The Real Jesus Gives Us Real Confidence
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God through which the Holy Spirit strengthens our confidence in Jesus is the account of Jesus’ resurrection appearance recorded in Luke 24:36-49 –
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:36-49 NIV) – This is the Word of our Lord
Dear friends who celebrate our risen Savior,
A year or so ago the rage on TV was the reality shows. Survivor was the first one that made it it big. The selling point was that instead of actors, these were real, every-day people. The outcome was not scripted and no one knew who would come out the survivor at the end. Since then many other kinds of reality shows have been tried.
If you think about it though, there isn’t too much reality in reality shows, is there? Maybe they have ordinary people and no script, but how real is it to be confined on a desert island, helping, competing against, betraying the other people with you? And how can anyone really condense reality to one hour of flickering pictures and sounds interrupted with commercials? Even the reality of a real war can’t be properly conveyed over television, so how can TV claim to show reality with these artificial realities like Survivor?
Unlike TV and reality shows, God’s Word assures you and me of what is really real. God’s Word shows us the reality behind the flickering scenes of our daily life and the changeable appearance of our feelings. The portion of God’s Word before us today, shows us the real Jesus who gives us real confidence. For you see, Jesus is what reality is all about. May the Holy Spirit strengthen our faith as he assures us through his Word that the real Jesus gives us real confidence. That’s theme this morning: The real Jesus gives us real confidence. He gives us confidence 1) that his resurrection is real, 2) that his promises are real, and 3) that his forgiveness is real.
1) His resurrection is real
The real Jesus wanted to give his disciples real confidence that he had really risen from the dead. The disciples and women had seen the reality of Jesus death. He had hung on that cross. He had bleed and died. His cold, stiff body was laid in a tomb. Reality tells us that death is final. How could he be alive again?
Yet what they thought was reality was being challenged. The women and Peter had said they had seen the risen Jesus . A few moments ago two of disciples who had been on the way to Emmaus had returned saying that Jesus had walked with them and explained the Scriptures to them. Then Jesus appears. The same Jesus who had really died, really appeared to them.
Notice how Jesus gives proof after proof that he has really risen from the dead. He was not a ghost or a figment of their imagination. He speaks to them in his own voice, “Peace be with you.” He invites them to look at his hands and feet. It is the real Jesus, the same Jesus they had seen crucified and dead, the same Jesus who still had the nail marks in his hands and feet. And he is really there – alive! He invites them to touch him; he is not a ghost. He even eats some food in front of them so they see that Jesus has bodily risen risen from the dead. His resurrection is real.
Jesus did this not only to give his disciples real confidence that he had really risen from the dead. He did it to give you and me real confidence as well. All too often we become distracted from the reality of our risen Jesus. We think real life is about getting the most out of life. We focus on what thrills us for the moment and think that life should simply make us feel good. That reality is only a phantom, a mirage that leaves us thirsting for something more. It’s not the real life. Don’t build your confidence on trying to feel happy.
Rather focus on the risen Jesus. He really satisfies our thirst. He is the foundation for real confidence. This truth, this reality, is the foundation of our faith: Jesus died. Jesus has risen. If Jesus had not really died, you and I have to pay for our own sins in hell forever. If Jesus had not really risen from the dead, then you and I will die and go to hell forever because of our sins. That’s what we just sang about in the hymn: “Had Christ, who once was slain, Not burst his three-day prison, Our faith had been in vain” (“This Joyful Eastertide, Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, 160, text reprinted from A. R. Mowbray & Co, Ltd.)
But what is the reality? As we continued to sing, “But now is Christ arisen, arisen, arisen; But not is Christ arisen.” (“This Joyful Eastertide, Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, 160, text reprinted from A. R. Mowbray & Co, Ltd.) The real Jesus gives us the real confidence that his resurrection is real. He has truly, bodily risen from the grave. He is the source for real life and true happiness. And that makes all the difference for you and for me, as we will keep on seeing in the next two parts.
2) His promises are real
Because the real Jesus has really risen from the dead, we have the confidence that is promises are real. His promises are true and trustworthy. They will not fail.
Jesus makes the connection for his disciples between what he had said to them and the fact of his death and resurrection. “He said to them, ’This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44 NIV) The Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms refer to the Old Testament. Jesus had clearly taught that everything that God’s Word said was going to happen did happen exactly as God has planned it.
What was it that God’s Word had promised? Jesus opens their minds to understand what was written: “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” (Luke 24:46 NIV). This was God’s promise going back to Adam and Eve when he promised that the offspring of the woman would crush Satan’s head. It was the promise to Abraham that one of his offspring would be a blessing for all nations. It was the promise pictured in the Passover and the sacrifices God commanded at Mt. Sinai. It was the promise to King David that he would have a Son that would reign forever. It was the promise spoken through the prophets, like Isaiah who told of the suffering of the Savior and his glory.
All these promise are real and true. Because he has risen from the dead, the real Jesus gives us the real confidence that his promises are real.
Remember that when the sadness and pains of life seem so real and so unbearable. Remember that Jesus has really risen so his promises to be with you, to help you, to make all work our for your good, are real and true. You and I all too often, fall into the trap of looking at our present pain or suffering and thinking that’s what reality is all about. We feel our sadness and our loneliness and think that we truly are abandoned.
But Jesus’ promises are just as real at those times. Dig into his word. Mine out the precious gems of his promises to you. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV), he says. “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV), he promises. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV), he assures you. Your risen Jesus makes these promises and many more to you. His real promises are greater than any suffering we go through. He gives us real confidence in his promises. Let the gems of his promises keep dazzling your eyes.
3) His forgiveness is real
The greatest promise Jesus makes to you and me is the promise of forgiveness. His forgiveness is real. The purpose of his death was to take away your sin. The purpose of his resurrection is to proclaim full and free forgiveness . This too was part of God’s plan. Jesus tells his disciples that God’s Word had said not only that the Christ would die and rise but also that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47 NIV). They were witnesses of this truth and the Father would give them the Holy Spirit so that they could witness with power and authority.
Through their witness that Good News has come to you and to me today. What is the forgiveness of sins preached in Jesus’ name? It isn’t a cheap forgiveness that says that sin isn’t all that bad. It isn’t a forgiveness that pictures Jesus as our buddy who overlooks our mistakes. It isn’t a forgiveness that says you can choose what’s right or wrong for yourself.
Rather, it is a real forgiveness based on what the real Jesus did for you and me. Real forgiveness takes sin seriously, so seriously that the God the Father punished his own Son in our place because of our sin. Real forgiveness brings us a real Savior, not a buddy, a real Savior who really bleed and died for us, who really rose from the dead. Real forgiveness brings about a real change in us so that we no longer ask, “What do I want.” But we ask, “What does Jesus want me to do.”
This real forgiveness is for you because Jesus says to you, “Peace be with you.” Peace with God be with you. For Jesus has taken away your sins that warred against God. He has reconciled you to God through his death and resurrection.
This real forgiveness if for you. That’s what Jesus says to you in his holy Supper. Think about that as you receive Jesus’ real body and real blood in the Lords’ Supper. Be confident that your have peace with God because on the cross Jesus sacrificed his body and poured out his blood for you . Be confident that as your risen Savior he makes his body and blood really present for you to eat and to drink for your forgiveness. The real Jesus gives you the real confidence that you have peace with God through the forgiveness of sins.
The real Jesus gives us real confidence. So many things that claim to be reality are just shifting sands that change over time. Any confidence built on them will prove false and collapse like a house built on sand. The reality of Jesus is like a rock. When our confidence is built on him then no matter what storms of life we go through, Jesus will not fail you. Through faith you will overcome and he will raise you on the last day to be with him forever. For your Jesus is the risen Jesus, the real Jesus.
