What Did Christ Do in the 40 Days After the Resurrection?

Well, last week we completed the Days of Unleavened Bread and the Passover before that. You know how important those days are in the scope of human history and certainly in the history of the Church. Some magnificent things and awesome things happened during that time. Jesus Christ sacrificing His life for us. The resurrection occurred during the Days of Unleavened Bread. We learned lessons of putting sin out of our lives, separating ourselves from the world, learning the importance of putting the right thing back into our lives. And as we go from the Days of Unleavened Bread and look forward to the Days of Pentecost, we're in this period of 50 days from the Sabbath that occurred within the Days of Unleavened Bread.

And we look forward to the Day of Pentecost, just as they did back in the time that Jesus Christ was alive. And as they were coming out of the Days of Unleavened Bread, just as Jesus Christ had told them, they would be sorry as the Days of Unleavened Bread.

They would be filled with sorrow, and they were with His death. The disciples that were there at that time didn't really still understand why He had to die. But by the time the Days of Unleavened Bread were over, they were filled with joy. And they were filled with joy for the time right up until the Day of Pentecost. Jesus Christ had resurrected.

They saw Him. They were able to talk with Him. And for 40 days after His resurrection, Jesus Christ stayed on earth, or He appeared many times to people on earth during that time. The question is, why did Jesus Christ need to be on earth for 40 days after His resurrection? Why did He have to appear? What was the purpose of that? Was that part of the plan?

What was going on with Jesus Christ, and what was He going to accomplish during those 40 days between the time He was resurrected and the time that He was ascended again into heaven? You heard about some ascensions during the Dave's Sermon, but that time He ascended to heaven, this time to remain in heaven until God the Father would send Him back down to earth.

What was He going to accomplish? Why was that necessary? Now, why should it be important to us? Now, why should it be inspiring to us? Well, we're going to spend some time in the book of John here this afternoon because John the Apostle spent three and a half years with Jesus Christ. He wrote His gospel, the last of the four gospel writers here, and in the gospel He recounts a number of things that Jesus Christ said and fills in the blank for us on a lot of things. He remained true to Jesus Christ until the calling He had right until the time of His death somewhere in the 90s or 100 AD.

But in the book of John, we find Jesus Christ making a number of comments and a number of I Will comments. And when we read some of the I Will comments that He made while He was a human, we learn He couldn't have accomplished those while He was alive. While He was still yet human, He couldn't accomplish those. And the disciples didn't really understand maybe what He was saying. They would understand later.

Let's go back to John 2 and see one of those I Will statements. John 2. This is the occasion right after Jesus Christ has come into the temple there in Jerusalem. He finds a marketplace. He's angry. He upends everything. And of course, the Pharisees are there to challenge Him. But in John 2 and verse 18, He says this.

He says, The Jews answered and said to Him, What sign, Jesus Christ, do you show to us since you do these things? What gives you the right to do these things? Who made you master over this temple that you could come in and just upend everything and chastise us for what we're doing?

Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Well, He couldn't do that while He was alive. He couldn't do that while He was alive. If that was going to be fulfilled, that was going to have to happen after His life because while He was alive, the temple still existed. But He said, Destroy it.

And after three days, I'll raise it up. Couldn't be fulfilled while He was still alive. Let's go on to verse 21. But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the Word which Jesus had said. Remember that Christ said, These things I said to you while I was alive and I was with you, the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance what has happened.

He'll get the picture of what's going on. And when Jesus Christ made that comment, Destroy the temple. And I'll raise it up in three days. They didn't really understand it at that time, but they did understand it later. When they saw Him, when He was resurrected, when He was working with them and when He was around them for during those 40 days and 40 nights, to them it was an absolute proof that He was the Messiah.

He was the Savior, the only man, the only one who could have done that and could have had that fulfilled in Him. John 16. John 16. Jesus Christ, as He is speaking to the disciples on that last night, the Passover-Passover before He was arrested. Words we read at Passover and many words He said here, many of which He told them during the course of this conversation that they might not remember what the words were then, but later they would know what He was talking about.

And here in John 16, verse 16, He tells them something that they don't quite understand. He says, A little while, and you will not see Me. And again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father. Some of His disciples said among themselves, What is this that He says to us? A little while, and you won't see Me.

And again a little while, and you will see Me. And because I go to the Father. What is He talking about? Well, they would know that after He was resurrected. After a little while at night, they wouldn't see Him. They thought. He was dead and they wouldn't see Him.

But then in a little while, they would see Him again, because He was resurrected. Because He would go to the Father, and He would be sent back down to earth to do the will of what God wanted Him to do. He in one sense had completed one mission as He was a human and gave up His life for you and me, that our sins could be forgiven.

But now that He was a resurrected spirit being, He was completing the rest of what He was going to be doing and what His purpose was. So they didn't understand that then, but later, when they saw Him, later when they worked with Him, later when they talked to Him, they thought that's what He meant.

He was gone. And then He was resurrected. And then He was among us again, and He was teaching us, and He was doing the things with us. Let's go back to or forward to Acts 1. Acts 1. Very familiar verses as we open the book of Acts. This is the time when Jesus Christ would ascend back into heaven, this time, as I said, to stay there and remain there until God the Father would send Him back down to earth to establish His kingdom.

We'll read through the first eight verses here. Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, says this, he says, The former count I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen.

Though He was teaching the apostles during that time, He was giving them commandments during that time, they hadn't learned everything that they needed to learn while He was on earth. There were things after His resurrection that they needed to understand. To whom, it says, He also presented Himself alive when His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, you've heard from Me. For truly, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Stick around, is what He said. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, it's not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

You're not going to know everything ahead of time. Just like we don't know everything ahead of time, we have some prophecy that we look at, some things that we may speculate on, but God says it's not for you to know all the details now.

Just like the disciples, even though they were told some of the things specifically of what Christ would do, they didn't understand it at that time. They understood later. And sometimes when we see prophecy after the fact, we think, that's it. It's a proof that God exists. The prophecy of the Bible is true, exactly what God had said. But He says it's not for you to know the times or seasons right now. Only God knows when He will send Jesus Christ back to earth.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. There were going to be witnesses that saw Jesus Christ alive after He died, after He was resurrected. A lot of witnesses, it turns out. It wasn't just going to be legend. It wasn't going to be word of mouth.

It wasn't going to be someone's idea and their belief. It was always going to be witnesses. There had to be witnesses. Undeniable and infallible proof, Jesus Christ was the Son of God. No other man could this have happened, too. God resurrected Him. God said, I am pleased in this Son. He had a mission on earth and He accomplished it, and there would be many who would document He is alive. He was dead. He was buried. He was resurrected, and we saw Him.

We saw Him walk with us. We saw Him talk with us or heard Him talk with us, and He taught us during that time, during those 40 days. So one reason He had to be alive during those 40 days is there had to be witnesses. So it wasn't just become legend, folklore, word of mouth. There were witnesses who would say, this is exactly, exactly what happened. We saw it with our own eyes, and not just the disciples of the apostles, but several, as we will see here in a minute.

Let's go back to Luke, Luke 24. Luke 24. At the beginning of Acts 1 there, Luke writes, in my former account, you know, this is what I was saying. Let's go back and see what his former account said. Here in Luke 24, we find, after Christ is resurrected, at the beginning of the chapter, we find some people on the road to Emmaus, and they have someone join them. It turns about to be Jesus Christ.

They don't know it's Jesus Christ. But after they speak with them a while, and Christ opens their minds, they know who he is. But let's drop down into the chapter a little bit and begin it in verse 36. Luke 24 in verse 36. The disciples are saying, hey, you know what? We've seen, they were telling them all about the things that happened under the road, and he was known to them in the breaking of bread. In verse 36 it says, now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you.

But they were terrified and frightened, and suppose they had seen a spirit. They didn't recognize him. He didn't look like the Jesus Christ they remembered. Sounded like it, peace to you. But he didn't look like it, they were terrified and thought, where did this person come from? And he just appeared. You can imagine what that would have been like. And he said to them, why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your heads? Are you in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet. It is I myself.

Handle me and see, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see I have. Here, look at my hands. See the holes that are there from the nails. Look at my feet. Touch me. Feel me. It's really me. Maybe you don't recognize me the way I look, but it is me. It is undeniable who I am.

When he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they still didn't believe for joy and marveled, he made a comment to them and he said, do you have any food to eat? Do you have anything that we can eat? And he takes the fish and the bread and in verse 44, he says 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.

Everything written in that Old Testament, it is the Word of God. Everything had to be fulfilled. This is what I was talking about. This is what I fulfilled. Look at my life. Look at what has happened. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. As he was back with them those 40 days, they began to understand and he opened their minds. That's what the Bible said. He did. He fulfilled every single prophecy. And their minds went back and they were excited, you can imagine, and they were filled with energy. He did it all.

He's the Messiah. He's the Savior. We knew that before. Now we know it even more. And they marveled and they were in awe of what had gone on. In verse 46, he said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And 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 on high. There needed to be witnesses. They and people needed to see him. And they needed to understand the Scriptures and see the Scriptures fulfilled right in front of them, right in their lifetime. And it had an indelible, unerasable effect on them, as you can imagine. Jesus Christ, the man they walked with, the man they talked with, the man they followed for three and a half years, they saw him dead. They saw him buried. Then they saw him alive. Then they saw him and worked with him and taught and worked with him for the 40 days he was there as he appeared to them. They learned more about who he was, what the Scriptures were. They were absolutely 100% believers. They believed everything and they were awestruck at what God had done and what Jesus Christ had done. He is and he was the Messiah that they had been looking for, no doubt. In any of their minds, they could go forth from there and say, we've seen it, we've touched him, we know it, we heard him, there is no doubt here and we will follow him undeniably and forever because we absolutely know to our core who he is. Let's go over this time to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. This is commonly referred to 1 Corinthians 15 for the resurrection chapter, but in the early verses of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul, who also saw Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus when he was called and when he was converted and he changed and turned his life totally around from one who hated the church of God to one who became and dedicated his entire life to God and his work. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3. He says this, he says, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received. Christ taught me this. I'm teaching you the same thing. I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, 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. He did that. He did that at Passover during the days of Unleavened Bread. During the days of Unleavened Bread, he was resurrected and that he was seen by Cephas, who was Peter, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. He was seen by many people, not just one or two, not just Peter, James, John, not just the Twelve Apostles, but over 500 people saw him, over 500 witnesses of what had gone on and who he was and what had happened. After that, he was seen by James, his own brother, and then by the Apostles. And Paul says in verse 8, and last of all, he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time, for I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.

You see Paul's humility extending even into this. And so we see that Jesus Christ, he was alive and he was well. And he was the resurrected Savior who now sits at the right hand of God. And there are at least two reasons we have that he needed to be seen and on earth during those 40 days, but were those the only two reasons? Well, let's look at one more. Let's look at another one of his I Will statements, and this one back in Matthew 16.

Matthew 16.

Leading up to verse 16, where I'm going to begin, Jesus Christ is questioning his disciples, saying, Who do people say I am? Who is it? In it, some of them said, Some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, others say Jeremiah are one of the prophets. And he said, Well, who do you say I am? And in verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. God the Father has shown you who I am. And God knew, or Jesus Christ knew, where that knowledge had come from. And then he goes on and he says, And I say also to you that you are Peter. And on this rock, and he's referring to himself, the rock, Peter being the little rock, Jesus Christ the large rock, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

I will build my church.

Now he began preparing for his church while he was alive as a human, but the real building of his church didn't occur until after he was resurrected.

I will build my church. This is what I am going to do. But he really couldn't do that while he was still alive because there were things that had to happen for the church to be built.

And Jesus Christ was well aware of where they are. And he goes on and says in verse 19, And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. I will build my church.

Peter, I'm looking at you. It's going to be built on Jesus Christ because he is the resurrected Savior. He is the only one who can begin a church that would lead to salvation, that would lead to eternal life. The only one who had been resurrected to eternal life. Only he could do that, leaving a perfect example and living a perfect life as he did while he was on earth and perfectly fulfilling the scriptures that were there. I'll build my church, and I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What had to happen before the building of the church could begin?

Well, those who are contractors among us probably know what that answer is. When you're going to build a building, a sizable building, you need a cornerstone, right? You need something permanent. You've got to start someplace. You've got to start with a cornerstone and then build the foundation and then build it from there. A few chapters later, in Matthew 21, Jesus Christ talks about that. Chapter 21. I'm going to begin reading in verse 42. But leading up to verse 42, Christ has a parable about a vine dresser and a master of a field, and he sends servants to gather his crops. The people murder the servants. Finally, he sends his son, and they murder his son too. And as the Pharisees are listening to this proverb, they're listening intently, and Jesus Christ specifically addresses them. Not just the disciples, but he addresses them. In verse 42, he says this, Have you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.

He's become the chief cornerstone. He couldn't become the chief cornerstone when he was still alive. He still had a mission to accomplish. He had to die. He had to be resurrected. He had to be accepted by God. The wave sheaf offering in the Old Testament that was talked about during the days of Unleavened Bread foreshadowed what Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled. He would be resurrected. He would ascend into heaven. God would accept him, and then he would come back down, and the harvest would begin. He would be accepted as the chief cornerstone of that building that he said, I will build my church. It wasn't going to happen while he was alive as a human.

It was going to happen. It was going to happen, surely, but it was going to happen after he was resurrected. And he was going to set some of the foundation in place there, which he had already begun to do, but formalize it and finalize it while he was on earth during those days. But let's stay on the chief cornerstone for a moment, because here in Matthew 21 it says, Haven't you read these things? Isn't it a marvelous thing? Isn't this a great thing that God has done? He sent the chief cornerstone. Isn't it a marvelous thing that Jesus Christ has become the chief cornerstone of the church that he would build? In verse 43, he says, Therefore I say to you, and remember he's talking to the Pharisees and the Jewish nation of that day, Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Judah, Judaism, Judea, those of you who say you have all the truth, those of you who are running around saying you're the people of God, but you're not, as he's been returning them, because you aren't doing the things that God said in the Bible. You're replacing the commandments of God with the replacements of men, with the commandments of men. You're honoring traditions more than what the commands of God are when the chief cornerstone is taken, is set. The kingdom will be taken from you.

And I will give it to the church that I am beginning. The church, the kingdom of God, will be taken from you and given to a nation. Now, if you look in Strong's, Strong's number 1484 in the Greek, better translated, people. The kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people bearing the fruits of it, bearing the fruits of the kingdom. Were the Jewish people that they bearing the fruits of the kingdom? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. They weren't bearing any of the fruits of the kingdom. They wanted to put the Savior to death. They were partial to people. They had no love in their heart. They had no mercy. They had no compassion.

They were envious. They didn't do anything. None of the fruits that God said His people would bear.

But He said, I'm going to take it from you. You had your chance. You could have been who I wanted you to be. I'm taking it from you and I'm going to give the keys to the kingdom to this church I will build with Christ as the rock and Peter as the small rock, and that will be given to a people who bear the fruits. How do we bear the fruits? Through the Holy Spirit, right? The only reason, the only reason we can bear the fruits of God is when we have the Holy Spirit in us and we follow Jesus Christ and do exactly what the Bible says. Verse 44, whoever falls on this stone will be broken. He'll be converted. He's going to be a broken person, but He's going to be alive to God. But on whomever it falls, it will grind Him to powder. Fall on that cornerstone, that cornerstone that would mark the beginning of the church of God. Jesus Christ, our perfect standard, as it says in Ephesians 4, the one who we aspire to be like through the course of our life, letting God perfect us, looking into ourselves, weeding out the old, the corrupt, the vile, the sin, and replacing it with the Holy Spirit and the truth it would give us. 1 Peter 2 and verse 21.

Peter says, he's the example. This is the example we follow. He's the chief cornerstone. He's the one that we follow from here on out. He is, if we go back to 1 Corinthians 15, he is the first of the first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15.

Pick it up in verse 20.

But now, Paul writes, but now Christ is risen from the dead, and He's become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Everyone else who has ever lived still sleeps. They don't go to heaven, as you heard in the sermonette. They're sleeping, waiting, waiting for Jesus Christ to call out to one group come forth and receive eternal life, to another group that happens after that, to a life or to death, depending on what they do with the choices that you and I have already made. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20.

For since by man, speaking of Adam and Eve, since by man came death, by the man Jesus Christ also came the resurrection of the dead. He died that our sins could be forgiven, that we could be reconciled to God. He was resurrected to life, that we have the hope of eternal life. Without it, we have nothing. We have nothing. But each one, or verse 22, for as in Adam all die, even so Christ in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first, the only human who has been resurrected to eternal life, Christ the firstfruits afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. First him, then this group, then this group that falls asleep in Christ, that has his Holy Spirit, that has followed him, that has answered the call, that has become part of the temple, part of the church, that Jesus Christ said he will be building, and that he began building, and began to be built after he came, and he was with the disciples for 40 days, when the Holy Spirit was received by them on the day of Pentecost, and continues today until the time that God the Father sends him back down to earth. That was going to be the way it was. Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, the wave sheaf offering, the perfect sacrifice, the perfect, perfect example that you would want for a cornerstone for the church and who we would emulate because he lived the life that he asks us to live. He overcame the way he expects us to overcome using his spirit, and he has become an example in all ways to us. Let's go back to Ephesians 2.

The cornerstone was set. Jesus Christ was there on earth. People saw him. Scriptures were beginning to be understood. There were witnesses. They were remembering what Jesus Christ had said. Ephesians 2 and verse 19. Read the whole sentence here. Now, therefore, Paul writes to the Ephesian church, you're no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Chief cornerstone was there. Now he was back. Now he was on earth, and now he would lay the foundation and complete the foundation for that building among the apostles that were there. He had begun that while he was on earth, but it wasn't going to complete it until that time because you can't build the foundation until the cornerstone is set. The cornerstone is set, and then the foundation begins to be built. Let's go to John 17.

As Christ spoke to his disciples, gathered with him there on that last Passover night, he gave them some other visions of what they were going to be doing and what they were going to be learning from him. They didn't understand what he was saying then. They would understand later. In John 17, we have his final prayer before he was arrested. And down in verse 20, he says this, he says, I don't pray for these disciples alone. I don't pray for these apostles that are gathered here with me tonight for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

Everyone, everyone who's going to be called, everyone who's going to become part of this church that I will build and that I will continue to build until the day that I return, they'll all be part of it. Apostles, you've seen me. Apostles, you know me. Apostles, you've heard me. You're going to teach what I've taught you. And others are going to believe, and they're going to be added to the temple through the word that you say, through what you are going to do. Later, they would understand that. Later, the education that he gave them, the knowledge that he gave them, the direction that he gave them would mean something to them as they went out and they began to do what Jesus Christ did as he laid the foundation before his death, but in the 40 days afterwards, as he gave commandments to the apostles, as he helped them understand the scriptures, as he worked with them and they could see this is what the plan was. He's the chief cornerstone. Now it is up to us. And they were irreversibly changed. They already were committed to God. Now they were filled with zeal and energy and commitment to what he had done. They knew.

They knew the truth, and they knew what was there, and they were excited about it and committed to it. Over in John 20. John 20.

After the resurrection, Christ appeared to the disciples, and they believed in him, you know? But one notable apostle or disciple wasn't there that night or that day that he appeared to them, and this was Thomas. And you all know Tommy Dowding Thomas. He said, I'm not going to believe that he is alive until I can actually touch and see him. So down here in verse 26 of John 20, says, After eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them, Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you. And he said to Thomas, reach your finger in here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side.

Don't be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas, when he saw and felt, he believed. And he answered and said to him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

You know there in 31 A.D. or whatever the year was, if it was a year later or a year before, those disciples could see and they believed. They saw Christ before he died. They saw him or knew of him in the tomb. They knew he died. They saw him afterwards. And he said, Blessed are you. You've seen it. But you know all the people after you, they're not going to see me. I'm going to heaven and I'm not returning again until God the Father sends me back down to earth. Blessed are they who haven't seen me and they believe. Thomas, you should have believed. Thomas, those after you won't see me physically, but they'll believe. They'll believe because God the Father will call. God the Father will open minds to scriptures. God the Father will build the church and add to it and add those stones to the foundation that Jesus Christ was finishing before he went up into heaven and stayed there for the rest of time. They'll believe.

They should have maybe understood. He wasn't coming back down to earth right then as some of them believed. He wasn't coming right back down while they were alive. It was going to go on for a while. Over in John 21, another time Christ appears to the disciples and they're out fishing. They're having no success in fishing. Whatever they bring their nets in, there's nothing in it at all. Christ calls from the shore. Cash your nets into the right side. You'll find a cash there. Indeed, they do that and 153 fish are brought up at that time.

And in verse 12, Jesus said to them, after this event where he said to do this and all of a sudden these fish are brought up, Christ said to them, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? Who are you? You know what? He didn't look.

Like the Jesus Christ they remembered. They didn't recognize his face.

Something wasn't right because if he looked exactly like he did when he was with them, they would have known immediately, just like I know you immediately, you know me immediately.

Who are you? They knew it was him. They knew it was him because of what he had done and what he had said. There was something there, but they couldn't. They said, he doesn't look like him. Who are you?

Who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and likewise the fish. And this was the third time Jesus showed them to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

You know, they didn't know the face. They knew the voice. They knew the voice.

They knew what he asked them to do and told them to do and when he did it.

That's Jesus Christ. That's Jesus Christ. Keep your finger there in John 21. Let's go back to John 10.

Later, they would probably remember these words that Jesus Christ said back in John 10 about the Good Shepherd and what he would do for his sheep.

In John 10 and verse 11, breaking into what Christ was saying here, in verse 11, he says this.

He says, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

He's willing to do that. He loves the sheep that much that he would give his life for those sheep.

But a hireling, he who's not the shepherd, one who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. He's not going to stand by them. He's going to get afraid. I'm not going to risk my life. I'm not going to risk my neck for these sheep. I don't really care for them that much. But the Good Shepherd loves the sheep. He would lay down his life for them. The hireling flees, verse 13, because he's a hireling and doesn't care about the sheep. Christ says, I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. I know them, and they know me. As the Father knows me, even so, I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Another sheep I have which are not of this fold, though some of them are here, but you know what? There's going to be more sheep, not just the ones that are here today, but the ones that would come after them, the ones who are going to make up all of this church he would build. Another sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice. Just like back in John 21, they knew the voice. It didn't look like him.

They didn't want to ask, who are you? They knew the voice, and they knew who he was.

I also must bring them, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Therefore, my father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.

You know, as we go through life, we better be learning Jesus Christ's voice. We better be recognizing what he says. It may not always look the way you want it to look. It may not always be in the form that you want it to be in. It may not be delivered in the way that you want it delivered. We'd better know the voice. We'd better know the truth of the Bible. We better know exactly what Jesus Christ stands for, exactly what he wants his people to be, exactly where he's leading us, what we must do to be in that kingdom and follow him. If we don't know his voice, we'll fall. We will fall, and we will listen to some other voice that sounds kind of good. That sounds kind of like it's out there. We must know his voice. His disciples, his apostles, they knew his voice. The only way you can know his voice is if you know the Bible, if you know the Word of God, if you listen to him, if you listen to what is being said, if you understand what his calling is and what his church is and what he wanted to be taught and who he wanted us to become.

Now, what the plan of God is, what he's working here below, there's only one way, and that's to know his voice and to follow it. The disciples that were gathered there that day, they knew his voice. They knew who he was. They knew who he was that they were talking to, even though he didn't look exactly the way they remembered him looking. Well, let's go back to John 21. With that in mind, John 21. We stop in verse 12. We stop in verse 14.

And as Jesus Christ is there with them, eating them, eating with them, he says in verse 15, So when they had eaten breakfast, Christ said to Simon Peter. Now, remember Christ said to Simon Peter back in Matthew 16, Peter, upon this rock, referring to himself, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. He said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Judah, do you love me more than these? Well, that's the Greek word agape. Simon, do you agape me more than these? He said to him, yes. Peter answered, yes, Lord, you know that I, but he doesn't say agape you, I filio you. Yes, I love you like a brother. Yes, I love you. You know I love you. He didn't answer the question. Yes, I filio you. And Christ said to him, feed my lambs. Take care of them. Make sure these little ones that are brought in to my house, make sure these little ones are fed well. You make sure you're paying attention to them.

Not just yourselves, but all those that God will add to, because he will add to. You feed my lambs.

Verse 16, Christ said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Judah, Jonah, do you agape me?

Peter said, yes, Lord, you know that I filio you. Now, why couldn't Peter answer the question?

What's the fruit of the Spirit? The first one listed is agape, right? Peter knew what Jesus Christ was saying. He didn't understand what agape was at that time. There's only one way you have agape, and that's the Holy Spirit. It's a fruit of the Spirit. Peter was answering the best he could. Yes, I love you. You know I love you. I'm attached to you. I believe you. Peter would have said at that time, I'll give my life to you. He did say that before the crucifixion. I would do anything for you. But he couldn't say that at that time. Later, he would know what agape is. Later, he would say, yes, I agape you, because we know that agape is a choice, not just an emotion, a choice that we make to put the other person first, to look out for his needs, and to do the things that God would want us to do. Just like Jesus Christ made a choice to agape us, to allow us to give his life, to people who don't deserve it, to people who rejected him, to people who would disdain him and count him not worthy or not important, that he made a choice to lay down his life for us. That's agape.

Jonah, Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape me? Yes, you know that I affiliate you. Christ said to him, tend my sheep. All these sheep that are here today of this fold, but the more that are going to have to be brought into the fold as well, as he said in John 10. Tend them, take care of them, love them, make sure their needs are met, give them water, give them food, nurture them, grow them, bring them to the master, treat them as they were your own.

Christ said to him the third time, verse 17, Simon, son of Jonah, do you affiliate me? He said, Philio, this time, Peter was greed because he said to him the third time, do you Philio me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I Philio you. And Christ said to him, feed my sheep, feed them, nurture them, take care of them. The ones that I give you, the sheep I put in your pasture, in your flock, take care of them. Treat them as your very own. Love them the way I loved you. Love them the way that Jesus Christ loves them.

Peter got the message. As you read later on, he was willing to lay down his life for the church, the temple of God, for the people that were there. In verse 19, Christ says to him, the very words that he told Peter when he called them.

When he called him and told him, you leave the world behind, you leave your profession behind, he said, follow me. And as he was concluding this scenario with Peter, he said, follow me.

Words that he would say to his people then and people now, follow me.

Oh, he was teaching them. He was laying the foundation. They knew who they were. They knew what their mission was. I think they understood what Jesus Christ was doing. They knew he was the chief cornerstone. You know, when he told them back in Matthew 16, back in Matthew 16, that he would build his church, he gave them a vision of the kingdom. In the very next chapter, Peter, James, and John, in John 17 and chapter 18, he told them, if you want to enter the kingdom of God, he gives them the scenario of the little children coming to him. You have to be humble. You have to be teachable. If you're not like this, you won't be in my kingdom. He kind of showed them what it is.

Prior to that, he sent them out two by two. Go out. Teach repentance. Teach the gospel. I'm giving you the power to cast out demons to heal sicknesses. Go in, and when you go, don't provide for yourself. Don't worry about that. Don't take tunics with you. Don't take extra money. Go and stay with them, and if a house receives, you use hairy with them, and if they don't want to hear it, knock the dirt off your sandals and get on with it. He had seen what they were doing. He was teaching them. He was training them even while he was there. Now it was time for them to continue the church and do what God had asked them to do, as they were brought into the fold that God had brought them into. The foundation was being laid. Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, not to return again until He returns to establish the kingdom, and just a few days later they received the Holy Spirit, and they went out and they preached the gospel, and the church began to be built, and God added to it. And you remember the numbers that He added to it. Back in Hebrews, then He continues to add to it today. Let's go back to Hebrews here. Hebrews 12.

Speaking to the people long after Jesus Christ was ascended into heaven as the churches began to form, as God was adding to them, as it was opened up to the Gentile areas, as well as those in Judea who would listen to Him. The author of Hebrews writes this in verse 22. He says, But you, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an immeasurable or an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men, made perfect, the very thing that Jesus Christ was, that He wants to work in us. He had been brought to the Church of the Firstborn, the Church of the Firstborn. Jesus Christ was the first of the first fruits, the Church of the Firstborn, the Church that Jesus Christ said He would build. I want to pause a moment, go back to the Old Testament just as you think about it. Remember what being a Firstborn meant in the Old Testament. Being a Firstborn was quite a privilege, carried a lot of responsibility with it, but also had a lot of privilege in it. Esau was a Firstborn, but he didn't pay much attention. It didn't count it very important what the privileges of being the Firstborn was. He thought it was less important that birthright that was part of the Firstborn's heritage. He thought that was less important, I'll sell it. Jacob, you can have it. I'll sell it for a bowl of soup. This thing is more important to me than the Firstborn and the rights to the Firstborn that I have. Can you imagine? I'll sell it for a bowl of soup.

Jacob understood the importance of the Firstborn. He wanted that. And he was there. He took it. Esau was willing to give it. Later he ended up with the blessing as well. And Esau, when he recognized what he had done, I forfeited it. I had all these things. I had this privilege. I was the Firstborn and I gave it all away because all this was important to me and I've lost track of what was really important in life, what really I had been given, what gift I had been given. My name was sorry, but he could never come to repentance over it. Firstborn. The Firstborn in the Old Testament meant a lot. You know, we don't turn there much. We don't talk about it much during the days of Unleavened Bread, but let's go back to Exodus 13 for a second here.

Exodus 13. We spend time in Exodus 13 talking about unleavened bread and the seven days we eat unleavened bread and what it remember, what it signifies, and what we would teach our children about it. But down in Exodus 13 and verse 11, there's something else God says in that chapter that he wants them to do and that he institutes for his people. Chapter 13 of Exodus, verse 11.

It will be, says, when the Eternal brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers and gives it to you, that you will set apart to the Eternal all that opened the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have, the males will be long to the Eternal. But every firstborn, he says in verse 13, of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you want, redeem it, break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. They belong to me, God says. The firstborn of Egypt were killed.

But he says, you give your firstborn who I spared. When you obeyed me and did what I said, you give your firstborn to me. They're mine. Let's go back to Numbers 8. Numbers 8 and verse 5. We find God here with Israel, and he talks about the firstborn as well.

Verse 16, and then we'll back up a little bit. Numbers 8.16. Speaking of the well, let's begin with verse 15. You can see kind of the context here. Verse 15, he goes, after that the Levites, he chooses a tribe out of Israel. After that the Levites will go into Sarvus, the tabernacle of meeting. You will cleanse them and offer them like a way of offering. For they are wholly given to me, God says, from among the children of Israel. I have taken them for myself instead of all who opened the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. The Levites. That's going to be the ones who serve me, who do my work.

Let's go back to verse 10. In verse, earlier in the verses, they are ceremonially cleansed to Levites. In verse 10, it says, you shall bring the Levites before the eternal, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. And Aaron, remember Aaron was the high priest, and we know who our high priest today is, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the eternal like a wave offering from the children of Israel, that they may perform the work of the eternal.

So they're going to be offered, he says, as a wave offering before God. Present them before God.

They're sanctified. They're set apart. They're mine. They're mine, and they're consecrated for the work of the temple. And the Levites, verse 12, shall lay their hands, oh, I don't want to read that. Let's go back to verse 13. And you shall stand the Levites before the high priest and his sons, and then offer them like a wave offering to the Lord. Separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine. They belong to me. We read verse 15 to 16. Let's drop down to verse 17. For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them to myself.

I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel, and I have given the Levites as a gift to the high priest and his sons from among the children of Israel to do the work for the children of Israel in the Tabernaclea meeting and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel, where the children of Israel come near the sanctuary. And the congregation of Israel did that. God says those firstborn, they're mine. He says in Hebrews 12-25, you, that's you and me. That's the disciples back at 31 A.D. That's the people that were there in 90 A.D. That's the people have been through. You are part of the church of the firstborn. You've been redeemed. You've been set apart. You've been sanctified.

You've been given as a gift to God to do my work, to do my work. Part of what Jesus Christ gave us to do. Part of what Jesus Christ began. Part of what Jesus Christ, the only man who was able to save, to offer salvation to us through his life, through his death, through his resurrection. That's the church of the firstborn. That's who God calls into it, the ones he would call out of the world and make them that way. And that's you and me. And God says we've been given as a gift, but you know what? It's more a gift to us. It's more a gift to us that we've been called out. More a gift to us that we've been given to God. More a gift to us that we understand the truth. More a gift to us that God has given us this opportunity, this privilege of being one of the first fruits, of being one of the first born. To do. That no one else can do. That we have the opportunity for some reason that God looked down and said, it's you. It's you. I will take you and make you a firstborn. I hope that excites you the way it excites me. I hope that it rings in our ears what is going on and that we realize that there is nothing, nothing on earth that compares to that. There should be nothing that company, family, ourselves, our own desires, nothing that should separate us or cause us to leave what God had set beside. If there is anything that we can think that is more important to do than what God's will is, then shame on us. We don't understand the gift God has given us. What a privilege. What an absolutely astounding and marvelous and awesome thing God has done to call you and me and to make us part of what Jesus Christ began, what He started on earth and what He continues to build today, and that He will continue to build until the time that He returns. What a tremendous thing. And He's working with you and me to do that. Let's go back to 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Peter understood that. You know, when he walked with Christ at the end of his life and his chisels that he wrote, you can see. He got it. He lived it. He understood the importance of what God said. He was willing to give up his own life, too, because there was nothing more important to him than following God and allowing God to perfect him. Let's pick it up in verse 4. 1 Peter 2. Verse 4. Coming to Christ as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. Coming to the chief cornerstone, rejected by men, but precious to God, should be precious to us, chosen by God. You also, he says, speaking to you and me and everyone else, God would call as He was building His temple. And all the walls of it down through the ages, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's what you're called to do. That's what we're doing. That's what God's doing with us. Therefore, it's also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. He's it? The cornerstone is set? The foundation is laid? The builds or the walls are being built? The temple that Jesus Christ will return to is being built? You and I have a part in that. Do we want it? Do we want it? Do we understand what Jesus Christ was doing those 40 days and what He continues to do and our part in it? What could be more important?

What could be more exciting? What could be more riveting than what God is doing and what He's working in us? Verse 8 going on, He says, they stumble being disobedient to the Word to which also they were appointed. They were given the opportunity, but they stumble because they just want to do their own thing and put this and that and whatever in front of God. But you, He says, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. Remember back in Matthew 21? I'm taking the kingdom from these people who rejected it and giving it to another people who will bear the fruits of the kingdom. His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That's you and me. That's you and me, if we want it.

Jesus Christ accomplished a great deal in those 40 days after the resurrection before He ascended to heaven. He became the chief cornerstone. He laid the foundation for the temple.

People are being added to it. Stones are being added to it. The walls are being built. We have an opportunity to be part of that temple or we have an opportunity to just reject it and say, not that important, be like Esau. Not that important. I'll sell my place in the temple on what God is doing for this bowl of soup or for whatever it might be.

The choice is ours. God doesn't make us become part of what He's doing. But as He left, He told the disciples, you wait in Jerusalem until Pentecost and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. And as we look forward to the day of Pentecost, you know, we understand what that means and what happened that day. But He gave His church a commission, a commission that He had shown while He was on earth, but He left them in Matthew 28, the commission that His church would be doing today. The same thing that He did when He was on earth and that will continue until the time that He returns. Matthew 28, verse 18. Jesus came and He spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Teach them to live the Word of God. Teach them to follow the example that I set. Teach them to put God first. Teach them to be willing to sacrifice their lives. Teach them that they are called, they are elect, that God has chosen them to serve Him and to serve mankind and to dedicate their lives to Him. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.