How
Scars Can Command a Blessing
Luke 24:50
I.
Introduction (Lk 24:50)
A. Have you ever seen rough, callused hands and thought - if they could only talk. Working hands, Loving hands, Sacrificial hands
B. Jesus, as He was readying to leave this world, and ascend back to heaven, lifts up His hands, His nail-scarred hands, and blesses His disciples
C. Those hands had:
1. Created this universe (Heb 1:10)
2. Cured untold numbers of broken bodies and lives (Lk 5:13)
3. Caressed the humblest of His creation - children (Lk 18:15,16)
D. But their greatest work was yet to come! Their work on the cross!
E. Scars usually represent the memory of a disaster (i.e., a fire), or hard labour - but the scars in the hands of Jesus Christ represent far more - they commanded a blessing to all who would accept what they did for them!
II.
Message - The
Blessings of Those Nail-Scarred Hands! (Luke
24:50)
A. They Purchased Our Redemption (Lk 23:33,34; 39-43). Those nail-scars are God's proof of purchase
1. They prove that Christ's death was the Full Payment - propitiation - the nails held Jesus to the cross until every sin was paid for - It is Finished!
a. Not that He was fighting to get off the cross
b. But to show He submitted to the punishment that only WE deserved!
c. Christ took our place in death, so that we could obtain life - cost Him everything - that is how much sin we had - that's how valuable we are
2. They prove that Christ's death obtained Free Forgiveness - made peace between us and God
a. The condemned thief on the cross had it THAT DAY
b. The whole world - no matter how wicked, can have it as well
3. They prove that if you are a Christian today, you are no longer your own (1Cor 6:19,20) - those scars show God owns you - paid for you, and bought you - freed you from sin, and forges a new life in its place!
4. Have YOU been purchased? Or are trying to "pay your own way?"
B. They Prove that He is Alive (Lk 24:39,40; Rev 1:18)
1. This is no fairy-tale. No apparition. These marks in Christ's hands are scars - not fresh, bleeding words - again, they show His finished work!
2. They remain there today - testifying:
a. That Jesus is ALIVE - forever more - never to die again.
1) Heaven is a real place. Jesus went there to "prepare US a place there" (Jn 14:1-3).
2) Jesus opened up the way to heaven - no other way (Heb 7:25)!
3) He is expecting everybody - have you accepted His invitation?
b. That our redemption came at a great price - will always remind us in heaven it was not by our works of righteousness, but by His blood!
c. That God's word is true (Ps 22:16; Zech 12:10; Jn 19:35-37; 20:20,24-28).
C. They Provoke Us to Good Works - the Great Commission (Lk 24:44-48)
1. The good works begin AFTER salvation - best efforts begin then!
a. All our efforts before we get saved lead us nowhere - just make us more proud, and more self-righteous!
b. But once we surrender to the hands of Christ, and get saved, those hands provoke, galvanize, cause us to get busy for the Lord
c. This last thing that Jesus did, as He ascended, so clearly showed the power of the Gospel - this is no death-bed scene! This is not the end, but rather the beginning!
2. Telling the Gospel - starting in your neighbourhood (Jerusalem)
3. Seeing folks saved by God's word working in hearts, humbling them, and transforming them
4. Helping folks grow, and become more and more like Christ
5. Taking back territory that used to belong to the devil!
6. That's what those scars compel us to do - no longer to live unto ourselves but unto Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us (2Cor 5:15)
7. Those scar-prints are deep marks of love for this world - your love for Christ, and for those who do not know Him is only as deep as you have seen those nail-prints go!
D. They Promise Christ's Soon Return (Lk 24:50,51; Acts 1:10,11)
1. As those hands raised up, and Christ commanded a blessing on those who follow Him, those nail-scarred hands remind us of His promise to return
2. All in view of that scene could see His hands, and they took note of those scars, and they burned in their minds the image of a Saviour who is returning one day soon as Sovereign and Lord!
3. The next time we see those nail-scarred hands, it will be when they are holding the reigns of a white Stallion - with us behind Him!
4. The question is, are you ready? It could be today!
E. They Press Upon Every Heart (Acts 2:22,23; Rev 3:20) - this is where we get down to business - those scars were not "passive" (not affecting people) - those nail scarred hands firmly place the responsibility upon any and all that they must be born again! Talk about pressure!
1. Those nail scars were for YOU and ME!
2. It was OUR sins that drove those nails through that sinless flesh, and hung Jesus on that tree, and left Him there to die!
3. Thank God for Holy Spirit conviction - guiltiness! The Holy Spirit takes the word of God, and cuts deep into our hard hearts, and shows us our sinfulness, and then directs us to hear the quiet, constant knocking of the Saviour! Calling us To open the door, and let Him come in!
4. Those nail scars remind me every time I sin, or am tempted to sin, that I have the victory - I got it from Jesus Christ! Christ provides the needed back-pressure so that this world, the flesh, and the devil can't compete!
III.
Conclusion -
A. They Purchased Our Redemption (Lk 23:33,34; 39-43). Those nail-scars are God's proof of purchase
1. They prove that Christ's death was the Full Payment - It is Finished!
2. They prove that Christ's death obtained Free
3. They prove that if you are a Christian today, you are no longer your own
4. Have YOU been purchased? Or are trying to "pay your own way?"
B. They Prove that He is Alive (Lk 24:39,40; Rev 1:18) This is no fairy-tale. No apparition.
C. They Provoke Us to Good Works - the Great Commission (Lk 24:44-48)
D. They Promise Christ's Soon Return (Lk 24:50,51; Acts 1:10,11)
E. They Press Upon Every Heart (Acts 2:22,23; Rev 3:20)
Pastor
Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church Blarney
29 Westcourt Heights
Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland