Risen & Returning

0:53And it almost became a source of pride for me. Like the people around me would be getting new computers, and I'd be like, oh, you're getting another new computer. I haven't had to do that in years. And then one day, I was writing a sermon and it just died. Not like kind of over time, it slowed down and got sick, sort of quietly expired. It just stopped working. So we called The doctor, Jason Ross. And I rushed it to the Mac store.

1:39I have my hand on it the whole way. I'm yelling, stay with me! And the good folks at the Mac store didn't seem nearly as concerned as I did about resuscitating it immediately. And they said they would call me in a few days. But the reality was, if they couldn't bring it back to life and get it back to me, then it was going to be useless. Well, friends, over the past three weeks, we've been trying to answer this question: who is the Christ?

2:12Who is the Christ? We've talked about the fact that he was born of a virgin, talked about the fact that he was fully God and fully man. And just a couple of days ago on Good Friday, we remembered the fact that the Christ was crucified in our place. And today we gather on Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead. And you see, all that Jesus said and all that Jesus did, it's all for nothing if he's not raised and returning.

2:54And so this morning, we're going to take a look at Acts chapter 1:1 through 11, which focuses on these days. Right after Jesus' resurrection, this final time before he ascends into heaven. And we're going to take a look, as Luke does, at the past, the present, and the future. The past being the resurrection of Jesus, the present being the time between his resurrection and his return, and the future being his glorious return to earth. And we're going to focus this morning on the resurrection and what it means in each one of those periods of time.

3:32So let's start here in verses 1 through 3 of Acts chapter 1 and take a look at the past. And before we get into these verses, we want to do a little background here. The book of Acts was written by a Gentile physician named Luke. And Luke was a remarkable guy. He was a doctor, a historian, a theologian, a missionary. He was probably a great golfer. He's one of those people that you're just like, oh, you're good at everything. That's awesome. I'm happy for you.

4:05And inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote two books that comprise roughly 25% of the New Testament. He wrote the book of Acts, we're looking at today, but he also wrote the gospel that bears his name, the book of Luke. And this book, the book of Acts, is all about what Jesus continued to do and teach after his ascension into heaven through the Holy Spirit, who is now living in each and every Christian believer. But the first thing that Luke does in the book of Acts is he reminds his readers, you and me, about the things that he talked about in his first book.

4:44And this book, Acts, is addressed to the exact same person that the book of Luke is addressed to, and that's Theophilus. In Greek, it means lover of God. So that could be a person whose name was actually Theophilus, lover of God, or it could just kind of be a stand-in term for any person like you or me who loves God. And so in that first book, the Gospel of Luke, he notes in verse 1 here that I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach.

5:17Well, what exactly did Jesus begin to do and to teach during his ministry on earth? Well, first, he taught with authority. One of the very first things that people noticed about Jesus is that he wasn't like the other religious leaders. See, when the other religious leaders would teach, they would quote, they would cite other rabbis, other teachers, and their authority was a derived authority. They had authority because they were quoting other sources who were recognized authorities on the matter.

5:51But Jesus wasn't like that. He was totally different from every other rabbi because he comes in saying stuff like, you have heard that it was said. But I say to you, he would say, like, verily, verily, I say to you, truly, truly I say to you. He would speak on his own authority. And so, time and time again, people are always asking him that question: where did you get that authority? How do you have the authority to say the stuff that you're saying?

6:19So he taught as one with authority. He made definitive statements. But beyond that, he performed countless miracles. He turned water into wine. He calmed a raging storm at sea. He walked on water. He multiplied food enough for thousands of people to eat and even had some left over. And what Jesus' miracles are doing, he's not just putting on a show. What he's doing is he's saying, listen, if you're wondering if I really have authority to make these kinds of statements, take a look at the miracles.

6:58The miracles were always performed to back up the authoritative statements that he was making. So you knew he wasn't just a crazy person saying stuff out of nowhere. He also cast out demons and he healed the sick. There are many accounts of Jesus healing people who were born unable to walk, giving sight to the blind, enabling those who could not hear to hear. He even raised his friend Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for days.

7:32And then finally, Jesus prophesied his own death and resurrection from the dead. All throughout his ministry, he was talking about that. He said, just as the serpent was raised up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and if so, I will draw all people to myself. He said, Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days.

8:00On three consecutive occasions, right before he was betrayed, he said, We are going to Jerusalem so that I can be betrayed, so that I will be crucified and suffer and die, and on the third day I will rise from the dead. He said this in the plain hearing of his disciples and many other people besides. So Jesus did all of this, and then look at what Luke records in verse 3. He says, He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

8:42So here's how the Apostle Paul says it. He wants to present an orderly account just like Luke. And Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 15. This is about 20 years after Jesus rose from the dead. He says, For I delivered to you, the Corinthians, as of first importance, what I also received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

9:33Now, if you doubt that someone could be raised from the dead, I don't blame you. Any reasonable person would be suspicious of someone claiming to be God, and then of that person's followers claiming that after he was publicly executed and publicly buried, that he had risen from the dead. But I also want to challenge you to doubt your doubts. Truth seekers don't make assumptions. And so I want to challenge you this morning to examine the evidence for yourself with an open mind, with an open heart. You see, every single person lives by faith. We all live by faith in whatever we believe to be true. So, yes, it takes faith to believe that the authors of Scripture are telling the truth. And the witnesses to Jesus' resurrection are telling the truth. It takes faith to believe that. But it also takes a tremendous amount of faith, far more faith than I have, to believe that the universe created itself out of nothing and sustains itself out of nothing.

10:49And so ask yourself the question: are my beliefs based on solid evidence? Luke wasn't asking for blind faith. He wants you to examine the eyewitness accounts, just as he did. And he wants you to consider the many proofs that he just talked about that Jesus presented himself alive after being killed. And then he wants you to decide for yourself what you believe. Did Jesus actually rise from the dead or not? You see, according to the eyewitnesses, Jesus never claimed to be a good man.

11:30The one person in the Bible that called him a good man, he corrected. He said, no one is good but God alone. So if you think I'm good, you're calling me something. You're calling me God. He never claimed to be good. He never claimed to be a good teacher only. He claimed to be God. So if you're here today and Jesus and Easter are just a part of family tradition, I want to challenge you to consider what you really believe about Jesus.

12:00Because if he's not God, then he's not worth your weekends. He's not worth your holidays. He's not worth your money or your time. He's just a footnote in history, just like that unit you had in middle school about the Greek and Roman gods. That's all that he should get in your life. But if he actually is God, then he is worth everything. He is worth all of our life, all of our time, all of our resources, all of our devotion.

12:32So that's the past, the historical facts about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. That's where Luke starts. But then he moves on to the present in verse 4. Let's take a look at verse 4. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

13:07So during the 40 days between Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven, he taught them about the kingdom of God, sharing with them everything that they needed to know. Not everything that they wanted to know, but everything that they needed to know. And if you go back to Luke 24 in your minds, if you've read the Gospel of Luke before, there's this account of Jesus after. His resurrection, he's walking on this road to Emmaus, and he comes upon these two disciples, these two followers of his, and they don't recognize him. Maybe because that's, you know, Jesus kind of disguised himself in some way, but maybe it's just because they're thinking, well, he's dead. We don't expect, this is what happens to you when you go into the pantry and something is moved.

13:54You're not expecting to see it there, and so you don't see it. Maybe that's just me, but that happens all the time. And so these disciples don't recognize Jesus, and he's like, why do you guys look so sad? And they kind of stop, and you can just picture them looking so sad. And they start talking about Jesus of Nazareth in the third person. Like, well, we had hoped that this guy was going to be the one to redeem Israel.

14:20And I want you to look at how Jesus responds and what Luke records in Luke chapter 24 on the screen. Jesus says to these two guys, Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Now listen to this. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So after the resurrection, what Jesus does is he shows the young church how he fulfilled all of the prophecies that were made about the coming Messiah.

15:00Even though it was all right there in the Old Testament, he just didn't fit people's expectations. But he was indeed the Savior that God had promised as far back as the Garden of Eden. But even after 40 days of Jesus teaching and explaining about the kingdom of God, the disciples are still confused about Jesus and what he came to do, which is very evident in verse 6. Take a look here. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

15:37Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? They're asking the question that every Israelite wanted to know the answer to. And that question is: after 600 years of being ruled by Babylon and Persia and Greece and Rome, after six centuries of being taxed to death and being taken advantage of and being an afterthought on the world stage, after all of that, are you finally going to restore the prominence that we enjoyed a thousand years ago when David and Solomon were reigning and we were on top? Are you finally going to kick Rome out of here?

16:28They wanted to know. That now that Jesus had proven himself to be the Messiah, was he going to come in and establish Jerusalem as the city on a hill that it was always supposed to be? But look at what Jesus says to him in response. Verse 7. He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

17:08Jesus straight up tells them, You don't need to know that. You don't need to know that. Aren't those hard words to hear? My kids don't like hearing those words. Why did you make that decision, Dad? Why are we doing this? You don't need to know that. And they don't need to know that because it's unhelpful, because it wouldn't make sense to them, because I'm in charge and I don't have to tell them anything. It could be as simple as that sometimes.

17:42And God the Father is saying the same thing to us as his children. There are certain things, friends, that we just don't need to know. And that's one of them. We don't need to know those things. We don't get to know those things. But here's what we do need, and what these believers needed. We didn't need information, but they did need. Need and we do need power. They didn't need any more information. They needed power. And is there anything more that we could say for the church today? Friends, we're drowning in information.

18:15The internet is filled with information. Churches are great at disseminating information, and information is important. I mean, if it wasn't important, why would Jesus spend 40 days after his resurrection teaching them about the kingdom of God? Clearly, information is important, but what they needed more than information was power. And so he said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And remember who he's talking to. He's talking to these guys who, even though they said, Jesus, we are willing to go with you even to death. These are the guys who, as soon as Jesus was confronted and arrested, they ran away. They denied knowing him. They went and hid behind a locked door. These are the men that he's talking to. And so he's like, look, you don't need more information. You need power.

19:11And they needed power because why? Because Jesus was commissioning them to be his witnesses. You see, Christians are not just those who believe in the person and work of Jesus. We're not just those who follow Jesus and seek to obey his commands and teachings, although we do believe in him and we do seek to follow him. Friends, Christians are witnesses. We are those who point others to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection as the only hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. We are witnesses, first and foremost, that are seeking to persuade others what we have come to believe, that Jesus is the Messiah.

20:06And so he tells them that they're going to begin that work in Jerusalem. That makes sense. That's where they are. And then that work is going to expand outward to the whole region of Judea, the southern kingdom. But then you notice that he says that that work is going to expand to Samaria. And that's a big deal because that's the former northern kingdom. And if you know a little bit about Israel's history, then you know that when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC, their foreign policy was we're going to get rid of people by conquering them and then forcing them to intermarry with us. So they lose their ethnic and cultural and religious identity. That's why the Samaritans were despised. It's because they were not fully Jewish. Jesus says, you're going to be my witnesses to those despised people.

21:00He goes a step further beyond that because if the Samaritans were despised, at least they had some Jewish blood. He says, you're going to be my witnesses to the Gentiles, to the end of the earth. And I love that phrase, the end of the earth. What a picture of the scope of our assignment. The end of the earth. Where does the earth end? It's a sphere. It doesn't end. That's the point. We're called to be Jesus' witnesses to the end of the earth. We keep wrapping the globe with the gospel over and over again until Jesus returns. Because I think we have in our mind, it's almost like we're all flat earthers on accident. We think that if the gospel goes forward, you know, we're going to kind of reach the end of the earth at some point, but you can't reach the end of the earth. And if you know about the history of Christianity, what we've seen with the history of Christianity is it started in South Asia, in the Middle East, as we call it today. And the center of Christianity expanded north and west for centuries to the point that when the Protestant Reformation happened, where was the center of Christianity? It was in Europe. Well, then you fast forward a few centuries, and where is the center of Christianity? It's in America. And then the Great Awakening is happening, and revival is happening in the 19th century. But now, friends, over the last 100 years or so, where is the center of the Of Christianity. It's moved south and east. There are probably far, far more Christians in China today than there are in America.

22:41We have to keep wrapping and wrapping the globe with the gospel because the commission is to take it to the end of the earth, and the earth has no end. We just keep taking the gospel as far out as we possibly can until the day that Jesus returns. We are to be his witnesses for these first years in literally Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. We today are to be Jesus' witnesses in our communities, in our state, our country, and abroad.

23:11So we have this great commission to go and to be his witnesses. Each one of us is called to be a disciple who makes disciples. And friends, it's exciting to be a part of a church like New Life that has that kind of a vision where every member is being called to send or to go to the nations with the gospel because we are a part of Jesus' ongoing work. Every single day we are one day closer to Jesus' return. We don't know when he's coming back because, again, God has not chosen to reveal that to us for his own purposes. Every day we are one day closer. We are living in the last times. And so it is imperative that we help people prepare.

24:00To stand before God on the day of judgment. But how are they going to prepare themselves if no one goes and preaches to them? And if you're here today and you aren't completely certain that you are ready to stand before God on the day of judgment, then friends, today needs to be the day that you prepare yourself to stand before God. Jesus has claimed and proven himself to be the Savior, the Messiah. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess one day that he is Lord. So you can come to Him now and you can bow your knee now and you can confess Him as Lord now. Or one day you will have no choice in the matter. You will have to bow your knee, you will have to declare that He is Lord, and then it's too late.

25:00And so I urge you, we urge you, don't let this moment, this opportunity, pass you by. Jesus lived for you and died for you and rose again for you. Receive Him by faith this morning. Okay, so in the past, Jesus rose from the dead. In the present, we are called to be His witnesses to the end of the earth. And now let's take a look at the future, His return. Verse 9. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

26:04So after Jesus finishes expanding upon the great commission, he's lifted up and taken out of their sight. And the disciples are just kind of standing there staring into heaven, which is understandable. This is not something that you see every day. But what's really significant about how this unfolds is the dramatic parallels that it has to Easter morning. At the empty tomb, when the faithful women go to anoint Jesus' body and to make sure that everything is in place there and to worship, these two angels meet them there, and they're in these dazzling white robes. And they ask this question: why do you seek the living among the dead?

26:59And then they make Make this statement, he is not here. He has risen as he had said. He is not here, he has risen, as he had said. They have to go back and remind them of the words of Jesus. And so you see what Luke is doing here in Acts chapter 1. Remember, this is the same author. He's drawing these parallels between these two accounts, and Luke is highlighting the similarities. These angels, these two angels in dazzling white, also ask a question: Why do you stand here looking into heaven? And then they make the statement: This Jesus, this Jesus, not a different Jesus, the same one who is killed, the same one who rose, the same one who rose in that resurrection body into heaven, this Jesus, he was taken up from you into heaven. He's going to come back in the exact same way as you saw him go.

28:00Now, that was really important for the disciples to see, and it was important for the angels to explain that situation. Because we have to remember, Jesus had been appearing to them regularly. He was appearing most often on the first day of the week, the day that he rose, which is why we worship on Sundays and not Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. And you think, you know, if Jesus had just kind of stopped appearing one day, then what are the disciples likely to do? Probably just kind of hang out and wait for. Him to show up again.

28:32But that's not what he commanded them to do. He said, go to the ends of the earth. And so he needed to send a very clear message. I am leaving. You are going to receive the Holy Spirit and power, and you need to be my witnesses to the end of the earth until I return. And friends, nobody was going to miss Jesus's return. His second coming was going to be unmistakable. Take a look at how Jesus describes it in Luke 21.

29:01And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth, distress of nations in perplexity, because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with the foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and with great glory. Now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.

29:34Jesus says, there's no reason to stand around staring into the heavens. There's no reason to get out your crayons and start diagramming when you know Jesus is going to return because we've been given an assignment to be his witnesses. And when he comes back, you're going to know it and everybody is going to know it. It's going to be obvious. And That truth that Jesus is returning at an hour that no one knows and no one can expect should motivate us to be those kinds of disciples who send to the nations and go to the nations. I want you to listen again to the Apostle Paul and how he says this in 2 Corinthians 5. We covered this passage in the fall in our messy church series. Take a look at this.

30:22From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, listen to this, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

31:30In light of Jesus' resurrection and return, we don't regard anyone according to the flesh. That is, we don't look at the people around us in our life as mere humans without souls who are just going to be here for a little while and then cease to exist. No, we regard everybody in the same way that we regard Christ. That is, we are all immortal. We are going to live forever. We will all be resurrected. We will all be judged. And we will all spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Those are the truths. And we've been given, Paul says, the ministry of reconciliation. So it is incumbent upon us to go on behalf of Christ and appeal to everyone to be reconciled to God through faith.

32:25You see, friends, human history is not cyclical. It had a beginning, which we learned about in Scripture. It had a climax, which is the birth and life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is moving toward a glorious and final conclusion when Jesus returns. On this Easter Sunday, if you are already following Jesus Christ, Then we are called to live faithfully in between the past, His resurrection from the dead, and the future, His glorious and certain return. We are called to go and be His witnesses to the end of the earth. Since Jesus is alive, how else should we live?

33:27And if you haven't yet believed in Jesus, the one who lived and suffered and died and rose again for you, then again, we urge you to receive the person and work of Jesus Christ by faith today. Do not let another Easter go by as just an American holiday. Do not let another Easter go by where it is one of the few times a year that you offer worship to God. He promises to receive everyone who comes to him, but you must come to him. You must acknowledge your sin and your need for salvation. You must confess your sin, turn from it, and receive Jesus by faith. And so we urge you, friends, to do that today. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior by faith.

34:28Who is the Christ? He is the one who is born of a virgin, who is fully God and fully man, and who is raised and returning once again. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Let's pray. God, what a wonderful day to celebrate you. The work that you have been doing since before the foundation of the world. We thank you, God, for sending Christ for us. Not after we had turned our lives around, not after we had become religious people, not after we had done a bunch of good things, but while we were still your enemies, you sent your only begotten Son to live and die and rise again for us.

36:00I pray that every one of us who is following Jesus already would be so moved by the gospel, the good news of Christ, that we would give everything in our life for it. That every day would be lived to bring glory and honor to you by telling the world, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers and classmates, the great news that Jesus is alive. Help us to be your witnesses in power. And Father, I pray, we pray for every person who has not yet come to Christ in faith. We pray that today would be the day of salvation. That today would be the day that they pass from death to life once and for all. That today would be the day that they no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them.

37:08We pray that in the power of your Spirit, we would get to celebrate new life this morning. Thank you, God, so much for the good news of the gospel and the opportunity to worship Christ together today. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the Sermon Audio from New Life. Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.