You won't need your Bibles
If you've got a sheet, you won't need your Bibles
Okay, because I've got all the scriptures on this sheet
Tonight's going to be more of a Bible study
Okay?
Sorry?
My job, I stay silent
Your job's to see me?
Tonight's going to be a pretty in-depth Bible study
We're going to go to a lot of Bible passages
I didn't want to waste time flicking through different passages
And I want you to see all these scriptures for yourself anyway, okay?
But the title of the sermon
Well, I was going to preach, first of all
I was going to preach, you know, sins that will get you kicked out of Church Part 4
That's going to have to wait another week
I really wanted to continue on to this theme of the resurrection
So we had Resurrection Sunday, you know?
But what did Christ do?
I mean, once he was resurrected, was that the end of it?
What did he do for the next 40 days?
Do you guys know?
He just kept appearing to all his disciples, okay?
In his physical resurrected glorified body
He would appear to his disciples
And so when we look at John chapter 20
Which was read, it's not there on the sheet I think
But John chapter 20 verse 20
The Bible says
And when he had so said
He showed unto them his hands and his side
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord
When they saw the Lord
The title of the sermon tonight is
They saw the Lord
And so Christ had many, many appearances to his disciples for the next 40 days
And then he was on the Mount of Olives
Do you guys know about the Mount of Olives?
When all his disciples came
And he gave the great commission
Not for the first time
But for the last time
I think it's four times that he gave the great commission
But for the last time then he was taken up in a cloud
Do you remember that?
He was taken up in a cloud
And so, you know, he'll return
When he returns he'll be coming back on a cloud as well
But these appearances of Christ are so very important
The resurrection is so important for our Christian faith
Okay?
Because look at the first reference there
First reference in 1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians 15 verse 13
But if there be no resurrection of the dead
If there be no resurrection of the dead
Then is Christ not risen
And if Christ be not risen
Then is our preach in vain
If Christ is not risen
Then me preaching right now is vain
It's empty
It's waste
It's useless
Right?
Being in church tonight is a waste of time
If Christ was not resurrected from the dead
And your faith is also vain
Your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is vain
If the resurrection never took place
Look at verse 15
Yea, and we have found false witnesses of God
You know we laugh at the Jehovah witnesses
We call them false witnesses of God
But if Christ was not resurrected
Then we are false witnesses of God
And they don't believe Christ was resurrected from the dead
They don't believe he was resurrected boldly
I mean sorry, bodily
They don't believe that
So what does that make them according to this passage?
False witnesses of God
So that is the right term to use for these people
But then it says
Because we have testified of God
That he have raised up Christ
Whom he raised not up
If so be that the dead rise not
Verse 16
But if the dead rise not
Then is not Christ raised
And if Christ
This is the most important part right
This is the most scary part of it all
And if Christ be not raised
Your faith is vain
Yea, yet in your sins
If Christ was not raised
Which means you're going to have to face God on judgment day
With your sins
Unpaid for
And you're going to have to pay for your sins
Eternally in hell
So we see how important it is
That Christ was resurrected from the dead
Which is why Christ spent the next 40 days
Showing himself to his disciples
And that's what we're going to be learning about tonight
Look at Romans 4 23
Now it was not written
For his sake alone
That it was imputed to him
But for us also
To whom it shall be imputed
If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead
Who was delivered for our offenses
And was raised again for our justification
So again it's just reinforcing
That our justification before God
Is because Christ was risen from the dead
Okay
Now why is this important?
Why is it so important
That Christ was risen
I'm giving you some reasons behind this right
This is a waste of time
My preach is a waste of time
You know your faith is a waste of time
You're stealing your sins
You might as well try to be keeping the law of God or something
To go to heaven
You know it's for our justification
But also look at John chapter 2 verse 19
Because if Christ was not resurrected from the dead
Then Christ's testimony would be in vain
He would be a found a liar
Jesus Christ would be a found a liar
Because in John 2 19
He says Jesus answered and said unto them
Destroy this temple
And in three days I will raise it up
This is Jesus speaking
He says in three days
He will rise up this temple
Then said the Jews
Forty and six years
Was this temple in building
And will now rear it up in three days
But he spake of the temple of his body
So Christ promised that he would raise his body up
After three days
When it was taken down
When it would be destroyed right
And if he was not resurrected from the dead
He'd be found a liar
This would not be someone
I would want to put my faith on
This would not be someone
That I would want to follow
And believe on right
So I mean just his testimony
You know if he was not resurrected from the dead
Would fall apart
But look at Acts chapter 1 verse 1
Okay if you're following in your sheep
I've got it all laid out there for you guys
Acts chapter 1 verse 1
The former treatise have I made O Theopolis
For all that Jesus began both to do and teach
Until the day in which he was taken up
After that he was
After that he through the Holy Ghost
Had given commandments unto the apostles
Whom he had chosen
To whom also he showed himself alive
Alright to whom he showed himself alive
After his passion
By many infallible proofs
So what's the proof that we have of Christ's resurrection?
That he showed himself to his disciples
That's the proofs
Okay that he showed himself alive
After his passion
That's after his crucifixion
Being seen of them 40 days
That's where the 40 days comes from
40 days
What happened on the 50th day?
Pentecost right?
So 10 days later that's when the Holy Ghost
Came and empowered the believers
They preached
Got many thousands of people saved
But the 40 days
He was showing himself to his disciples
He was getting them ready
For the great commission
He was getting them ready to believe on him
And to boldly stand for the truth
Because so many of them died preaching Jesus Christ
And if they're going to give their life for something
They better see Christ
They better see that it's true
It's the infallible proofs
That Christ has given his disciples
It's the same for us
The reason why we believe in a risen living Saviour
Is because we have these infallible proofs
In the scriptures for us today
Okay
40 days verse number 3
And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God
And being assembled together with them
Pay attention to that
Jesus Christ when he showed himself
Assembled with them
This wasn't some spirit
This wasn't some hologram
This wasn't some pie in the sky apparition
He assembled with them
He fellowshiped with them
He ate with them
He spoke with them
He hugged them
He held them
Okay
This was a bodily resurrection of Christ
Commanded them
That they should not depart from Jerusalem
But wait for the promise of the Father
Which save he
He have heard of me
So that's the day of Pentecost
10 days later
Alright
So we see why the resurrection is so
Vitally important to our faith
Now
1 Corinthians 15
Look down there
There's an order of appearances of Jesus Christ
In 1 Corinthians 15
Okay
There's 6 appearances in this chapter
Okay
Now
What I want to tell you
Cause one of the difficulties
Okay
One of the challenges you're going to find in the scriptures
Is trying to build a chronology
Of the appearances of Jesus Christ
It's challenging
It's not easy
Okay
And I have seen people try to use this
As contradictions to the scriptures
And so if these are our infallible proofs
Then I want us as a church
I want every one of you
This is why I've given you the handout
To know exactly
Who Christ appeared to
And in which order
It's not that difficult once you've worked it out
Okay
But it does require a lot of scriptures
So that's why I don't want you to use your Bibles
We're just going to read off the page today
And then when you go home
You can do further study if you want
Okay
But in 1 Corinthians 15
We get 6 appearances of Christ
Let's start with verse number 1
Moreover brethren
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you
Which also ye have received
And wherein ye stand
By which also ye are saved
If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you
Unless ye have believed in vain
For I delivered unto you first of all
That which I also received
Had that Christ died for our sins
According to the scriptures
And that he was buried and that he rose again
The third day according to the scriptures
Now notice verse 5
I've highlighted and bolded these names for you
Okay
And that he was seen of Cephas
Who's Cephas? You guys remember?
Peter, Simon Peter, Cephas
But notice
What he's written here is a chronology
It's not just a random name of names of people that he appeared to
Because it says of Cephas
Then of the twelve
Okay so that's afterwards
And then look at that
After that, verse 6
After that
He was seen above five hundred brethren at once
Of whom the greater part remain unto this present
But some have fallen asleep
Some have died
Um
And then after that
Do you see the chronology?
After that
He was seen of James
Then of all the apostles
And then he says this
And last of all
The end
The last one that saw him
Risen
The last of all
He was seen of me also
As of one born at a due time
That's Paul
Paul the apostle says last of all he was me
That's seen him
As one born at a due time
Okay
So we need to make sure when we start to build this chronology
We need to make sure that
1 Corinthians 15 remains intact
Because we've got a good order there
Now those are six appearances that Paul lists
But there were more than six appearances
Okay
So this is what we need to combine to put together
So
Turn your page over to page number 2
Before we get into the appearances
The most challenging appearance
To work out is the first appearance
Believe it or not
Because it's straight after
Um
We need to read about um
Resurrection Sunday
We need to read about the empty tomb
And work out what's going on with the disciples
Okay
So it's the first one that I'm gonna spend most time on
But then the other ones
Once we work this out
The other ones will follow quite easily
Okay
So in the
On the early morning
Of Resurrection Sunday
On the early morning
Let's pick up John chapter 20 verse 1
Notice what it says this
What it says here
The first day of the week cometh who?
Mary Magdalene
Early
When it was yet dark unto the sepulchre
And by the way
I don't know if I've mentioned this to you guys
Have you noticed that sepulchre sounds like sepulveda?
That's cause you know
My surname does come from sepulchre
Like it's got the same root words
So someone asks you
You know
Who's your pastor?
You can say
You know it's Pastor Death
You know
It's Pastor Grave
It's Pastor Toon
You know
That's where it comes
Anyway
That's something else
But it's Mary Magdalene
And when you
If you guys have seen
Like movies of Jesus
Quite often
They'll depict Mary Magdalene coming all by herself
To see the empty tomb
And they take that from John chapter 20
But I just wanna show you
Like tell you that
That's
That's a lie
Right
Cause when you put all the verse
All the scriptures together
You'll notice that Mary Magdalene did not come by herself
Now the question might be
Well why didn't John mention the others?
Well
Think about
Think about our church tonight
Okay
Like if someone wrote down
Let's say someone writes down
I saw Kevin come to church
Is that true?
Yeah
But was it just Kevin that came to church?
No
What if someone else wrote down
I saw Kevin come with Christina and the children?
Is that contradictive of the person that said
Kevin came to church?
No
They're both true
Someone's adding more detail, right?
What if someone wrote down
I saw Callum and his family attend church
But they don't mention me
Or my family
Is that a contradiction?
No
You know you got different writers
Just writing different parts of the same event
The same thing that took place
That's what you're gonna find in the scriptures
You gotta be careful
Compare scriptures with scriptures
And it'll give you a full picture of what took place
But John chapter 20 verse 1
We see there was Mary Magdalene that came early
When it was yet dark unto the sepulchre
And seeeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre
Then she runneth
Now pay attention to this
This sounds like
It sounds like it's happening straight away
It kind of has, right?
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter
Who's Cephas, right?
So she runs
She sees the empty tomb
I guess she panics
And runs to Peter
Specifically Peter
And to the other disciple whom Jesus loved
Do you guys know who the disciple that Jesus loved is?
John
Right?
So John wrote this book
That's how he describes himself
The disciple that Jesus loved
Right? It's John
He's referring to himself
Came to
She went to Peter and John
And saith unto them
They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre
And we
Notice the we
Okay, so that's your first reference
It wasn't just her by herself
And we know not where they have laid him
Okay
Now let's find out who else
Who's the we?
Who was with Mary Magdalene?
We learn about that in Luke 24 verse 1
Now upon the first day of the week
Very early in the morning
They
You see that?
Plural
They came unto the sepulchre
Bringing the spices which they had prepared
And certain others with them
Whoa, there's others
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre
And they entered in
And found not the body of the Lord Jesus
And it came to pass
As they were much perplexed thereabout
Behold two men stood by them in shining garments
Now what I believe has taken place here
I believe Mary Magdalene has already run off
Okay
Mary Magdalene has already run off to find Peter
And she's not seen these two angels
Okay
But the others that are with her
Are seen these angels
But Luke 24 doesn't mention Mary running off
We get that from John
Okay
Now let's
We can get some names
We can find out who these others were
Let's look at Matthew 28 verse 1
Matthew 28 verse 1
And in the end of the Sabbath
As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week
Came Mary Magdalene
Yep, we know that
And the other Mary
To see the sepulchre
So now
Okay, we have another name
It's another Mary
Right?
Mary was a very common name in those days
So who's the other Mary?
Well Mark 16 verse 1 tells us
And when the Sabbath was passed
Mary Magdalene
And Mary the mother of James
That's the second name
And Siloam
That's the third name
Had brought sweet spices
That they might come and anoint him
And very early in the morning
The first day of the week
They came unto the sepulchre
At the rising of the sun
Now was it just these three ladies?
No, let's look at Luke 23
Luke 23 verse 55
And the women also
Which came with him from Galilee
So there was a bunch of other women
That had followed Jesus Christ from Galilee
They were there as well
Followed after
And beheld the sepulchre
And how his body was laid
And they returned
And prepared spices and ointments
And rested the Sabbath day
According to the commandment
So that's prior to Luke 24
Luke 24 is above there on the page
Because then it says
They came to the sepulchre
Who?
Those three names
You know Mary
Mary Magdalene
The mother of James
Siloam
And all these other ladies from Galilee
So it's quite a large group
When you think about it
It's not just Mary Magdalene on her own
And again think of those movies you watched
It's always Mary Magdalene all by herself right?
Look
I'm not against those movies
Well I guess I am
In some ways I am against it in a way
But if you're going to watch those movies
At least understand what the Bible teaches first
And then watch the movies
So then you know what the errors are
Otherwise you end up watching these
These Bible movies
And it's going to taint your perspective
Of what truly happened in the scriptures okay?
Now
Look at Luke 24 verse 10
It gives us another name
It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
There's another name
Joanna
And Mary the mother of James
And other women that were with them
Which told these things unto the apostles
Now let me just pause here for a minute
I've just given you a whole bunch of names
I just want to prove the point
That it was many ladies
That's important to understand
The appearances of Christ leading up
Soon after this
But let me just say this about the book of Luke
Now I was discussing this with Jason the other day
The book of Luke
Is not written in chronological order
Okay
It's not written in chronological order
Now
As an overall thing
Yes
It's in chronological order
As an overall
Yes it starts with
Christ being baptised
And it ends with his crucifixion
Yes
As far as you know
Just a big picture
It's in chronological order
But Luke if you read
If you read the first chapter
He says he's written things
In a specific order
So we can understand what took place
And the way Luke writes
Is very different to the other
Gospel writers
The other ones that wrote the Gospel
Wrote in very good chronological order
If you compare Matthew, Mark and John
They're very aligned chronologically
And it's very excellent
So if you're ever going to build something chronologically
Always use those three books first
And then use the book of Luke
To supplement the gaps
Okay
Now the reason why the book of Luke is different
Is just the way he wrote it
So for example
Think about the snow winning Saturday
The service
The church service that we had on Saturday
For the snow winning marathon
You know we had
When we had the church service
We had a song
Then we had a Bible reading
Then we had a song
Then we had a sermon
Then we had a song
Then we had a sermon
Then we had a song
Then we had a sermon
Then we had a song
Okay and then we finished in the word of prayer or whatever
But
So someone that's writing chronologically
Would say that
Right
Song
Bible reading song
Sermon
Like that
Luke writes differently
He writes like this
There were
Five songs
And then there were three sermons
Okay
It's not that it's not true
Yes
There were five songs and three sermons
But he doesn't write it in a way
That's chronological
He's more thematic
He's more topical
In the way he writes
So when he's trying to
Cover
Like you know Jesus was preaching for a whole day for example
He's preaching multiple things every day
Luke kind of grabs the same topics
And puts them all together
Another really good example of this
If you look at Luke chapter 3
He talks about John the Baptist
But then you've got John the Baptist getting
Arrested and put in prison
And then the verse afterwards is baptizing Jesus
Like what?
What happened there?
It's cause you know
Luke's got his order
He's got his way of writing things
Okay so
I just say that just as a rule of thumb
If you're ever trying to put things in chronological order
Don't use Luke
Use the other ones
And then use Luke
To supplement the other material that you have
Alright
All that
Just to
Just to you know help
Help along with this study
Now
Let's understand what took place
We have these women
They came to the sepulchre
They're shocked
The stones rolled away
The body's gone
Mary Magdalene runs away to fight
To look for Peter and John
Okay
The other women stay
Now
Let's follow
Let's follow Mary Magdalene
Let's follow her journey
She's going to run looking for John
Look at John chapter 20 verse 3
Peter therefore went forth
And that other disciple
That one's been John
And came to the sepulchre
And they ran both together
And the other disciple did outrun Peter
And came first to the sepulchre
And he stooping down and looking in
Saw the linen clothes lying
Yet went he not in
Then cometh Simon Peter following him
And went into the sepulchre
And see if the linen clothes lie
And the napkin
That was about his head
Not lined with the linen clothes
But wrapped together in a place by itself
Then went in also the other disciple
Which came first to the sepulchre
And he saw and believed
And as yet
They knew not the scripture
That he must rise again from the dead
Then the disciples went away
Unto their own home
So Mary Magdalene gets Peter and John
They all come to the sepulchre
Now Peter and John sees it
And they're like wow it's empty
And then you see
The disciples went away to their own home
Okay they've left
Now
Turn the page over
Now we're going to get
The first appearance
Of Jesus Christ
Who did Jesus Christ first appear to?
It's there in the title
First appearance
Mary Magdalene
Because when Peter and John left
Guess what?
Mary Magdalene stayed behind
She was all by herself now
The other ladies had already left
Look at verse number 11
John chapter 20 verse 11
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping
And as she wept
She stooped down and looked into the sepulchre
And see of two angels in white
Sitting the one at the head
And the other at the feet
Where the body of Jesus had lain
So these are the same angels
That the other women had seen
Remember?
But they've left the scene now
Now Mary Magdalene's seen these two angels
Verse 13
And they say unto her
Woman
Why weepest thou?
She saith unto them
Because they have taken away my Lord
And I know not where they have laid him
And when she had thus said
She turned herself back
And saw Jesus standing
And knew not that it was Jesus
Jesus saith unto her
Woman
Why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
I mean
I don't know
Is Jesus saying a joke here?
I mean
She's looking for him
Anyway
Why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
She supposing him to be the gardener
Saith unto him
Sir
If thou hast borne him hence
Tell me where thou hast laid him
And I will take him away
Jesus saith unto her
Mary
That's all she had to say to her
Mary
She turned herself and saith unto him
Rabboni
Which is the same master
So she knew there
That was Jesus Christ
Jesus saith unto her
Touch me not
This is important by the way
Just keep this in mind
We're not going to talk about this right now
Touch me not
For I am not yet ascended to my Father
But go to my brethren and say unto them
I ascend up unto my Father
And your Father
And to my God
And your God
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
That she had seen the Lord
And that he had spoken these things unto her
Okay
So
She's the first that Jesus appeared to
And was she allowed to touch Jesus?
No
Right
Jesus says
Touch me not
Yeah, touch me not
Because he had not yet ascended to the Father
We'll talk about that later on
Now what's the second appearance?
Matthew 28 verse 8
Okay
Now we've got to get this chronology right, okay?
Remember
There was a group of other women
Right
Mary the mother of James
And
Joanna and Salome
And other women from Galilee
Matthew 28 verse 8
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre
With fear and great joy
Okay
Because the angel said
You know, he's not here anymore
And did run to bring the disciples word
So they went to the other disciples
Peter and John were somewhere else
That's where Mary Magdalene went
They're going to the other disciples, okay?
They've taken different paths
Which is why you don't see
Peter and John meeting these ladies
On their way back
Verse number 9
And as they went to tell the disciples
Behold
Jesus met them saying all hail
And they came and held him
By the feet and worshipped him
Now
Are these ladies touching Jesus?
Yes
It says there
And they came and held him
By the feet
They stooped down
They touched his feet
And worshipped him
Then said Jesus unto them
Be not afraid
Go tell my brethren
That they go into Galilee
And there shall they see me
This is important
Okay
Tell them to go into Galilee
Because that's where another appearance of Christ is going to take place
That's going to be the appearance
Where the multitude
Where a great number of people see Jesus Christ
Just keep that in the back of your head
But you see now
These other ladies see Jesus
On their way back to tell the disciples
But they're allowed to touch Jesus
Mary Magdalene was not allowed to touch him
Yet they are allowed to touch Jesus
So something's taken place
Right
Jesus said he had to ascend to the Father
We'll talk about that later
The third appearance
What's the third appearance?
The third appearance is to Simon Peter or Cephas
And we get that from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 4
Now what's interesting about this appearance
It's not recorded anywhere in the gospels
We don't know anything about it except with what Paul wrote about it
Okay
Like we don't see the meeting
We don't see what Jesus says to Simon Peter
We don't know how Peter reacted
We don't know
We don't have a record of this except for
Paul saying this took place in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 4
And we know that that chapter is in chronological order
So the third appearance is to Simon Peter
And then it says here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 4
And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures
And that he was seen of Cephas
He was seen of Cephas
Okay
Let's turn the page to page number 4
So first was Mary Magdalene
Second was the other group of women
Third was Simon Peter or Cephas
What's the fourth appearance?
The fourth appearance is the Cleopas and the other disciples
Jesus appeared to two men
Okay
If you know that story
Well here let's have a look at it
Luke 24 verse 13
And behold
Two of them went that same day to a village
Called Emmaus
Which was from Jerusalem about three square furlongs
So there's two disciples on a journey
Okay
To Emmaus
And then verse 18
And the one of them whose name was Cleopas
So we know one of their names, Cleopas
Answering said unto him
Answering to Jesus
Jesus has appeared to them at this point
And Jesus basically asked them
Why are you guys so upset?
Why are you so upset? What's going on?
Cleopas answering said unto him
Are thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?
And hast not known the things which are come to pass there in those days?
Don't you know what happened about Jesus Christ's crucifixion?
Haven't you heard about that?
Let's drop down to verse number 30
Jesus then, you know
They allowed Jesus to fellowship with them
And then he goes into their house
And in their house, look at verse 30
And it came to pass
As he sat at meat with them
He took bread and blessed it
And break and gave it to them
So he does the Lord's Supper here with them
He breaks the bread
Blesses it
Look at verse 31
And their eyes were opened
And they knew him
And he vanished out of their sight
So as soon as they knew him
Jesus is alright, done
Disappears out of their sight
Verse 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?
And they rose up that same hour
And returned to Jerusalem
And found the eleven gathered together
And them that were with them
So they go and find the apostles
But look at verse 34
Saying the Lord is risen indeed
And hath appeared to Simon
What's the third appearance, remember?
Simon Peter, Cleopas
So we have confirmation here
That Jesus must have told them
That he had appeared to Simon before them
Because they knew about it, right?
They mentioned it to the apostles
That they had appeared to Simon
That's the third appearance
That's the confirmation we have in scriptures
And they told what things were done in the way
And how he was known of them
In breaking of bread
So the fourth appearance is to Cleopas
And the other disciple
The two disciples on the way to Emmaus
So the fifth appearance
Now, by the way
All these appearances so far
Are all on resurrection Sunday
They're all on the same day
Okay
From the morning, you know, Mary Magdalene
And then this is toward the evening now
It's getting later during the day
And then we're going to continue the story
Because these two disciples
They go to look for the apostles, the eleven
And then let's pick up the story from verse 33
Let's look at the fifth appearance of Christ
And they rose up the same hour
And returned to Jerusalem
And found the eleven, gathered together
And them that were with them
So there wasn't just the eleven
There were others with them
But let's look at verse 36
And as they thus spake
So as these two were telling the apostles
About their appearance of Jesus
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them
And saith unto them, peace be unto you
So this is Christ's fifth appearance
But they were terrified and un-frightened
And supposed that they had seen the Spirit
And he said unto them, why are you troubled?
And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet
That it is I myself
Handle me
Touch me
So they can touch him, right?
Handle me
And see
For a spirit hath not flesh and bones
As ye see me have
And when he had thus spoken
He showed them his hands and his feet
Now look at verse 24
In John 20-24 it talks about the same event
But it gives us a bit more detail
It says
But Thomas
You guys know about David and Thomas
But Thomas one of the twelve, called Didymus
Was not with them when Jesus came
So Jesus appeared to his apostles
Now notice in the heading there
I've got fifth appearance
But notice I've got first appearance
Of the apostles as a group
Okay
That's important because we're going to get
Some people
We'll look at it later
I'll explain to you later
But some people say hey
There's a contradiction in the Bible
No there's not
This is the first appearance to the disciples
To the apostles as a group
Minus Thomas
Thomas wasn't there
Now
That's the last appearance on the same day of Resurrection Sunday
Five appearances of Jesus Christ
All in one day
Okay
Now turn the page over
Now let's confirm
Going back to the first and second appearances
The first Mary Magdalene
The second the women
On their way back
Let's make sure that we have this order correct
The first and the second
The reason we know the order is correct
Because in John 2017
When Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene
I won't read it all
He says touch me not
Why can't he
Why could Mary Magdalene not touch him
For I am not yet ascended to my Father
He had to go to heaven
On the first day of his resurrection
He had to go to heaven
Then it says
But go to my brethren and say unto them
I ascend unto my Father
And your Father
And to my God
And your God
Why did Christ have to go to heaven on the first day of the resurrection?
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 tells us why
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 it's on your sheet
But Christ being come and a high priest of good things to come
By a greater and more perfect tabernacle
What's a tabernacle?
Where they would do the sacrifices
Where they would sacrifice the animals
They would sprinkle the blood
And they would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat
If it was their annual event
It says
But a more perfect tabernacle
Not made with hands
This was a tabernacle that was not made by man
A tabernacle made by God
That is to say
Not of this building
It was nothing earthly
It was not the earthly temple
It was not the earthly tabernacle
Verse 12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves
But by his own blood
He entered in once into the holy place
So in heaven
There is a holy place
In heaven there's a tabernacle
A perfect tabernacle
Made by God himself
And Jesus had to take his blood
To the holy place
Having obtained eternal redemption for us
So Jesus Christ takes his blood
And on the mercy seat in heaven as a tabernacle
He sprinkles his blood
As our great high priest
Onto that heavenly tabernacle
As a demonstration
Not just of his shed blood on the earth
But of his shed blood in heaven
That his blood testifies our salvation
That his blood testifies the forgiveness of sins
In heaven and in earth
That's what Christ had to do
So he wasn't to be touched
He had to remain pure
And undefiled and clean
Okay
The same way when the Old Testament priests
They had all these ritual washes
They had to be clean
They had to be you know
Properly adorned
To go into that holy of holies
Otherwise God could have striked them dead
Okay Christ had to be careful
And make sure that you know
He went up to heaven in the same way
All those Old Testament pictures of Christ
So he goes up
So Mary can't touch him
And then we see in Matthew 28 verse 9
This is soon afterwards
I guess it didn't take him that long
Because it all takes place in one day
I mean Jesus did a lot on that day
Right he raises from the dead
He goes to heaven
Sprinkles his blood
He makes five appearances to his disciples
And then Matthew 28 verse 9
As we already read
And as they went to tell the disciples
Behold Jesus met them saying
All hail
And they came and held him by his feet
Okay they would have held
They would have seen those nail prints in his feet
They held his feet and worshiped him
They loved him
To see that resurrected Savior
Now
Let's move on to the sixth appearance of Christ
This takes place eight days later
Okay a whole week later
Okay this takes place
Now notice what I've written under the sixth appearance
It says the second appearance
To the apostles as a group
I hope this is interesting for you guys
You know I'm putting all this stuff together
But it's his second appearance as the disciples as a group
We're going to go a lot quicker now
Okay
John chapter 20 verse 26
And after eight days again
His disciples were within
And Thomas with them
So Thomas has finally come to church
He's finally made it right
He's there with the other apostles
Then came Jesus
The doors being shut
And stood in the midst and said peace be unto you
Then sayeth he to Thomas
Reach hither thy finger
And behold my hands
And reach hither thy hand
And thrust it into my side
And be not faithless but believing
And Thomas answered and said unto him
My Lord and my God
Okay Thomas believed
He was no longer doubting Thomas at this point
That was the second appearance to the disciples
Which was the sixth appearance overall
To all his disciples
Now the seventh appearance
The seventh appearance to his disciples
Is the third appearance to the apostles as a group
Okay the third appearance to the apostles as a group
Let's look at it
John 21 verse 1
This is when a bunch of them are out fishing
A lot of them are out fishing
Not preaching the gospel
They're not fishing for men
They're fishing for fish
Right
John chapter 21 verse 1
After these things
Jesus showed himself
Again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias
And on this wise
Showed he himself
So we don't know how long afterwards
But we know it's somewhere within those 40 days okay?
And then notice the names that are there
Then worked together Simon Peter
And Thomas Caudidimus and Nathaniel of Cana
In Galilee and the sons of Zebedee
And two other of his disciples
So you can see it's a group of the apostles
I don't know if it's all of them
You know but anyway
It's a bunch of the apostles there
And verse 3
Simon Peter saith unto them
I go off fishing
And they say unto him
We also go with thee
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately
And that night they caught nothing
They're not catching any fish all night long
But when the morning was now come
Jesus stood on the shore
But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus
And Jesus saith unto them
Children
Have ye any meat?
They answered him no
Then he said unto them
Cast a net on the right side of the ship
And ye shall find
They cast therefore
And now they were not able to draw it
For the multitude of fishes
They catch this great amount of fish
Right? Because Jesus said
Put it on the outside
Jesus Christ has a miracle
Therefore
The disciples whom
The disciples whom Jesus loved
saith unto Peter
It is the Lord
Right? Because it's a miracle
They knew that Jesus Christ has done this before
It is the Lord
Now when Simon Peter heard
That it was the Lord
He girt his fish's coat unto him
For he was naked
And did cast himself into the sea
Cast himself
I don't know why Peter was naked
Don't go fishing
If
If we ever go fishing
And you start taking off your clothes
I'm out of there
I don't know why, okay?
Maybe, I don't know, who knows?
But he was embarrassed, right?
He was naked
And he quickly puts on his coat
And he cast himself into the sea
So Jesus can't see him naked
Now
Now in the same chapter
John 21 verse 14
Notice this
The reason I've been saying to you
This is the third appearance
To the apostles
As a group
Because it says that in the scriptures
It says here
This is now the third time
That Jesus showed himself to his disciples
After that he was risen from the dead
Right?
And this is where people mock the Bible
And say
Ah, the contradiction was the third time
It can't be the third time
There was Mary Magdalene
There was a group of women
There was the two
There was so many of them
No
It's the third time
That he appears to his apostles
Right?
The third time that he appears to this eleven
Now
It wasn't always the eleven that were there
But there was a great group of them
There was a number of them
It's the third time that he appears
To his apostles
You know the Bible's just giving us confirmation
That we have the chronology correct
That's what's going on
It's not a contradiction
So that's the seventh appearance
The seventh appearance is out fishing
The apostles out fishing
Go to your next page
Page number six
The eighth appearance
Now remember Jesus told the ladies
Go to Galilee
Tell all the disciples
To go to Galilee
Cause I'm gonna meet them
Okay
This is the eighth appearance
This is a great multitude
On a mountain Galilee
Now Galilee
Was about a hundred kilometers away from Jerusalem
And they didn't have cars
A hundred kilometers isn't a big deal for us in a car
Right?
Takes us an hour
Going a hundred kilometers an hour
Whatever
But they were trying to travel by feet
Or you know
Whatever they had
So you know
This was several days journey
For them to get to Galilee
This isn't something that took
That was quick
The other thing is
Jesus gave time for the word to get around
For all his disciples in the regions
To come and see him
Okay this is a great multitude appearance
Now let's look at Matthew 28 verse 16
Then the eleven disciples
So the apostles
Went away into Galilee
Into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them
So not only did Jesus tell the ladies
But Jesus told his apostles
Hey
Galilee
That's the place to see me
And when they saw him
They worshipped him
Now notice I just
I've underlined the next words
But some doubted
Why?
Because those are the others
Those are the others that have come to see
Jesus Christ
These guys have really seen Christ multiple times
Right?
So they're not doubting
But others
This is the first time
It's like
Whoa is this really Jesus?
Verse 18
And Jesus came and spake unto them saying
The great commission guys
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth
Go ye therefore and teach all nations
Baptizing them in the name of the Father
And of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
Teaching them to observe all things
Whatsoever I have commanded you
And lo I am with you alway
Even unto the end of the world
Amen
Now some people have mistaken these words
As the great commission that he gives
Before he ascends into heaven
But when he ascended up to heaven
That was the mount of Olives
That was in Jerusalem
This is in Galilee
This is a hundred kilometers away from Jerusalem
So Jesus Christ gave the great commission multiple times
Okay
It wasn't just a one-off
This was a very important
Teaching that Christ had to leave his apostles
And he says it to this great multitude that appeared
How do we know that it's a great multitude?
1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 6
The chronology that Paul gives us
He says
After that
He was seen of above five thousand brethren
That's a lot of people
Five thousand brethren at once
This was the mountain in Galilee
Of whom the greater part remain unto this present
But some have fallen asleep
So now five thousand
Right
Um
These are the
What was it?
Sorry
Page 1
These are the
Many infallible proofs
Right
Five thousand all at once
That's the 8th appearance
We've got two more appearances to go
The 9th appearance
Was to James
And very similar to his personal appearance
To Simon Peter
To Cephas
We don't have a record of James
Okay
We don't have a record except for
1 Corinthians 15
Okay
1 Corinthians 15
The first part verse 7
After that
After the five thousand
He was seen of James
So that's the 9th appearance
Then the 10th appearance
The same verse says
Then of all the apostles
So James and then all the apostles
The 10th appearance are all the apostles
On the Mount of Olives
So back in Jerusalem
Okay
The Mount of Olives is near Jerusalem
This record is found in Acts chapter 1 verse 7
Again the great commission being given
Acts 1 verse 7
And he saith unto them
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons
That the Father hath put in his own power
But ye shall receive power
After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you
And ye shall be witnesses
Unto me both in Jerusalem
And in all Judea
And in Samaria
And unto the uttermost part of the earth
There's a great commission again
But notice this verse 9
And when he had thus spoken
Sorry
And when he had spoken these things
While they beheld
He was taken up with a cloud
Received him
Out of their sight
So that's the last time
That's what
That's Christ
He goes to the Father
He's seated at the right hand
Of the Father in heaven
That's the 10th appearance
Okay
On day number 40
When he goes up to heaven
But there's one more appearance
What did Paul say
Out of due time
As one born out of due time
Turned the page over
The 11th appearance was to the Apostle Paul
Or to Saul
1 Corinthians 15 verse 8
And last of all
Are there any more after this?
No
If people say to you
I've seen Jesus
Have they seen him?
No way
Paul says last of all
He was seen of me also
As one born out of due time
For I am the least of the Apostles
That am not meet to be called an Apostle
Because I persecuted the Church of God
Now
Acts chapter 9
Records that appearance of Christ to Paul
Let's read it
Acts 9 verse 3
And as he journeyed
So as Paul
Who was being called Saul at this time
As he journeyed
He came near Damascus
And suddenly there shined around
About him a light from heaven
And he fell to the earth
And heard a voice saying unto him
Saul
Why persecute us now me?
And he said
Who art thou Lord?
And the Lord said
I am Jesus
Whom thou persecutest
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks
So who appeared to Paul here?
It was Jesus, right?
The Lord Jesus Christ
Now
Was this just some
Spiritual vision
Or was it a
Physical
Bodily
Appearance
Because all the other ones we've read
Were physical, right?
Bodily appearances of Jesus Christ
Now I say to you it is a bodily
Appearance of Christ
We'll see in a minute
Verse 6
And he trembling and astonished
Said Lord
What wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him
Arise and go into the city
And it shall be told thee what thou must do
But look at verse 7
And the men which journeyed with him
So other men
Who were journeying with Paul
Stood speechless
Hearing a voice
But seeing no man
So was it a physical
Apparition of Christ?
Yeah it was
They could hear
Jesus talking
They could hear the voice
Right?
Now the reason I say that to you
Is because some people say
Well there was a talk appearance of Christ
And I've covered that
Just at the bottom of the sheet
And that talk appearance is to the Apostle John
In the book of Revelation
Now Jesus did appear to John in the book of Revelation
But it's not a physical
Appearance
To John
Because look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 10
Revelation chapter 1 verse 10
John says
I was in the Spirit
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day
And heard behind me
A great voice as of a trumpet
That's Jesus speaking
Saying I am Alpha and Omega
The first and the last
And so on and so forth
Okay?
So yes, John did see Christ and heard Christ
But notice he was in the Spirit
When he saw Christ
He did not see him or hear him
Physically in his bodily
In his body
Okay?
But Paul
Yes
It was a physical operation
Of Christ
That even the travelers with him
Heard the voice of Christ
Now that's what I've got for you today
Now I want you to take your sheets
And put them down
Close them
Put them down
Let's do a test
Let's do a quiz
Alright
If you've been paying attention
Anyone can answer
Ladies, men, anyone can say
Okay?
Because the teaching is over
So ladies you're allowed to talk
Okay
What was the first appearance of Christ
To his disciples?
Anyone?
Put your hand up if you know
Matias?
Mary Magdalene
Yes
Second appearance
Of Christ
To who?
Brody?
To the other ladies
Correct
The third appearance of Christ
Yep
Simon Peter
Perfect
The fourth appearance
He remembers
Brody?
Sorry?
Was it three?
Not yet
We got one before that
One before going and meeting the apostles of the group
For the first time
Yes Cindy?
Without pass
The group without pass
Yeah, before that
There's still one before that one
The two men
The two men, yeah
One of them being Cleopas
The two men, remember?
On their way to
Emmaus
Emmaus, yeah
So that was the fourth appearance
We got one more appearance on the day of the resurrection
And Cindy?
The group without pass
Yep, the group without pass
The group, the apostles without pass
Excellent
Okay, then eight days later
There was another appearance of Christ
Who's got it?
Any of you girls?
Ah, Nicholas?
To Thomas, by himself?
Yeah, all the apostles with pass
Excellent
Then the seventh appearance
Who's got the seventh appearance?
Come on, Carolyn
Brody?
The third appearance of the group, what were they doing?
Fishing
They were fishing, excellent
Um, the eighth appearance
Let me see if I got it
I've kind of forgotten the eighth
Go, Cameron
To James
Is that right?
You're probably right, let me just make sure
I'm forgetting now
Wait, wait, wait
Oh no, there's one before James
There's one before James
Was that a hand?
Yep
Yeah, 5,000
To the 5,000th reverend on the mountain Galilee
Then
Then, then James, by himself
That's number nine
And then number ten
Which one's number ten?
Callum?
Stop looking at your sheep
Number ten
Come on, man, it's the easiest one
Well, maybe it's not the easiest one
Yeah?
Not Paul, that one's pretty easy
Before Paul, yeah?
When he ascended up to heaven on the Mount of Olives
Yeah, that's number ten
And then number eleven
Jason?
Stephen
Oh yeah, that's a good one to count, eh?
Stephen, whoa
It's not in my, it's not in my notes, so that's wrong
Another try, yeah?
To Paul
Paul as one born out of you time
Alright, excellent
You guys can take this home
Please study it out for yourself
And remember, guys, look
We're all together right now, right?
We're one group at the church
If I wrote about today
And then, and we're all together
And then Matthew wrote about today
And then, you know, let's say Cameron wrote about today
That's four people
And then Callum wrote about today
And wrote about, you know, who came into the church first
And who came in second
And who came in third
Do you think we're all going to be consistent and have the right answers?
No way
And we're even a small group
I promise you, four of us wrote about who came in first
We're going to get that wrong
We're going to get it wrong for something so simple
And yet we have the scriptures
Doesn't this confirm the perfection of the scriptures?
Doesn't this confirm that we have the perfect pure word of God without contradiction?
That even Paul can write about six appearances and have the chronology in order
We can look at all the other gospels and put it together and it's in perfect order
We can read about it being the third time that he appears to the apostles
And he's perfectly lined up
You know, that just shows you that this Bible is not authored by man but authored by God
Right? This confirms that this is the word of God
This is why, you know, in Acts 1 verse 3
To whom he had showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs
This is your proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
The word of God and the fact that it's perfectly laid out for us
And if someone wants to debate that
Hey, you now have your sheets
Go and study this
I want you to know this
Because the resurrection of Christ is more important than the doctrine of reprobates
Okay? It's more important than the doctrine of
Name one
Of creation
Okay? All that's important
All doctrine is important
But we saw how important the resurrection of Christ is
Otherwise our faith is in vain and we are yet in our sins
And yet we know we're not because the word of God is perfect and preserved
Let's pray