Alive in Jesus

Campbell Chapel Free Will Baptist Church

Ironton, Ohio

Campbell Chapel FWBC of Ironton Ohio - Pastor Bob Bradley

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Ironton, Ohio 45638

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Alive in Jesus Christ

March 23, 2008

Bob Bradley

_________________________

Luke 24:13-36

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;

23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.

24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it , and brake, and gave to them.

31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

The scripture that I read to you here is on Sunday. He arose from the dead very early on Sunday morning. We know that Mary came and the other women came to the tomb and did not find Him. Mary talked to Him there after some things had happened. At first, she supposed Him to be the gardener, and she goes back and tells Peter and the rest of the gang.

Many things have been happening. I want you to get the mood here of things. As we were reading this story, I really don’t think that we understand the mood that was really going on. There was a lot of gossip was floating around in the city here about what was going on. It was an exciting time because it was Passover. It was a very sad time for some people because Jesus had died. For His disciples who followed Him and those that loved Him, it was a time that they are hearing that He is alive. The women, Mary and the other women are saying that He is alive. They are saying that “…we have seen a band of angels, and He is alive…”

I am going to do this one of these days, I don’t know when, but I have thought about this here a week or two ago. As things travel from one person to another, many times, stories change. I am going to do this sometime. I am going to write this on a piece of paper and I am going to give it to somebody on the front seat and they are going to read it and then I am going to take the piece of paper back. Then I am going to have them go from seat to seat and when it gets over here, I am going to see what really is being told. It changes hand and as it changes hand things change.

It was no different here. As they were hearing and word was being passed around that Jesus has rose from the dead. He is not there. The tomb is empty. No doubt, there is a lot of confusion. To many folks, most folks, it just seemed like idle tales. It just seemed like a lot of gossip floating around because mostly people did not believe that He had rose from the dead.

The same day, Jesus has arose; the Bible says this…

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

The same day means Sunday, the day that Jesus arose. This is happening in the afternoon. He has arose in the morning. This is happening in the afternoon. Two of these fellows, as we understand, as we read the scripture, had been in Jerusalem and they heard what was going on. They had heard about Jesus being raised from the dead. They heard all the testimonies and the witnesses of what they had seen and heard and so forth. They are traveling to Emmaus.

Emmaus is to the northwest seven or eight miles from Jerusalem. When you walked a lot as these guys did, they could walk seven or eight miles from Jerusalem here to Emmaus. They are going that way.

14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

As they are traveling here, they are talking about all that has been going on. No doubt, they had been discussing about Jesus and some of the things that He said. They could remember some things that He had testified to them about. They could remember Him dying on the cross. They could remember the beatings, and scourging. They could remember all that. However, they could also remember some of the things that He had said.

The reason here that they are so sad is that these fellows thought that this Jesus of Nazareth, they really thought that He was Messiah. They really thought that. When He died, then their hopes were gone—or so they thought. Their hopes were gone because they could not see their Messiah coming, hanging on a cross, suffering and dying. They could not see that even though they had Isaiah 53 and these other scriptures. They could not see Him coming and dying on a cross. They could see the glory. They could see the kingdom. They could see Him being King, but they could not see and they did not understand that He had to die. They could not see that.

As they are walking along here, they are sad. They are broken hearted. Their hopes are dashed. They are in despair.

I can understand that because their hopes, their king, their Messiah here is gone, because He is dead. They just did not understand.

15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

When you read the book of Mark 16:12, you will find out—talking about this same scripture—that the Bible says that Jesus here comes and appears unto them in another form. In other words, when Jesus comes and as they are talking and they are walking along; they are heart broken, sad and in despair. They are talking about all the things that have happened. Now here comes another traveler that just sort of walks along and joins in them as they are walking. They did not recognize it was Jesus because the Bible says that He appeared unto them in another form.

When Mary first saw Jesus in the garden, she did not recognize who He was. If you remember the disciples when they went fishing—if you will turn over a few chapters here—on one morning, they fished all night. Jesus was on the bank. They did not recognize who He was for a good while.

Jesus here, His glorified body, there was something about it that these fellows here who knew Jesus very well, they had seen Him hang on a tree. They knew that He had been scourged. They knew that He had been beat up. They knew that His hair had been pulled out of His face. They knew what He looked like. The individual here that is walking with them did not look like who had been hanging on the cross. Had that been the case, they would have recognized Him very soon because of how He was beat and being very bloody. It would have been a horrible mess.

Therefore they are talking, reasoning, communicating. They are sad and in despair. As they are walking down the road, Jesus comes and appears in another form and just starts walking along with them.

We do that a lot. Sometimes you are walking down the street, and if you are in some of these amusement parks, or a mall; you might be walking side by side with your wife or your husband and somebody just comes along and starts walking with you and begins talking about your suit, or your kids, or the weather. You may not know them. You may not pay any attention to them. That happens, doesn’t it? We can understand what is going on here. We can understand why this is going on.

They were not very concerned about the guy that was walking with them. They were not concerned about what He looked like. They were sad. They were thinking about what had been happening.

16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

In other words, at this particular time, their understanding was not to the point that they could recognize who Jesus Christ really was. Remember this! The Bible says that, “…faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…” That is going to play a part in this story in just a few moments.

The Word of God brings faith in our lives. The more we expose our self to the truth, the more that we hear it preached, the more that we hear it taught, in the inspiration of Almighty God; the more we read it, the more we will let God apply it to our lives then the more faith that we will have in Him. It is easy for us to believe Him when we live and move and breathe the Word of God. It makes it easy for us to believe Him. That is what brings faith. You can pray until your hair falls out about faith and you will not get any more faith. You can have people to pray that you will have more faith, but you know what, that won’t bring any more faith in your life. However, when you expose yourself to the truth, when you expose yourself to the Word of God; it is the only thing that will bring faith in your life.

Paul said that, so we know that.

Here they are, they did not understand, they could not recognize who He was. They are talking. They are sad. They have been discussing what has been going on.

17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

Jesus asked a question here. What has happened that you guys are so sad? What are you discussing here? Why are you so sad? What is happening? What manner of communications are these that you talk with one another. What has happened to you guys that you are so sad? That was a good question; wasn’t it?

18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

In other words, Cleopas looks at Him and says, “Hey, are you the only stranger in this country, are you the only stranger around these parts? Everybody knows what is going on. You must be a stranger around here if you don’t know what has been going on the last few days. That is the discussion at this point.

19 And he said unto them, What things?...

Jesus already knew what had been going on because He was what had been going on. He did not need them to tell Him what was going on because He was the One that was making the news. Everything that had been happening had been happening to Him. He already knew. He wanted to lead these individuals to a place to where that He could get them to believe that He is alive.

That is great to know tonight; that God is a very longsuffering God. He still does the same thing today for you and me. He leads to a place, if we will expose ourselves to the truth, if we will listen to Him, and communicate with Him—PRAY—He will bring us to a place that He can teach us some things about Him.

He says, “What things?” “Are you a stranger here? Are you the only person in this whole country that don’t know what has been going on?”

19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

They are saying, “Don’t you know what has been going on? You must be a stranger around here.” He says, “What things?” “Concerning, Jesus of Nazareth. A mighty prophet. A fellow here that was mighty in deed and in word.” What he was saying is this. He was telling Jesus about Himself—telling Jesus about Jesus. He was saying that He was a mighty fellow. He was a mighty, mighty prophet.

He was mighty in the sight of God and people knew that He was because when you look at what Jesus did, He did some things here that only can be done by the power of Almighty God. He had power with people. He had power with God.

When I have power with God then we can have power with people. If we don’t have any power with God then we will never have any power with people.

Jesus could not have done what He did had He not had the power of Almighty God. He couldn’t have raised the dead. He couldn’t have walked on water. He could not have done what He did had He not had the Spirit of God. He could not have done that.

You and I will not have any power with people if we don’t have the presence of God in us. It is impossible. We can’t have that. We must have the power of God if we are going to have any power with people.

19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

He not only says who He was, and how mighty He was and how great that He lived and walked and what He did in the power of God and before men; but He says, “…our leaders have condemned Him, delivered Him up and have crucified Him.” So they are telling Him what has been going on these last few days.

21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

We know that He is dead. We know that He has died. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of our people have condemned Him to death. They have crucified Him, “But we trusted that it had been he with should have redeemed Israel…” In other words, we were had trusted, we had every bit of confidence that He was the Messiah, that He was the one that was going to redeem Israel. The one that was going to come and break the oppression of Rome that was going to come and establish and reestablish and sit upon the throne of David; we had all the confidence that this was Him, but He is dead now.

21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

Do you know what they could remember? They could remember that Jesus told them that there was going to be a time that He was going to die. He also told them that after three days or the third day that there was going to be something spectacular that was going to happen. They could remember that. They could remember that there was something special about the third day. He had told them that He was going to die but He also told them that death was not going to hold Him. Even though He died in three days He was going to get up from the dead. He had told them that and they knew that and they are telling these things back to Jesus, but they are sad. They are heartbroken. They know that He is dead. They had all the hopes in the world that He was the Messiah. They had all the hopes in the world that He was going to be the one to redeem Israel. They hoped that. They thought that.

22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;

23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.

Think about this just for a moment. There were some issues with these guys. We have a lot of the same issues today. It was not that they did not have any proof that He was alive because they did have. It was not that they did not have witnesses that He was alive because they did have. The problem was that they were just slow to believe what the witnesses had said. We know the women said, “Hey, we have been to the tomb. We were there early. He wasn’t there.” They, no doubt, heard the testimony of Mary that He is alive. Mary talked to Him. Not only that but they heard about the vision of angels that said that He is alive. These people had heard from many different sources here that He is alive.

How much proof do we need today for us to believe that Jesus Christ is still yet alive?

How much do we need? What is it going to take for us, even as Christian people, for us to understand that Jesus Christ is not dead today? We act like He is dead. We come to church many times and we sit and we act like we are dead. If we are saved and living in the will of God and He is on the inside of us, and He’s alive, we are alive. We need to understand that. We don’t need to act like dead people, do we? We don’t need to act like we are in a funeral home. We don’t need to walk around being sad and talk about how bad things really are. We are a blessed people. We are alive tonight. We are not dead tonight. We are alive and we have a hope today that even though we go to the grave, they may put us there, there is going to come a day that we are going to be resurrected and we are going to stand and go to be with Him. That is hope tonight.

I’m not worried about dying, are you? You know why? Because I died to sin on May 15, 1976; I died out to sin. I became alive in Jesus Christ and I am never going to die again. They may take this body out, they may put it in the ground, but the real me that lives on the inside of here, I am not going to die. You know why? Because He alive, and because He is alive, I believe what He said, I am never going to die. Everybody should say—Amen—on that.

I wonder sometimes, what are we thinking about? What is on our minds? We were lost. We were doomed. We were damned. We had no hope. We were going to spend eternity in a lake of fire, die eternally forever and ever. Jesus Christ has saved us. We ought to shout that to the top of the rooftops. We are blessed people. We act like we don’t have anything. Sometimes I wonder sometimes if we got anything sometimes. We are blessed and Jesus is alive.

These fellows here, they did not understand some things. They were slow to believe. They were slow to believe the testimony of the women. They were slow to believe the vision of angels that said that He was alive.

What is it going to take for us to really believe Him? What is it really going to take for us, as Christian people, to get us to the place that we will just simply believe that He is alive and that He wants to make us like Him, that He wants to have complete control over our lives so that we can live and have life as He has life. What is it going to take for us to do that?

It takes FAITH. It takes exposing our self to the truth.

Many times the reason, in our Christian lives that we have so many problems is that we never open the Bible and read it. Many times the only Bible we hear read is the Bible that we hear read when the preacher reads on Sunday. The only time we pray or hear somebody praying is when we are in a crisis or when we hear somebody praying at church then we wonder why our lives are a wreck. We wonder why we just walk around as dead people. We wonder why our lives sink.

FAITH is a thing that we need to be able to simply believe that He is alive. When we will simply believe that He is alive then He becomes alive in our life. If we don’t believe Him, if we don’t believe His Word then He will never be alive in our lives.

24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Boy! I would have liked to have been on that afternoon. I’d like to have been in that Bible class, when Jesus starts telling these fellows everything that is in the Old Testament Law and the prophets that had to do with Himself.

There is no doubt in my mind that He goes back to Genesis 3:15 when it is first mentioned in scripture about a redeemer that is going to come, there is no doubt that Jesus takes them all the way back to there. He probably talked about that for a good while. He probably comes down to Genesis 22 and begins to talk about Abraham and Isaac when God tells him to take Isaac, his only begotten son up on the mountain and to offer him as a sacrifice. There is no doubt in my mind that He probably talked about that awhile. No doubt, He talked about the wood and the altar that was there and Isaac lying upon there. Abraham drew the knife to kill Isaac and he heard a voice from heaven do thy son no harm. I’d say they talked about the lamb awhile there because when Abraham told Isaac, God will provide Himself a lamb. I’d say they talked about that for a while. Do you know who the lamb was that Abraham was really talking about? He was talking about the Lamb of God that had risen from the dead on this Easter morning. There is no doubt friend.

We can go over to Psalm 22. We can read about some things that David said in Psalm 22 about Jesus Christ, about the Messiah. We can go to Psalm 69 and we can read about some things there.

No doubt, He spent a lot of time talking about the things that were there. I would have loved to have been there and hear what He had to say. Do you know why He is doing this? He is doing this that these people might understand who He is.

FAITH comes by us being exposed to TRUTH.

I love singing, but do you know what singing does not do? It does not bring FAITH. Singing adds a wonderful part to our worship and we need it. We have got to have it, but singing does not bring FAITH. The Bible, the TRUTH brings FAITH. He preached on that. He taught them about all the scriptures from front to back that they had concerning Him self. That would have been an awesome time!

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

When you read that it makes us think that He was trying to trick them, like He was going to go on down the road. When you read that in the original, it does not say that at all. He was going to on down the road, but something changed here. Jesus was going to go on down the road. Get this!

Many times, the scriptures if we turn over a few chapters we will find out that the scripture says that there have been times that people have entertained angels unaware. Remember that? The Bible tells that.

These men here were right in the presence of Almighty God. They were there. The Bible says that as they were traveling they got close to Emmaus. Jesus acts like He is just going to go on down the road and that is what He was going to do. He was not going to go home with them. Why? Because they had not asked Him. Get this!

29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

You will never find anywhere where Jesus Christ ever went home with anyone that He was not invited. You will not find that. Jesus was going to go on down the road, but these fellows here had heard, talking with Him, they wanted to learn some more things because He had just told them about all the scriptures that pertained to Him. Their hearts had been convicted. Their hearts had been touched. Do you know what they wanted to hear? They wanted to hear some more of that. So they invited Jesus to go home with them.

Let me ask you a question. Is it important to us for Him to be home with us? Is it important to us for us to take Him home with us? It should be.

We miss out on a lot of things in life because we won’t take Him home with us. Now we want Him to be here at church and we want have a happy high ole time here at church. However, when we walk through the double doors back there—for some of us—we would like to leave Him here. If we take Him with us then there is going to have to be some changes made. There is going to be some things that are going to have to change. If He is going to be at home with you, there is going to have to be some changes made. We don’t like changes. Especially when we like what we are doing, and what we are doing may not be pleasing to Him. We don’t like those changes sometimes.

They asked Him to go home with them. That’s what they are going to do.

29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it , and brake, and gave to them.

So He was going to go on down the road. They get ready to turn into Emmaus. They said, “It’s getting late in the day. The day is far spent. Come on over and stay with us for awhile.” He does that. They go over and they are going to eat bread. They sit down at the table to eat. He takes the food, He blesses it and the Bible says, “…and brake, and gave to them.” There is a wonderful lesson there for us.

31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Do you really think that that happened? Do you really think that it did? That happened, folks. That is TRUTH. He took the bread, He blessed it, He brake it and gave it unto them. The Bible says that then their eyes were opened. It is amazing what the TRUTH does. It is amazing what the TRUTH shows us.

The Bible is like a mirror. As we look into the Word of God—we comb our hair, we brush our teeth, put on our clothes and we look at ourselves in the mirror, or some people do before we leave and we want to look presentable. When we look into a mirror it shows us exactly what we are and what we look like. When we look into the Word of God it is the same thing. When we look into the Word of God it shows exactly who we are spiritually. Not only that, but when we believe it and expose ourselves to it then our understanding is opened. Our eyes are opened to a lot of things.

If I did not know, if the Bible did not talk about sin, if the Bible did not talk about adultery, stealing, lying, cheating and all these other things then I would not know that was sin. However, as we are exposed to these things and are taught these things, then our eyes are opened to the fact that these things are sin. Their eyes are opened and the Bible says immediately He vanished out of their sight. Now that would be something to see. Wouldn’t it? Sitting there talking to someone then He is just gone. They recognized who He is.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Do you know what that is? That is conviction. Their hearts burned within them while He spoke to them. The greatest thing, the most important thing that we must have as a church, as believers today is the TRUTH. That is why it is so important that we fight, that we war, that we do anything that we can to preserve the TRUTH. Because it is the TRUTH that brings conviction in my heart and your heart. It is the TRUTH that brings conviction in lost people’s hearts. We can them all kinds of books about philosophy. We can give them self help books. However, that does not bring conviction. It might make better people out them morally—some of them. However, that does not bring old time conviction in their hearts.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

That brought old time conviction.

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

Jesus vanishes. They get up. They go back to Jerusalem the seven or eight mile trip. They go back to where the disciples are gathered together. They go in there and Simon Peter is telling them that he has seen the Lord. These guys here get to tell their story about meeting with Him and how that He was known unto them in the breaking of bread. It was a great day for these folks.

The thing that I want you remember is this. It is very important that we understand that coming to church is about worshiping a risen Savior. Coming to church is about us coming here and listening to the voice of Almighty God and doing those things that God asks us to do. We are coming here to worship a risen Savior. We are not coming here just to make noise. We are not coming here just to promote our self. We are not coming here to be seen or heard, but we are coming here to worship a Savior that is alive. The only way that we can worship our Savior which is alive is if we are alive. It would be impossible for me to be dead and to worship a Savior that is alive. Dead people can’t do anything.

You can down to Tom Phillips tonight and if there is a corpse down there. You can go up there and talk to it all you want to, but it won’t talk back to you. You can go up there talk to them, pinch them, stab them with a fork, pull their nose, do whatever you want to with them and they are just going to lay there because they are dead.

If we are dead spiritually, that’s the same way. We don’t do anything if we are not alive in Jesus Christ.

We can do all kinds of things but we do a lot of things in our lives and we think that God is going to accept it and we want God to accept and we want Him to do some things. However, God accepts those things that He asks us to do. When we worship Him in spirit and in truth when we allow Him to live in us and do things through us then God accepts that. If we don’t do that then God does not accept what we do. I hope that we understand that.

The book of Peter talks about offering spiritual sacrifices that is pleasing to God. That is what God wants us to do. God wants us first to be alive in Him. When we are alive in Him then He wants us to come and offer praise unto Him for being so good unto us.

He is alive tonight. If you don’t know that He is alive tonight then you need to find you a place to pray. It does not have to be here although this would be a great place but if you don’t know for sure that Jesus Christ is alive and you don’t know for sure tonight that you are alive then you need to find you a place to pray.

I am not asking you if you came to this altar 20 years ago, 20 minutes ago, or 20 days ago. I’m not asking if you have being baptized. I’m not asking if you give money to the church. I’m not asking that.

I’m asking you; do you know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are alive in Jesus Christ.

That is the question that you need to ask yourself. And if you are not, my friend, this would be a great place to come alive because He can make you alive tonight,

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