thought. Just in case someone present is unsaved, let me tell you first of all, why you are unsaved. You are not unsaved because you are a worse than Christians. The truth of the matter is that you may be a better person morally than some of us who are saved. You are unsaved because you have inherited the sin nature from Adam. Adam sinned and we all inherited the sin nature from him. We have all inherited Adam's sin nature and we have all committed sin because of that nature. That includes me and that includes you. We have all sinned and come short of perfection. You do not have to be worse than a bunch of other folks to go to hell. The very least of sins which you have committed makes you a sinner in the sight of God. Yet, I am convinced that like the rest of us, you have not committed just a few little sins. You have committed numerous sins in your lifetime and, if you would be honest with me, I think you would admit that some of them are big sins. What you need to do is to acknowledge your sins to God and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save your soul. Call on Him and ask Him. Talk to Him and ask Him. Ask and to save you and keep you out of hell and trust Him to do just that. Depend on Him to do just that. Count of Jesus to do just that. Count on Him to save you and cleanse you from every sin and to take you to heaven when you die. Conclusion: I am going to ask our musicians to come forward and get prepared for our invitation hymn. I am going to also ask you to come forward during the singing of this hymn and get right with God by trusting Jesus as your Savior. Who will come?