The resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ are presented as established facts supported by many infallible proofs, as detailed by Luke the physician. These proofs include the Old and New Testament scriptures, the forty days Jesus appeared to his disciples after rising, the witness of over five hundred people, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the observance of the Lord's Day, the existence of the Church, and the distinct, recognizable voice of Jesus. Furthermore, the permanent scars on Jesus' body serve as eternal identification of his sacrifice and ongoing work. These abundant evidences confirm Christ's living presence at God's right hand, enabling believers to trust in his care and salvation.
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Shall we turn in our Bible to Acts chapter one? Acts chapter one. And verse one. The Thelmer treatise have I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. until the day in which he was taken up after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandment unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible truths, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John should be baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, Say, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall be witnesses, for that 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 parts of the earth.
That's all we read this morning for verse three is our text. Last Sunday morning we were speaking of the author of Luke, that is the position, Luke the position, the beloved position, he wrote two books, he wrote Luke, and he wrote Acts. And there's a real similarity between these two books, indicating without doubt that Luke is the author. Then on Sunday night we gave a survey of the book of Acts. But this morning I want to speak on those words many of infallible proof.
You'll notice the certainty, the definiteness with which Luke the physician writes. Quite in keeping with his profession as a surgeon, as a doctor, he goes into every detail. He doesn't leave a stone unturned to try the facts, and after assembling all the evidence undoubtedly talking to hundreds and hundreds of people especially those who had been healed by the Lord and they would be of real interest to a doctor and after assembling all this evidence he comes up with this saying he's going to present his case and he said all that I say is based upon infallible, indisputable proof or evidence.
Now the word infallible simply means something that is incapable of being error. It's something that never could be wrong. It's impossible to fail, and it's impossible to make a mistake. And so that's exactly what he means when he speaks of infallible truths, something you can depend upon. Put your complete and absolute trust in. Face eternity, without any doubt, if you're resting your all upon what God has said, you're on solid soil, you're on terra firma, it's absolute impossible for you to be wrong.
For God cannot lie. If God were to lie, if he were to tell an untruth, if he were to say something shady, then God could not be God. I am Jehovah. I praise God. And it's absolutely impossible for God to deviate one Iota from essential truth. And so here is Luke, and he says, what I'm going to present to you is infallible. I've sifted all the evidence, and it's infallible, infallible truth.
Infallible evidences as to the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are about fifteen of these proof, these evidence we're going to give this morning, if that thought will permit us. First of all, he's referring to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his ascension. We'll have more to say about that when we get to verse eleven. But here it is resurrection, and certainly he has plenty of evidence as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His ascension into God's presence.
First of all, you have the Word of God. Take the Old Testament scriptures for instance. The Old Testament scriptures tell us very plainly that the Lord Jesus Christ went into the presence of God. After His work upon the cross, His sojourn for forty days, He went back to the Father. For in Psalm twenty-four we are told, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up, ye everlasting, Lord, and the king of glory shall come in. And that has reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even Job could say, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in the latter days he shall stand upon the earth.
after my flesh the worm destroy this body yet I shall see God after this skin the worm shall destroy this body but in my flesh I shall see God now there is Job giving us evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ the divine Redeemer is in the presence of God. Now he's coming back to the earth to reign, and Job said, I'll see him. I'll see. Now if there were any in the Old Testament who told it on truth, the Lord Jesus Christ would be under obligation to correct that one in the Old Testament, but he certainly doesn't correct it, because Christ knew what Job said was the absolute truth.
And then again you have in Psalm a hundred and ten. God said to his son, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Here he's speaking prophetically. When the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, God took him back up to heaven and said, Now sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And so you have the Old Testament scriptures terrify the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And you also have the New Testament.
Christ says no man ascendeth up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And three times in John's gospel you have the Lord Jesus Christ being lifted up. He says in John six and sixty two, what and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up to where he was before? And also in chapter fourteen and two, he says, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
And in verse ten or sixteen and verse twenty-eight, he said, I came forth from the Father, again I leave the world, and I go back to the Father. Now here you have scriptures, utterances from the Old and New Testament, verifying the fact that and in unmistakable language, making it plain that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and he went back into heaven. In fact, you have various expressions here. Right here you find in verse nine he was taken up into heaven. If you would have turned over to Luke twenty-four, you would find he was carried up into heaven.
And if you turn to Mark sixteen, you find he was received up into heaven. In all these scriptures, there is a power at work, taking the Lord Jesus back into the heaven. And it was the power of Almighty God. He had the power in himself. He said, I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up again. And he said, I came down from heaven. I could ascend back to the heaven. But he didn't do that. He didn't do it himself. God was so pleased and so delighted with what his son did that God took him back into his presence.
And the Bible says in Hebrews four, he passed through the heaven. Now that's a very significant saying. You know, Satan's dominion. Satan's realm is around this world. He's called the prince and the power of the air. Satan could not keep Christ from rising from the dead. And Satan and all his hope could not prevent Christ from going right through Satan's domain, right through Satan's territory. He couldn't forget. And so we find that he has passed through the heaven.
Regardless of all the belts that our astronauts have spoken of and our space probers have come up with, they've spoken about the heat belt, and the heat is such that when their capsule comes back into that belt from being out in outer space, why it almost turns quite with heat. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ went through that day, and it didn't bother him. And also we think of the radiation belt and other barriers and other interferences that our spacemen have encountered in the exploration of space.
The Lord Jesus had none of those difficulties. It said he passed through the head, He's the Creator. He knew all about those belts around our planet, and there's no difficulty for him to pass through them all, unkindly. And then it tells us in First Peter, verse number three, twenty-two, that he is on the right hand of God. Here you have the undisputed, the undisputed ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ going back into the Father's presence.
So there you have an incredible proof. And another is he was among them for forty days. Supposing all the evidence we had was the empty tomb and the angel that sat upon that stone when he had rolled away. And that's all the evidence we had of the resurrection of Christ. Nothing more. Well, you say, it'd be pretty hard to believe, wouldn't it? That's all the evidence we had. The tomb's empty. From there on, we don't know what happened to his body. An angel was seated upon the stone and said that he had risen from the dead.
And that's all we would have to hang our faith upon. That's all the evidence the church would have to believe. God says, no, I'm going to give you plenty of evidence. I'll give you all kinds of proof that my son rose from the dead, and he was able to talk, he was able to eat with his disciples. He was among them forty days, and he tells us plainly that many other witnesses not only to his own, but many other witnesses chosen before of God.
Well, they didn't have any doubt about the Lord Jesus being dead. They had some doubts about his resurrection when they huddled in the upper room, prayed to leave for fear. Their life might be in danger. But after they were with him for forty days, and we have about eleven different appearing. They walked with them, they talked with them, they ate with him, and after all these witnesses, and the Bible gives us about five hundred and twenty-seven witnesses in the fifteenth of first Corinthians, we have nothing to fear.
God showed his son after he was raised from the dead. Even Solomon, even Thomas, rather, was asked to put his finger in the print of the nails and thrust his hand into his side and be not capeless but believing. We have all these evidences as to the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. God showed him alive. We leave over in the tenth chapter. Here is God's grand and glorious existence. God showed his son alive.
Here he is. Have you any grounds for doubting? Here is my son. He was rescued for thirty-some years. He was nailed to the cross. He was dead for three days. I raised him up. He's been now on earth for forty days mingling with his people. And he's eating with them. And he's walking with them. Here you have these many impellable fruits. And these are only one or two that we're going to mention. Then you have not only the Word of God, but do you know the very fact of the New Testament is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, we wouldn't have any New Testament. This plane is supposed to be out, Jesus' superstar. I was asked to hear the record and give my impression. Well, the very noticeable thing was this. It ended with Christ on the cross. Very, very strong. And if Christianity stops there, the world is doomed. Right away I could see something else, another power at work in that production than the power of God, for God did never intend that His Son be left on the flock.
We have a loving, loving Savior at God's right hand. And so we know There he is. We have the Word of God, the Old Testament, and the New Testament, and the New Testament is the story of his resurrection and his ascension. That's very evident. And throughout the Acts and the Apostles, we'll notice it as we proceed to it. Why did these Christians suffer? And suffer they did. They suffered much. They endured many hardships, and many of them were put into jail.
Why did they suffer like that, unless Christ had risen from the dead, and they had seen him after his resurrection? The very fact that they had seen him, the very fact they had eaten with it, they had talked with it, and he had performed a miracle. Why this was so convincing, death was so overpowered that they went forth with the story of Christ's resurrection, willing to lay down their lives as need be for this glorified law.
And so you have the Word of God, the Old Testament, the New Testament, you have the witnesses, pretty different of the parade, five hundred and twenty-seven witnesses who saw this man. Five hundred and twenty-seven honest men and some women, and they prayed before the court and say, I saw this man. You can't get around that. You can't get around that. Then you have the Spirit of God, another three of his ascension into the presence of God. The Spirit of God could not come into this world to form the church until the Lord Jesus went into heaven.
Christ himself said the Spirit of God has not been given, been given, because Jesus Christ is not yet glorified, and only when Christ was glorified could the Spirit come down on the day of Pentecost and begin the formation of the church. and then again the first day of the week. Why is it we keep the first day of the week and not Saturday, the old Jewish Sabbath? Now there is a group of people who try and tell us that you've got to keep the Sabbath. It was yesterday, and it's true enough, yesterday, Saturday is the old Jewish Sabbath.
Well, Christ was in the tomb on the Sabbath day. He rose, early the first day of a new week. That's why we call it the Lord's Day and not the Sabbath Day. Some use the word Sabbath because it speaks of red. But the old Jewish Sabbath, we're not under any obligation to keep that. Because we're not under law, we're under grace. We recognize the first day of the week because it was the day the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And several times in the New Testament, you have the church coming together on the first day of the week.
Making it very plain, that's the day God wants us to celebrate. They came together in Acts twenty-seven on the first day of the week of great prayer. to keep the communion thing. And he says on the first day of the week when you come together, he refers to their collection. And the disciples were together in the upper room on the first day of the week. And so after the resurrection of Christ, the first day of the week for the Lord's day, get the emphasis and not the Sabbath day. And the very fact that we keep the first day of the week only makes plain and prove positive that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on that day.
Then the church, we couldn't have a church on earth if Christ were not glorified in heaven. Because the church is spoken of as a body, and if you don't have a living head in heaven, you can't have a living body on earth. because no living body could exist without a living head. If you assassinated a man and took off his head, his body was done. But the reason we know there's a living man in heaven is because there's a living body of believers on earth known as the church, which is his body.
And all who are in that body have the same life as the head. And the church gets its instruction. It's a fight from the head in heaven. And the book of Acts, we may say more about this tonight, Christ finished an unfinished work. When he was on the cross, he said it is finished and yielded up to glory. As to our salvation, he finished the work there. There's nothing left for us to do. but it tells you writing the opening verse here, verse one of our chapter.
The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and do. He just began now in his resurrection. He finished one job on the cross, but he's been carrying on another job ever since. His work on earth is done. He finished it when He said on the cross it is finished, but when He went up to heaven, He began another work. It was not finished yet, and never will be. So Christ is carrying on another work, an unfinished work, and He's doing it for the heck.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John talk about what He did on earth. Acts for the Apostle, tell us about what he's doing in heaven. And he took up from the cross. He was raised from the dead. And now in the glory, he's carrying on his work of the formation and expansion of the church to the apostles and also all his beloved people until this day. Notice another truth. impalible truth. And that's his voice. You know, you cannot question a person's voice.
And here, the Lord Jesus Christ, why his voice was identified immediately. And the voice is one of the most difficult things to imitate. There are some who try to impersonate voices. But you can find deep there. And an expert would find it right away. And here you find the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection. Here is Mary. She expects him or thinks he's the gardener when she saw him in the haze of the early morning. She couldn't see clearly. And she's supposing him to be the gardener said, Will you tell me where thou hast laid him?
The Lord Jesus said, Mary, right away she identified that voice. For who not? That voice had not lost its soul, its quality, its resonance. It was just the voice. Fastly through the experience of death did not in any way change the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you have his voice. and in the song of Solomon you read this language, the voice of my beloved. His voice is a wonderful thing. Have you heard his voice?
You remember a case in the Acts with comfort as we perude this book, and here's a man and he's possessed with demons, and there are seven sons of one, Sceva, a Jew. And these seven sons, because the Apostle had been casting out demons, they thought they would cast the demons out of this man. And they proceeded to go through the formula and command that this man and the demons in this man come out of him. And what did the demons inside that man say to those seven sons of Stephen? Jesus, I know...
All I know, but who are you? And that one man possessed the demons leaped upon those seven men, and they fled out of the house near. They didn't recognize the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man who is an imposter, a heavenly imposter, trying to imitate the voice of the Son of God. No man can imitate. the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. The Lord Jesus Christ has the same voice today as he had when he was here in us.
Remember the case of Isaac and his two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was going to cry and take Esau's plate. You know a little scheme that his mother, Rebecca, and self-worked out, and they put some of Esau's clothes on Jacob. The clothes that had the smell of a field, because Esau was a hunter. And she took the, had goats' hair, and put that all up his arm, on this arm, and around his neck. And she sent Jacob in, all fixed up, near she could gun him like Esau.
And Jacob says, Rise, my Lord, and eat of thy son's denison. Jacob says, Who is an old man? He says, The hands are the hands of Esau, but the voice is the voice of Judah. He didn't fool Jonah. hold by Isaac. Recognize immediately this is the voice of Jesus. I no doubt that they've tried to do a little bit of impersonating too, but he didn't get that. Friend, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ is another evidence that this is the same one that was hung upon that thought.
The voice was just the same after the resurrection. Never man speaks like this man. In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about the voice of the Lord Jesus. Over in Revelation, it says he has a voice as the sound of many walkers. Majestic, musical, melodious. No sour notes in the voice of the Lord Jesus. His voice is true. It's soft. It's sweet. It doesn't clear. It's articulate. No voice like the voice of the Son of God.
His voice is spoken of as the mighty. And this voice is so thunderous when he wants to use it. It rounds out all other voices. Such is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So why should one cry? impersonate him. And yet there are many rumors of day, and the Bible says in latter days they will try and impersonate the Lord Jesus. They can't do it. No one can impersonate him. His voice is a lion. When it were, seep he would pray.
And the lion they claim when he lured, he shepherds before him. But with the voice of the Son of God. And his voice was such he could calm the trouble's seed. He could reduce the element and they would obey him. Such is the voice of the Lord Jesus. And his voice is another invaluable proof that this man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God from heaven. but only heavenly people can understand that heavenly voice.
Do you remember when he spoke peace to your heart? I well remember when he spoke peace to mine. Yes, I heard his voice, oh, of course, not with these ears, but that inner ear. Then he said, Thy faith has saved me. I knew it. And when he told the demons to leave Mary Magdalene, she recognized the voice that saved her and took her out from under the power and influence of those demons. And when she heard them on the resurrection morning, her heart was saddened and heavy because Jesus had been crucified.
When he said, Mary, he called her name, she identified it immediately. And you know, everyone who is saved by the grace of God will identify that voice on the resurrection. When Christ comes to the air, his feet and all that are healed will rise and reach him. The unsaved don't understand that voice. Remember, When the Father spoke to him from the excellent glory, some said it thundered, others said an angel spoke to him.
Here was a voice speaking from heaven. It was a voice of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ also has the voice of the Father, and his voice is distinct. There's no other voice like it. then there's another proof in your Bible concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's His scar, His scar. This evidence of identity is accepted in any court of law. That's why when you are asked questions to fill out the form, they'll ask you if you have any birth marks, if you have a mold on your face or the scar that goes down.
When the FBI is keeping the records of a dangerous character, they write down all kinds, if they can find, people who know all kinds of marks upon his body, a tattoo. What's the tattoo like? Where is it on his body? And all kinds of marks and scars. on the countenance the body of that criminal is taken down, they will identify. I am sure that you remember what happened a number of years ago when that terrible crime was committed, when that man, the name of which was struck, killed seven young women.
You remember it was when he was on the table because he was hurt. And when he was on the operating table, the doctor detected a tattoo. And do you know what that tattoo was? Born to raise hands. That was the tattoo he had on him. And when the doctor was operating by the sales life, he saw that tattoo and he whispered to one of the nurses, called the police. And that's what made me ready.
He was identified by a scar of water. A scar with red. I was born with a red head. And he certainly did. But you know there was another one who was born to the people. There was another one who was born to defy her and invade her. And he was going to establish a church and the gates of terror shall not prevail against. He could say, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and are the kings of death and of terror.
How do we know that this Jesus crucified on the cross with the true son of God. He has five unmistakable scars. I don't think he has any tattoos, but he has scars that everyone will recognize in that day. Even Israel will say, what are these wounds in thy hands? And he shall reply, These are they with which I was wounded in the house of my grave. And do you know the only person in heaven, and there are going to be millions upon millions, a billions upon billions of people in heaven?
Do you know the only person in heaven with a scar on his body? The Lord Jesus Christ. All those who are saved here by grace will have perfect bodies on the resurrection morning. Some have lost both legs, some have lost both arms. Some bodies have been stabbed to heal the lips. Some blind, some deaf, some dumb. But on the resurrection morning, every born-again Christian is going to have a perfect body. no sign of earth's stars or moths or wounds except one.
The Lord Jesus Christ is seen in Revelation, and it says the land and stars rests his faith. The only man in heaven with a moth of synagogue will be the man who knew those things. did no sin, but was made sin for you and me, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, and we have seen those scars forever. Those scars will identify throughout all eternity, and the land that was slain. The poor has said, How shall I then know thee amid those hosts about?
What children's true will show me the object of my love. Those wounds, those wounds, Lord Jesus, those deep, deep wounds will tell of the sacrifice that he made from sin, from death, from hell. The hymn writer has said, I shall know him, I shall know him as redeemed by his side, I shall stand. I shall know him, I shall know it by the print of the nail in his hand. And in that coming day, we will see the hands of the Lord Jesus.
There will be scars in his hand. We will see a streak. There will be scars in his feet, where the nails went through. We will see a side where the spear clung into his heart. Whether we will see a circle of scars around this brow where the thorns pressed in were not true. But those five major scars will be there to tell us that this is the one who came into this world without sin, yet received the mark of sin when man nailed them to the feet.
And there goes God forever and forever. Like the Hebrew servant in the Old Testament who had the privilege to go out and leave his wife and children with his master because he had served his length of labor seven years. But he says, no, I'm not going to be a free man. I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not close to you. All right, says God, as an evidence of the proof of that love, you go to the doorpost and you'll have your ear borne through the wall.
And for the rest of his life, he bore that scar, the pull of his love for his master, his wife and his children. The Lord Jesus Christ throughout the eternal years will wear those scarves. fluently, eloquently, of his love for his master's love, his love for his great history, and his love for the church becomes an all-week. Thus we have these indisputable evidences of the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
And he sits at God's right hand this very moment, How wonderful to know that. One could go on and speak with his care, this wonderful care. If I didn't have any other evidence than this, I wouldn't have any doubt about a living man at God's right hand that cares for his people. Forty years ago, I left my parents in Canada who needed my help. I came to North Carolina. I did no soul. I received no promise of the servant.
I came down south with just faith. They are living God in faith. And promised if I go in faith, he would meet my need. And I said, Lord, if you did me so and meet my need, I'll be sacrificed. And for forty years, I'll never miss the meal. I'd like to get better off that I missed the meal. But I never miss the meal. I've never been without money in my pocket. I never owe anyone a dime. And I have all the suits I need to wear.
I have a card of God. I don't owe a dime. I never asked for a penny. I wouldn't receive it. Anybody did. Ask me if I needed money. I wouldn't take it. Then my mother lived. I never breathed the words of my mother. She knew better than to ask me if I had any money. Only God knows. And God had never given. How are you going to explain that? It's a living person up there, and he has done what he said.
He's taken care of me, and he's done it for forty years. And I'm not worrying about my funeral, although I have enough money to take care of that. I gave the health authorities about three days to get rid of me. Nevertheless, I've got an insurance policy. I'm not worrying about that. All that's been taken care of, and I don't worry about it anymore. Why? Because they're from the church. Casting all your care that one gives, for the care of the youth. And then you have this presence of the worship meeting through Peter's presence.
And oh, the Christians over the years have told me how the Lord's presence became real to him through some experience. sorrow, a grief, an illness, a pass through. There was that invisible personality. The awareness of someone standing by me, I can't handle them, but I can feel his presence, his sustaining grace, his comfort, I can feel. I have moved in my earlier days when I was getting my visa to come out. I walked down the street of London. Everything seemed to be against my getting my passport in the United States.
And actually there was someone walking beside me. This was it as if the person I could handle. If I were up to that console and I got my passport. Yes, his presence is there. Many a time I've got on the platform to preach, and I might as well have been sitting on the front seat listening to someone else because the Lord was up here using a cruel, frail instrument to preach his word. There are evidences of his presence. One can go on, but time has gone. Not only his presence.
We have other things. We have... the very fact of the spirit being here. We have the fact of the Lord's day. We have the church here. We have the empty tomb, the discarded garments. We have the fact of those who today walk with him. We have those institutions who operate by faith, and he meets their need. And I'm going to say something else. Every time a precious soul is really born again, there's proof Another infallible truth, there's a living man up there because no one else can do it. No preacher can say that it is.
It's God's word that speaks to a human heart, accompanied by the Holy Spirit. And every time a soul is changed, it's another truth that Jesus lives with our salvation with our beloved. You have all these evidences, all these truths, and that's what Luke is talking about. Many impalible truths. And in face of all this evidence, how can you disbelieve for one solitary second of every word that's in this book?
And you know that's how you get saved. You simply believe God's word. take about it. Lord, you say it. I believe it. You say I am a sinner. I want to believe it. You say I am lost. I believe it. You say that you love me, and you proved it by giving your life, holding on the cross and shedding your blood to put my sins away. Lord, I believe it.