Let's pray. Father, we give you thanks for this day that you've given to us. Thank you that we're all back together today from being apart for a while. It's so good to see everyone, and we thank you for the provision you've given to this church. We thank you that you continue to sustain us, and we give glory to you. All glory, laud, and honor go to you, our God. Father, as we consider Your Word this morning, our prayer is that I would be faithful, that Your servant would be faithful to Your Word and not depart from it. That You would help all of us to have open hearts, open minds to receive what You teach us in Your Word. and that the Holy Spirit would work in us in such a way that we would leave here determined to live in light of what your Word teaches us. Father, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, in Luke 24, Jesus teaches us that the Scriptures properly interpreted lead us to Him. This makes the Scripture most necessary As Paul wrote to Timothy, the scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. So I want you to look with me then at Luke chapter 24, which offers us two narratives. You could call them two vignettes that really just teach us the same thing only from two different perspectives. So I want you to turn to Luke chapter 24. And let's consider these two narratives. We're looking at verses 13 through 53. The first narrative is Jesus the prophet interprets the word, verses 13 to 32. We read that there were two men on a road to a village named Emmaus. We read that in verse 13. Emmaus was a small village, kind of, well, they think it was this small village, about seven miles northeast or northwest of Jerusalem. And they were on their way there, and as they were walking, they were talking about all what happened, that Christ, that Jesus had been crucified, and they were discussing these things together. And Jesus drew near to them, and he hooked up with them and started walking, and he asked them this question. He says, what is this conversation that you are having with each other as you walk? And so, One of them looked and they stood still, kind of looked sad. And they said, are you the only one in Jerusalem that is unaware of what's going on? What took place there? Where have you been, so to speak? And he says, well, you know, well, what is it? What things? What things took place? And they said, well, you know, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Now he was a man who was a prophet, this is verse 19, he was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes. And besides all this, it is now the third day that these things happened. And moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They went to the tomb. They went to the tomb in the morning. They found it empty. And they couldn't find his body. And they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Wow. That's a mouthful. But they're sad. That's what they said. That's what it says. They were sad. They were sad. Why? Well, what were they looking for? Well, in Judaism at the time of Christ, there were four different perspectives on the Messiah. One was that he would be something like a political leader, only stronger than Rome. So that was one view. And then the other view was that he'd be a normal person, maybe a supernatural person, angelic. And some considered him to come after the end of history. And then some weren't looking for a messiah at all. So there was all these different kind of expectations about the coming of the messiah. So it ended up that there's two kind of categories of Messiah, the restorative one and the utopian one. So what one were these guys looking for? What view were they were looking for? Well, they might have been looking for the restorative one, because they were looking for Israel to be restored, Roman army to be taken out, and they would no longer be in captivity. Well, they weren't really in captivity, but they were, because they were not their own political entity. They were under the thumb of Rome. So Israel, Judah, even after the Babylonian captivity, they were never freed from captivity. They were always under the thumb of another leader. But you see, they were hoping. So they must have had this restorative view. They were hoping that it was he, that is Jesus, the man from Nazareth, the prophet, would be the one who delivered them. When you look at their words, what you see is that they were looking for somebody kind of like Moses. Notice what they said. He was a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all the people. Well, if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15 through 19, we read that the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. from among you, from your brothers. To him you shall listen, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see his great fire, any more lest I die. And the Lord said to me, They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them, and all that I command him, and whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name. I myself will require it of him." Then we read again in Deuteronomy 34 that there had not been a prophet rise like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and wonders that the Lord had sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and all of his servants, and to all his land. And for all the mighty power," you get that? "...and all the great deeds of terror Moses did in the sight of Israel." Well, what were they looking for? They saw this man of Nazareth, Jesus, was a man, He was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God. He was like Moses. That's what they were thinking, I believe. They were thinking he was like Moses. So he should do what Moses did. He should deliver the people from the hand of their oppressors. And he didn't. What they had lost was hope. They lost hope because they had a false expectation. They were looking for a Messiah, but not the Messiah promised in scripture. We know what this is like, don't we? For we too have false expectations, unrealized in our lives. How many times have people How many times have people written about the fact that Christ is going to come? Right? How many times has somebody said, it's going to happen in September 1988, or it's going to happen in September of 19-whatever, or it's going to happen now, and they're all, oh, the four blood moons, right? You remember that one? Four blood moons, you know, John Hagee, I guess that's who it is. Four blood moons and Christ is going to return. Everybody's waiting for Christ's return. What about one person who was in our church? I won't mention names, but one person in our church, really believed that herald camping is right, and that Christ was going to return that day. He had it all on a calendar at his job, he had it all on a calendar, all the days marked off. You know, all the guys would come in and look at him and say, yeah, the Lord's coming back on that day. And so on that day, he took the day off and stayed at home with his family, because he thought he was preparing for the Lord to come. Well, the Lord didn't come that day. Did he decide, oh, well, you know, Harold Camping's wrong? No. He kept following him. So did other people. They kept following him. Why? Well, they had their expectations dashed to the ground. Why? Because their hope was in the wrong thing. And we have our hopes unrealized well. We have them shattered. And why does that happen? Well, it happens because many times the object of our hope is misplaced. We were just talking this morning at Sunday school. I was really glad that Steve was there. Lisa got to talk with him. And I think for the first time, maybe he listened to something that was being said. I don't know, but I hope. He's a challenge for me to talk to. He really is, because I get to the end of my rope, and I want to tell him to shut up. He's a challenging guy. But he thinks that if we pray, God's going to answer the prayer the way we want. I keep telling him, God's not your servant. I'm reminded of this story, it was a true story, that a professor I had in college, he told us about someone that he knew that his wife had a brain tumor and they were going to operate to get the brain tumor out. You know, the whole family, everybody was expecting everything's going to be fine. Everybody was praying, the church was praying, their friends were praying, family was praying. They're expecting, yes, this woman is going to die, she's going to be okay. She died on the operating table. All their expectations are gone. We should trust God that he's going to do what's right. That he's going to do, not necessarily what I want, but he's going to do what's best. And it may be best that I die, or it may be best that someone in my family dies. Is it easy for us to take? No, it's not. It shouldn't be. It's easy to take it that the doctor pronounces that you've got some disease, that they don't know what you're going to do, and you pray, you ask God to deliver you from it. Will he deliver you from it? Maybe. Ultimately, he will anyway. Right? And isn't that what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to the king? They said, listen, we're not going to worship your statue. Our God's going to deliver us. And if he don't, we're still not going to worship your statue. Why? Because God's going to deliver them anyway. It didn't make it easy though. It didn't make it easy to stand up against everything that was before then. I think that our problem is that so often we have our hope fixed on our expectations when they should be fixed on Christ. I have said this, I'm going to memorize this one of these days, but you've got to get this down, we all have to get this down. What is your only comfort in life and in death? What is it? That I with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil. and so preserves me that without the will of my Heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head. Yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation and therefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. Without the will of my Heavenly Father Not a hair is going to fall from my head. All things are subservient to my salvation. That includes whatever suffering or whatever dashed expectations I may have. They are all there to conform me to Christ. So Jesus goes on with these men and he listens to their whining, and then he says to them in verse 25, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Jesus points them to the Scriptures and interprets to them what they say about Christ. It was necessary for Christ to suffer. It was necessary for Him to die, and then to be raised the third day, and then to enter into His glory. Suffering came before glory. Well, what did they believe about Christ? Well, they were waiting for something that didn't exist. They were waiting for something the scriptures did not declare. Why? Because they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had said. Well, Jesus continues walking with them, and when they get to Emmaus, they go in their home, and Jesus is going to go on, going to keep walking away and go away. And they said, wait a minute, wait a minute. Yeah, it's getting kind of late in the afternoon. Let's just come and stay with us. Come and stay with us. Come and stay at our house. Oh, okay. So he goes and stays with them at their house. So they're going to have dinner. And he breaks bread. And when he broke the bread, they recognized him. And then, poof. He's gone. Can you imagine that? I mean, just think of that. He breaks the bread. They recognize that he's Christ. And poof, he's gone. Now, why did they recognize him when he broke the bread? And everyone is going to say, that is not a reference to the Lord's Supper. And I think I agree. It's not a reference to the Lord's Supper. But I think Luke means for us to understand that it was symbolic of the Lord's Supper. Now when he broke the bread, maybe they saw the nail prints in his hand. That could be. I think Luke actually wants the church. Because remember, Luke wrote this and he's telling this story, right? And it really happened. It's not that it didn't happen. But Luke is telling this story. And he's not telling this story for the people in Emmaus. Those guys have already gone through all this. Luke is telling the story for us. So Luke wants us to understand something that the guys on the road to Emmaus may not have understood. Does that make sense? So when Luke tells us the story, he expects us to understand something they did not understand. And that is that that was a symbol of the Lord's Supper. And the connection is this. There's the word of God declared about the Christ. And there's a supper that declares Christ as well. And I really believe that that's what Luke wants us to understand. Because we see Christ in the scriptures and in the supper both. And we should recognize him there. Anyway, Jesus departs kind of quickly. And these two guys, they go, wow. Let's go back to Jerusalem. Let's go back there and talk to the guys. And so they leave, and they return to Jerusalem. And that brings us to our second scenario or vignette that talks to us about the same thing, which is that Christ is the subject of all the scripture. So they go back to Jerusalem and they say, hey, we saw Jesus. He's risen from the dead. He appeared to Peter. He really did. He appeared and we saw him. And all of a sudden then Jesus, it says that he just appears there. Now, I've always wondered, you know, because Christ had a physical body. We're going to see that in a second. How did he appear? How does that work? I don't know. But he has a physical body. And we always got to remember that. The resurrection was not a spirit that was raised. It was a physical body that was raised. And this is demonstrated to us right here. And it's demonstrated for us as well in John's Gospel. Because we notice that he appears, he presents himself and he says, you know, they thought he was a spirit. And he says, no, you know, I'm not a spirit. They were frightened, verse 27, 37, because they thought they saw a spirit. And he says, why are you troubled? Why do doubts rise in your heart? Well, I don't know, I'd probably be doubting too. I mean, really, think about this, okay? Just think about this. If I dropped dead right now, and you saw that, and then on next Sunday I came walking through the door, what would you think? What would it do to you? Do you get it? Do you sense it? Because these guys knew that Jesus was crucified. They saw the brutality that was poured out on his body. They knew what he went through. They were familiar with crucifixion. Think of it this way, people wear a cross around their neck, and I don't care about that, it doesn't mean one thing or the other. Think of it this way, wear an electric chair around it, because the cross was a symbol of death. Now for us it became a symbol of life, but the cross is a symbol of death. Those people saw crucifixions all the time. They knew what people went through. They attached them to different kinds of crosses, there were different kinds of crosses in the first century, there were X type crosses and poles and different kinds of things, but the same thing happened. People were beaten, they were beaten almost unconscious, they were hung on these poles or on a cross, they were attached with nails, they've even found nails in foot bones that they have discovered in archeology. They found these things. They nailed these guys to a wood post. and then they put a thing under their feet so they could push themselves up, because as you go down you begin to asphyxiate, so you push yourself up, that's why the soldier was told to break their legs, because they broke their legs so that they That was it. They were asphyxiated. That would end their life. No matter how long they hung on the cross, you know, that's why Pilate was surprised when the soldier said, you know, he's dead. Already? He didn't have to break his legs. Well, why? Well, because the scripture said that not a bone will be broken. So these guys saw something that should astound us. we should get a sense of what they went through. No wonder they thought he was a spirit. So what does he do? He says, well, listen, don't be troubled. Don't doubt. Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. Why? Because a spirit does not have flesh and bones. And then he said to them, have you anything here to eat? The risen Christ, he didn't have to eat. You know what he ate? He ate to demonstrate that it was a real body. He ate to demonstrate that his physical body, these guys are not having a hallucination, this really happened, he's going to eat this fish, and so he does. He eats that fish. And then he tells them in verse 44, he said, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms or the writings, The Psalms and the Writings, some versions read the Writings, that's because the Psalms are in the Writings, and some of them they put under the Psalms, but that includes a whole lot of books in the Old Testament. So there's a three-fold category of the Old Testament. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. And Jesus said, I've demonstrated, He says, I've told you about this, they must be fulfilled. But what happened was they needed to have their understanding, they had to have their minds opened. And so Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he says, this is what the scripture says, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending the promise of the Father upon you. Stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. So look at this. He tells them that the scripture says that the Christ should suffer and die on the third day, rise again from the dead, and that repentance and faith should be proclaimed in his name to all the world, to all nations, all the Gentiles. So that's their commission. He says, you are witnesses. That idea comes, remember in Isaiah when we were reading when God said, you are my witnesses. He talks to Israel. And Jesus is saying to the apostles, you are witnesses, you're my witnesses. You're the witnesses of these things, that Christ suffered, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead. You are witnesses of this. Now take this message to all the nations, to all the Gentiles. You know, don't do it right now. Wait, the Holy Spirit is going to come, the promise of the Father, and then you're going to be filled with power, and then you're going to do it. And you're going to fill the world with the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Jesus challenges their unbelief. He interprets the word that repentance and faith are to be proclaimed in the world. Jesus interprets that the word teaches also his ascension because that's how the chapter ends, is on the ascension of Christ. So what is the Bible about? I love this from Tim Keller. I don't know if he wrote it or someone else did, but I've always appreciated this statement about the scripture. Tim Keller wrote, Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us. Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation but for acquittal. Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing whether he went to create a new people of God. Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love for me. Now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love for us. Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us. Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the King, forgives those who betrayed and sold him, and uses his new power to save them. Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord, and who mediates the new covenant. Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses, struck with the rod of God's justice, now gives us water in the desert. Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends. Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people's victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves. Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn't just risk leaving an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn't just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people. Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in. Jesus is the real rock of Moses, the real Passover lamb, the innocent, perfect, helpless, slain, so the angel of death will pass over us. He is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread. The Bible is really not about you. It's about Jesus. I love that. I love that. I only would add this. The Scripture is not about you, but it is for you. Right? It is for you. You have a responsibility to respond to the Christ of Scripture. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but passes from death unto life. Let's not be like the people of Jesus' day, whom Jesus said, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have life, eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Well, those two vignettes tell us that one single truth, looked at from two different perspectives. the perspective of those who are hopeless, the perspective of those who are afraid, but they tell us the same one truth, that Jesus is the subject of the scripture. How do we respond? Well, the church's first response, the commission given to the apostles is extended to the church. And I believe that testimony that we bear is not just personal, like you practice personal witnessing or salvation or something like that. The church, as a corporate body, is to bear witness in this world. There are many ways that we could do that, and we won't go into all those. But remember, the church as a corporate body really does, we really can bear witness to this community in a variety of ways. We have to think about those, but there are a variety of ways that we, as a church, can bear witness in this community. One example I'll give you, I think, just off the top of my head, is that we're going to have a picnic on August 18. It's not going to do you any good to invite people from the apartments around there. They might come. They might not. But do you have some friends? Maybe some non-Christian friends? We're not going to do anything to them. We're not even going to do anything. We're just going to be people in their presence. They're going to see us as Christians. They come to a picnic. We give them some food. We enjoy ourselves. They say, hey, Christians can play ball and have fun. Christians can laugh, they can tell jokes. Wow, I thought Christians were a bunch of stuff shirt, what do you call those? Anyway, I thought Christians were a bunch of stuff shirts and never do anything fun. No, they need to see that we are people just like them and we can encourage them. That's one way, okay? That's just a possibility as the church corporate that we could do, that we could exercise that kind of a witness in the world. The other way, though, that I think we witness that's really important is our own personal lives. And this is where we sometimes struggle. I do, anyway. Maybe you don't, but I do. You have to remember that you have been crucified with Christ. Therefore, you are to seek the things which are above where Christ is seated in the heavenlies. Okay? Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of this world. Don't get bound up. I mean, I'm not saying to ignore the world. We can't do that. We can't ignore the political situations or any of that. We have a responsibility to be good citizens. But we're always to be those kinds of things in light of the fact that we have died with Christ. And our minds are beyond heavenly things. And we should be praying that God would work in the government even to do things differently. We should be praying for our government. That's one way we keep our mind on heavenly things is by praying for those in authority over us. Praying for one another. You've got to remember that you have died with Christ and you've been raised with Him, therefore you are to walk in newness of life. We just mentioned that this morning. That our lives are to be different. Now, that's not easy. Did you ever get angry at somebody? Well, there are some. I always get angry. No, really, think about it. We've died with Christ, we've been raised again. How are we to respond to the people around us? Like somebody who has died and been buried and been raised with Christ. I'm not saying it's easy, but that's the way we've got to look at our lives. If we love our wives as Christ loved the church, that means as husbands we die, we die to ourselves, and we're united with Christ in death, and when we're raised, we're raised with Him, and we live a life differently in relation to our wives. We love them as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Do I do that? Well, I don't think I do, but it's something that I need to work at, right? I think we all do. So you see, we have a responsibility because we know the scripture, because Christ has given us understanding. We know what the scripture is about. It's not about us, it's about him, but it's for us, so that we might live to the praise of his glorious grace. So that's the response, I believe, that God intends for us to have, that we should bear witness in those different ways, as a congregation and as individuals living daily lives as Christians. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we do give you thanks for your love and your goodness to us. We thank you for the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus. Father, we thank you that we have opportunity to witness. And while often we don't think of that witness as being effective or something, yet we still have a testimony. This morning, Steve was here. And yes, he did some work for me, and he needed some money, and that's OK. But he stayed in the Sunday school, and he actually talked and engaged with us. And I don't think I deal very well with Steve and I would like to do better, but he talked to Lisa and Father, we pray that you would grant him life eternal, because he sees in this body something maybe that he doesn't see somewhere else. As a congregation, we have borne witness of Christ to him. May you so work in his heart and life, help him with all of his mental issues, but most of all, bring him to Christ. Our God, we thank you for your word that leads us to Christ. We thank you for the Spirit of God who has been given to us and empowers us to do and to will that which is according to your good pleasure. We thank you through Christ our Lord. Amen.