How Jesus Gives Us Peace

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How Jesus Gives Us Peace. He will be in Luke 24:36-49.

We are anointed church to reach people and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders and today we are blessed to be in the Bible and to learn from the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 is where we are going to be, how Jesus gives us peace. And you know in these uncertain times we need the peace of God.

So this Easter morning let’s look at the resurrection of our Savior and let’s study how Jesus gives us peace. If you have your Bible I want you to join me in the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 24 verse 36 through 49 is our main text.

And as you are turning there I want to remind you that Easter is a miracle day. You and I are living in a world that is filled with worry. It is filled with weariness and we definitely need a miracle.

And Easter is a miracle that is better than any miracle. It supersedes all the miracles that have ever taken place in this world. And so today we celebrate this great miraculous event that took place in that our Savior Jesus Christ was hung on a cross and he died for our sins.

But three days later he arose out of that tomb alive forever more. The resurrection of Christ is important because it is the heart of our salvation. The Bible teaches us that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

Friends you cannot be saved. apart from the belief that Jesus Christ arose from the dead and so when we think about the gospel the Apostle Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 15 that the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and so the highlight of the Christian faith is the resurrection of our Lord and Savior because he has risen you and I have the comfort and the assurance knowing that God has accepted the offering of the life and the sacrifice of our Savior for our sins that God has poured out his wrath he has poured out his punishment upon Christ so that he does not pour it upon us but rather on Christ and Christ absorbed the wrath of God for us and God accepted that sacrifice the Lamb of God,

and he affirmed that through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing series of events that took place this past week as it was the time of the Holy Week in which our Savior entered in to Jerusalem, and that he would institute the Lord’s Supper, and that he would be falsely accused before Pilate and Herod, and then he would be sentenced to a crucifixion where he would be suspended between heaven and earth,

and that the wrath of God was poured out upon him, and that he bore our sins, and then he would be laid in an empty tomb, and then a borrowed tomb, and then he would resurrect, and he would be alive today.

When Jesus Christ resurrected, he did not immediately go to heaven, but rather he was among his disciples, and he appeared to his disciples, and the Bible teaches us that he appeared to over 500 eyewitnesses.

Jesus was 40 days on the earth after his resurrection. When we come to our text this morning in verse 36, we find another incident in which Jesus Christ is appearing to his disciples. It is still Resurrection Sunday.

It is in the evening, and you will note in verse 36 that the disciples had been talking about the resurrection that took place that morning, and they were gathered together, and the Bible says now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and he said to them, peace to you.

Verse 37 says they were terrified, they were frightened, and they suppose that they had seen a ghost or a spirit. The Bible teaches us that Jesus just miraculous. Immaculously appeared to the disciples He appeared to them and his first words to them was peace be to you.

This was not an ordinary salutation It was not a normal greeting, but here the disciples were struggling with doubt They were struggling with fear and they were wondering was Jesus really alive had he truly risen again?

The Bible says that the disciples were terrified. They were confused They had heard rumors and reports that were running rampant that their lives were in jeopardy But all of a sudden out of nowhere Jesus appeared to the disciples and his first words to them was peace be unto you the peace of Jesus Christ is not the absence of Troubles and problems and trials in our life, but the peace of Jesus Christ is the freedom to deal with those problems without the stress and the strain that comes from worry and uncertainty and today on this Easter Sunday I would like for us to really focus on the peace that Christ offers every person who believes in him and I want to talk to you about how Jesus gives us this peace even in troubled times even in different times even when there’s a lot of uncertainty going on around us how is it that Jesus gives us this peace the first thing I submitted to you is that Jesus gives us his peace through his presence he gives us his presence look at the text again and note that after Jesus had said peace unto you verse 37 the Bible says that they were terrified they were frightened and then verse 38 says Jesus responded and said why are you troubled and why does doubt arise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see me for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have when he had said this he showed them hands and his feet what Jesus did to bring peace into the hearts of the disciples was he manifested his presence to them in the gospel of Luke Luke makes a great effort and he goes to great lengths to attest to the resurrection of Jesus Christ that it truly was a bodily resurrection and so here we see Luke giving us details that Jesus as he reveals himself he is helping the disciples know that this is not just a spirit this is not something that is mystical but this is truly the bodily resurrection of our Savior Jesus went on to explain that his peace is available because of his presence Presents and he said to them behold my hands behold my feet.

It is I myself Jesus wanted them to know that it is truly there with them John would later write in first John chapter 1 verse 1 that which was from the beginning Which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life and here is the experience that he is referring to that the disciples not only walked with Christ and that as he Lived on this earth for three and a half years and they got the opportunity to hear Christ teach and to see his sinless life But even after his resurrection They beheld him they touched him and they were able to see the scars in His hands and His feet.

They knew it truly was the Savior. It is the presence of Christ that brought peace to the people of God. And how is it that Christ is going to bring peace to you and I in these uncertain times? First of all, it is going to be through His presence.

The presence of Jesus Christ has a calming effect upon each and every one of us. But I know what you’re saying, so many of you are good students of the Bible. And you’re saying to me, Pastor Mike, Jesus has ascended into heaven and that He is at the right hand of the Father.

That’s true and the Bible teaches us that He is praying for us. So how is it that the presence of God is manifested today and how is it that it becomes tangible to us today? Let me give you a few thoughts here to help you understand the presence of Christ is manifested, first of all, through the church.

The Bible teaches us that the church is the body of Christ. That the church is the feet and the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are referred to the body. The church is not a building. The church is not a place.

And even though we cannot gather in our normal place and our normal buildings, we must remember that the church is a people. And it is a picture of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the church is the presence of Christ on this earth.

And that as we continue to support one another and pray for one another and encourage one another and reach out to one another and continue to help bear the burdens of each other. My friends, we are the feet and the hands and the presence of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world.

What the world needs to see is the body of Christ stepping up and speaking up. They do not need to see Christians running in fear, hiding in their homes, but rather we need to communicate as much as we possibly can.

then with the technology that God has given us that we are confident that we are under the sovereign care of God and that He is leading us triumphantly even through these difficult times. God not only manifests His presence through the church, but He manifests it through the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches us that the Spirit of God lives in every believer, every person that is trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Spirit of God lives within them. Jesus taught in John chapter 14, He began to teach to His disciples that He’s going to be leaving, He’ll be crucified, He’ll be resurrected, and He’ll ascend into heaven.

This so troubled the hearts of the disciples that He said to them, do not be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions, and I go to prepare a place for you.

But He would go on to teach them. that he would not leave them comfortless. In some translations of the Bible, it says that he would not leave them as orphans. And the point is that Jesus is trying to say is that I’m not abandoning you and I’m going to send the Pericalitus, the Holy Spirit of God that will be a comfort to you and his presence within you will be a manifestation of the presence of Jesus Christ and the Godhead in our lives.

And friends, you and I have the Holy Spirit living in us and we know that the Spirit of God is true because he’s not giving us a spirit of fear, the Bible says in Romans 8, but rather a spirit of adoption.

And we cry out to the Father and we pray to God knowing that the Spirit of God lives in each of our hearts. And so you have comfort, you have peace because no matter where you go, Christ in you through the power of the Spirit of God.

But the third way in which the presence of God is manifested to us is through His Word. It’s through the Bible. Friends, if you want to sense the presence of God, open your Bible, begin to read it and hear the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Take time to read the Bible, to study the Bible, to memorize the Bible, to know God’s truth into your life for God’s Word not only sanctifies me, but it comforts me. And as I know the Word of God, His presence is filling me and I am getting a sense of His will and His way for my life.

Friends, God manifests Himself not only through the Church and the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, but through prayer. You see, friends, we are called to be a praying people. And if ever there was a time that God’s people should be praying, it is now that you and I should be praying together.

We should be praying as God’s people, seeking God. The Bible says to be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer. and supplication and thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the God of peace shall guard your heart through Christ Jesus the God of peace he guards my heart he keeps my mind and heart from going crazy through prayer God gives us a sense of his peace and his presence in our life and we are able to keep moving forward for the Lord Jesus Christ yes we’re cautious yes we’re alert and yes we take the necessary steps to make sure that we love our neighbor and that we protect one another from this virus but we are not a people in retreat we are a people who are marching to Zion and we are moving forward and we have the peace of God through the presence of God in our life and we are confident of this that if we would practice the presence of God in our life that it would make a world of difference in our actions and our attitudes but that we understand that peace does not come from the distance of our problems or troubles but rather it comes from the nearness of our Savior.

And I hope that you will activate these things in your life on this Easter Sunday. Yes, our Savior lives and He is near and He is available and accessible to you, my friends, that you may know and experience the peace of God in your life.

How does Jesus give us peace, not only through His presence but through His promises? Yes, Jesus gives us His promises. Look at verse 44. The Bible says, then He said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me.

And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. How beautiful, how wonderful it is to know that God’s promises are true. What Jesus wants His disciples to know is that all that had been prophesied and all that had been promised was fulfilled in Him.

Jesus is set apart from all other religious leaders because of His sinless life and the resurrection. For Jesus came and lived a perfect life, qualifying Him that He might go to the cross on our behalf.

There was no one worthy to die for our sins. There was no one worthy to pay for their own sin. So Christ came for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus came and lived a sinless life. He obeyed the law in every aspect. He obeyed the law in every point. He fulfilled it. Jesus said, I didn’t come to do away with the law but I came to fulfill it. And then He rose again when Jesus Christ while on this earth came to the tomb of Lazarus he found Lazarus sisters crying and weeping and he said to Mary I am the resurrection and the life and he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live this was a promise that Jesus was giving a promise that was to be fulfilled in his own resurrection but Mary could not grasp she could not fully understand all that Jesus was saying for Jesus was again aligning with the prophets that had been prophesying of a coming Messiah who would bring life and redemption and forgiveness and grace to all who believe in him and the Bible teaches us that Jesus declared he is the resurrection his resurrection was the unique resurrection Paul calls it the fruits of the resurrection for not even Lazarus resurrection was like the resurrection of Christ.

What is the distinction of Jesus’s resurrection from Lazarus and all other resurrections? Jesus was not the first resurrection recorded in the Bible. When the Bible says that he is the first fruits of the resurrection, it is not first in order or chronological order, but rather it is first in kind.

There is no resurrection like Jesus’s resurrection. All other resurrections were resurrections under death. All other resurrections required the person to die again, but the resurrection of Christ was different.

It was different in kind because it was the resurrection unto life. When Paul says that Jesus’s resurrection is the first fruit, he is reminding us and making an analogy, if you will, of how the farmers would go out to the field, they’d see the first fruits of their crop, and they would know the kind of crop that they would have.

They would know the quality of the crop that they would have, and so it is when we look at the resurrection of Christ, his is the first fruits of the resurrection. That is speaking of its quality. That is speaking of its kind that all other resurrections after Christ will now be resurrections unto life.

For his resurrection is our resurrection, and that’s why Jesus said, I’m the resurrection and the life, and he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Jesus was explaining in our text today that his death and resurrection were fulfilling the prophecies and the promises that were made about him.

In so doing, he was ratifying all the other promises in the Bible that sustain us daily. One man counted over 7 ,000 promises in the Bible. Listen, friends, my recommendation to you is that every day, especially during the these trying times, that you get a promise out of the Bible and that you claim that promise, you stand on that promise, you believe that promise, you pray that promise and that you continue to recognize that all the promises of God are true not only because God cannot lie,

but because God has fulfilled his promises in Jesus Christ and through the resurrection, he has stamped his affirmation that his promises will always be fulfilled. I love it when we read the gospel of Matthew and the women come to the tomb and they’re looking for Jesus, the angel appears to them and the angel says to the women, he is not here for he is risen as he said, the scripture said, as he said.

Jesus had already been telling them, but they just didn’t really grasp it. And friends, I wanna tell you that the Bible was filled with his promises. And as He said, He will fulfill it. And just like He promised He would rise again, He has promised that He’s coming again.

And there is a second coming of Christ. And church, we don’t have to be rattled. We don’t have to be shaken. We don’t have to be fearful. Why? Because we have the promises of God. As He said, and we can build our faith, and we can build our future, and we can build our life on the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The foundational truth of Christianity is the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without it, our faith would be in vain. And so this becomes the center point of what we believe and why we believe.

And it becomes the infusion of hope in our hearts as we experience the peace of God resting in the promises of God. The Bible tells us in verse eight of Luke 24 that as Jesus was explaining the Old Testament and how it all pointed to Christ and how it all pointed to a living Savior who would bring salvation, the Bible says that the disciples remembered His word.

Now friends, that’s why we need to get a promise every day. Because we need to remember the words of Christ. Because as we remember the promises of God every day, and that becomes the focus of our thoughts for the day, and that becomes the anchor of our hearts, then we will not be filled with anxiety, but we will be filled with the peace of God.

These women that came to the tomb looking for Christ certainly were fearful and nervous. But the first message was do not be afraid. He’s not here, He’s risen, as He said. R .A. Torrey was a great preacher and teacher of God’s word in the 19th century.

He tells a story about a great Christian leader named George Mueller. And he says that George Mueller, when it was laid upon his heart to pray for something, he would always search the scriptures to find if there was some promise that covered the case.

And sometimes he would search the Bible for days before he presented his petition to God. And when he found the promise with his open Bible before him and his finger upon that promise, he would plead the promises of God.

All that we as Christians would get back to the Bible and that we would find and know the promises and that we would plead them before our God and that we would know and sense the presence and peace of God because of his promises.

How does Jesus give us peace? He gives it through his purpose. Look at verse 46, as Jesus is giving his words. of affirmation to his disciples before his ascension. He says in verse 36, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high to help the disciples to experience God’s peace.

Jesus gives them the understanding of their purpose in life. There’s nothing that’ll be more significant and meaningful in your life and help you to experience the peace of God in your life than when you are fulfilling the purpose of God in you.

Too many people are living for self. And I would say that there are many Christians that are too wrapped up in selves. It’s time for us to get over ourself and it’s time to get focused on the purpose of God.

As we come to celebrate church, the resurrection of our savior, let us remember that his final words to the church, his final words to his disciples was to give them the great commission. And it is our responsibility to reach out to others with the news of the Easter miracle.

It is our job to be on mission and on assignment for God. When you live for self, you’re gonna be fearful, wrapped up in your circumstances. Your mind is not set on heavenly things, but you’re totally wrapped up into what you want, what your agenda is.

But friends, when you get back to the purpose of God, you say, well, Pastor, this has messed me up. Well, friends, get back and focused on why God has you here. And he has us here. That we. might proclaim repentance and remission of sins.

It is the job of every believer to live their life for the glory of God, that everything that they do, all their actions, all their attitudes, be for God’s glory, but it’s also the job of every Christian to be involved in the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that gospel message involves repentance and remission. When we think of the word remission, simply supplement the word forgiveness. For God is calling us to teach and preach forgiveness throughout all the nations and throughout all the land and that forgiveness can be achieved by every person who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

To repent is to turn away from your sin and self and to turn towards Jesus Christ for your salvation. To repent is to do a 180 in your life. to quit going the direction you want to go and go God’s direction and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

When you study the Gospel of Luke, you will find that forgiveness is a theme in the Gospel of Luke. Chapter after chapter, Luke takes time to emphasize the great forgiveness of God. And he illustrates to us people who truly repented and they believed because this was the mission of our Savior.

He came to seek and to save that which was lost and every follower of Christ is responsible to proclaim God’s forgiveness to every person. You have an anointing, an anointing from God. Jesus said in Luke 4 .18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. He has sent me to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised. We are anointed church to reach people and to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? And you say, Pastor, that’s your job.

It is my job, but it’s your job too. It’s all of our jobs and we’re all working together looking for opportunities to plant seeds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to teach people how to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to receive the forgiveness of Christ.

Every person either needs the Gospel or they need to be sharing the Gospel on this Easter Sunday. We need to celebrate the resurrected living Savior that we love and we need to experience His peace by living out our assignment for God and doing what He has called us to do.

Do you need a miracle in your life today? The greatest miracle that can ever happen is when you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ, when Jesus awakens you from deadness and He makes you alive to Christ.

Well, the Gospel of Luke goes to great lengths to help us understand that the resurrection of Christ was a bodily resurrection. And remember that His resurrection is our resurrection, and so since He is alive, one day, my friends, all of us who believe in Christ are going to be resurrected.

I hope today that you have put your faith in Christ and that on this Easter morning, if you have not trusted Jesus Christ, this is the day to fully surrender to Him. This is the day to come back to Him.

This is the day to begin your journey of true faith in Christ. Now we encourage you if today’s been that day that you have decided to follow Christ and believe in Him. Then we encourage you to contact us.

Go to our website, hopethhaving .com. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.